Photographer and arts manager Sheila Spence has been named director, administration and development at Winnipeg’s Plug In ICA.
Spence fills one of two new director positions created since the September 2013 departure of executive/artistic director Anthony Kiendl. Moving forward, Plug In will have one director in programming and one in administration and development. A release from Plug In’s board states that these two positions will work as a team to guide upcoming initiatives.
Spence was most recently exhibition design coordinator at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Prior to that, she was executive director of Martha Street Studio where she expanded programming and oversaw capital upgrades to the building.
Spence holds a masters of arts degree in leadership from Royal Roads University and has over 15 years of experience in arts management.
“Sheila Spence has a long history with Plug In, both as a photographer and a member of the artist’s collective Average Good Looks, whose conversation-generating ‘Homophobia is Killing Us’ billboard Plug In exhibited in Osborne Village in the early ’90s,” said Plug In board president Noam Gonick in a release.
“For over 40 years, Plug In ICA has led the artists’ community in Winnipeg, in Canada, and beyond.” Spence said in the release. She added she looks forward to building “a foundation that will sustain another 40-plus years of innovation.”
Spence begins August 18. Acting director Heather Laser, formerly director of development, will continue into September to assist with the transition.
