New project director to lead RSC redevelopment
20 January 2005
The RSC announced today that Peter Wilson OBE, Director of Projects and Estates at the Tate, will join the RSC team to lead the £100 million redevelopment project.
Peter was building project director for both Tate Modern and the Tate Britain Centenary Development. Other projects at the Tate include acting as the Tate client for Cornwall County Council's Tate St Ives, plus a number of other projects, including the second phase of Tate Liverpool in 1998.
As Project Director for the redevelopment Peter will work closely with the RSC Artistic Director, Michael Boyd and Executive Director, Vikki Heywood to steer the next phase of the project in transforming the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and redeveloping the Company’s Stratford-upon-Avon estate.
Vikki Heywood said:
“We are delighted that someone of Peter’s calibre and experience will be joining us as Project Director. The redevelopment is now moving forward fast and our vision for the Royal Shakespeare Theatre will bring an intimacy and clarity to Shakespeare that simply isn’t possible in the current theatre.
“Peter will provide the leadership we need to help us deliver a significantly improved theatre in Stratford which can be enjoyed by artists and audiences.”
Peter Wilson added:
“I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to be involved in such a significant cultural project. I am looking forward to working with the whole RSC team and all the other stakeholders that will be involved in delivering new theatre and other facilities within its historic home in Stratford.”
Peter joins the RSC in April.
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Further information
For more information, please contact:
Jane Ellis
Communications Manager
01789 412 668
jane.ellis@rsc.org.uk
Background information on Peter Wilson
Peter studied natural sciences at Cambridge University and in 1972 decided upon a career in museums, training as an art conservator at the Tate and the Courtauld Institute. He became the Head of Collections Management for Tate, providing technical client input for James Stirling's Clore Gallery and for Tate Liverpool.
During his career he has been an adviser to the National Trust, researched museum lighting at the Bartlett School of Architecture, chaired the Museum Documentation Association, acted as the client adviser for the Astrup-Fearnley Museum in Oslo and helped to write the brief for Zaha Hadid's Centro per le Arti Contemporanee in Rome. In 2000 he gave both the Gertrude Langer Lecture at Queensland Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Australia 18th Birthday Lecture in Canberra. He has been a member.of the Project Steering Committee for Laban, and the CABE enabling panel and is a board member of Woking Galleries.
The Tate Project Office was the Contract Journal Client of the Year for 2000. Peter Wilson was awarded an OBE in 2001.
Background information on the RSC’s Redevelopment Project
September 2004 - the RSC announced it intention to create a thrust stage within the existing 1932 Royal Shakespeare Theatre, retaining the key art deco elements of the building.
December 2004 – in order to perform throughout the renewal of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre the RSC announced its intention to perform its core large scale repertoire in a temporary theatre built adjacent to The Other Place during the transformation of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.
A competition to select an architect is already well under way and a decision will be made in April 2005.
