Boss appointed for new multi-arts centre:

Aussie takes on top arts job
Judith Isherwood comes from the Sydney Opera House. From the BBC website.

The woman credited with transforming the role of Sydney Opera House has been appointed to run the Wales Millennium Centre project.
Australian Judith Isherwood was the director of performing arts and acting chief executive of the Sydney Opera House and her move to Wales is seen as a coup.

The £104m arts complex in Cardiff Bay is due to open in November 2004 with a gala performance featuring Welsh-born opera baritone Bryn Terfel, who recently laid a symbolic piece of Welsh slate at the foundations.

Ms Isherwood begins her new job as chief executive at the end of March and will immediately be busy organising the centre's gala opening night.

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Opera chief leaves Sydney for £104m Cardiff Bay centre
By Terry Kirby for The Independent

In a significant coup for Wales, the Millennium Centre arts complex in Cardiff has recruited a key figure from the Sydney Opera House (SOH) to be its first chief executive.

Judith Isherwood, 42, director of performing arts and acting chief executive of the SOH, will take up her new role in Wales in March. The £104m centre is currently under construction and not due to open until November next year.

Although the appointment will be largely welcomed, it will also be seen as another sign of the lack of home-grown heavyweight arts administrators in the UK. Four of the country's leading arts venues are now being run by administrators from overseas.

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