FACT Liverpool, the centre for art, film and the creative use of technology has made seven new appointments to its board of trustees, including a new chair, and announced its second board artist-in-residence.
Suzie Norton, Founder Director of Zanna Creative, takes up the role of chair at FACT, bringing over 25 years of experience within the UK’s creative and cultural sectors to the table. Suzie is an experienced leader with specific expertise in formulating national and regional creative industries strategy, organisational and board development, partnership and stakeholder management, and advocacy.
She has previously held senior positions in various fields including at Film Wales and Screen West Midlands, as a political correspondent in Westminster, BBC senior broadcast journalist, and an independent feature film producer. Norton takes over from Rachel Higham, who has served a six-year tenure at FACT.
Norton is joined by artist Rehana Zaman, who joins as FACT’s second annual board artist-in-residence, a unique initiative in which an artist is invited to approach the sphere of governance and its exchanges as an art medium.
Zaman is an artist working with moving image and performance. Raised in Heckmondwike (West Yorkshire) and now based in London, Rehana has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally including Serpentine Projects (forthcoming), British Art Show 9, ICA Miami and Liverpool Biennial. Her artistic practice is concerned with notions of kinship and social relations.
Following the launch of FACT’s annual board of trustees’ artist residency in 2021 (with inaugural artist Jack Ky Tan), Rehana joins the centre for a twelve-month “artistic intervention.” She has previously been shortlisted for the Film London Jarman Award and her films are distributed by LUX.
Norton and Zaman are joined by six further appointments to the board: artist and curator Ruth Catlow; Álvaro Costela Sánchez, marketing & communications manager, at Liverpool ONE; Chloe Courtney, executive director of China Plate; Maleka Egeonu-Roby, junior project manager of Liverpool City Region’s Race Equality Programme and member of Merseyside Caribbean Centre; director and producer Bea Freeman, and Lisa Middleton, head of marketing & brand at National Museums Liverpool.
Nicola Triscott, FACT’s CEO and director, said: “I am delighted to welcome Suzie Norton and our new trustees to the board. We are fortunate to have such a strong and diverse board to help drive and support FACT’s organisational culture and resilience during a time of great change, building on the exceptional work of our current trustees and previous chair, Rachel Higham.”
Norton added: “I am honoured to be appointed the new chair of FACT Liverpool, an organisation with a rich history and exciting future. I hope that my experience built over a quarter of a century working in the UK creative industries, especially the screen industry, will provide the board of trustees, the team and many stakeholders with the strategic leadership to face the challenges and opportunities facing this internationally renowned and locally-loved arts organisation”
FACT Liverpool will celebrate its 20th anniversary on the city’s Wood Street in 2023.
