News | New Executive Director at Craft Victoria

The Chair of Craft Victoria has announce the appointment of Richard Ferguson as the new Executive Director at Craft Victoria.  Richard will be commencing his role in mid-February 2017.

From Craft Victoria

Richard has been involved in the cultural, heritage and education sectors for more than 30 years in both Australia and England. He is also a craft and arts practitioner. His initial tertiary training was at the National Art School in ceramics.  Later training in visual arts and photography enabled him to undertake original research and Antarctic field work, on five expeditions, on the use of photography on polar expeditions initially based at the Mawson Institute for Antarctic Research at the University of Adelaide.

This and both other creative and curatorial projects ultimately gave rise to direct engagement with and entry into management of collections, cultural institutions and philanthropic foundations in Australia and England.

Immediately prior to joining Craft Victoria he was Project Manager Cook 250 Anniversary Program at the Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney.

He has worked in museums management at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (one of twelve lead National Museums of England), the South Australian Museum and the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) which manages two extensive sports related collections and is based at the iconic 100,000 seat Melbourne Cricket Ground. During his time at the MCC he led a whole of collections audit and establishment of new collections stores and facilities as part of a $35 million redevelopment. Prior to that he was Manager of the Museums Australia Museums Accreditation Program and implemented the introduction of their reaccreditation processes.

Richard also has business development and retail experience in the gallery and private sectors.

He was elected as Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1993, and is a member of the Royal Society of Victoria and currently a Council Member of ICOM Australia. Richard also has a Masters of Philosophy from Cambridge University.

The Board is delighted to welcome Richard to Craft. Richard has had an impressive career across a number of prestigious arts organisations in Australia and the UK.  His expertise across many aspects of the sector and his organisational experience will provide invaluable insights into the future for Craft.

We look forward to welcoming Richard to Craft in February.  In the meantime, we thank Jane Smith for her continued work as interim CEO.

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