Helen Marriage, Artistic Director of renowned creative company Artichoke, responsible for producing some of the UK’s most spectacular trailblazing events has been appointed as Chair of arts organisation IOU. 

She will be joined on the IOU Board by new Trustees: Cultural Strategist, Catherine Waddington, Factory International Technical Director, Jack Thompson, and sculptor and David Nash Studio Manager Sam Clayton. 

With their wide-ranging skills and experience, these new appointments, alongside existing board members including creative producer Stella Hall (Vice Chair), Yorkshire Sculpture Park curator Sarah Coulson, and writer and poet Shirley May, will play a pivotal role in steering IOU towards its ambition of becoming the North’s National Creation Centre for Contemporary Art, Engineering, and Technology.

Situated in West Yorkshire, with over 10,000 square feet of studio, workshop, and gallery space at Dean Clough, Halifax, plus artist residential facilities at the IOU Hebden Bridge Hostel, IOU’s transition to a Creation Centre will see the organisation creatively integrate these spaces, providing support and opportunities to local and national artists and participants to co-create and produce innovative ideas, artworks, and interdisciplinary productions in the heart of Calderdale. These productions and art projects will be presented at galleries, venues, festivals, and site-specific locations nationally.

‘IOU is one of the fixed points in my professional life. I was introduced to its visionary work in 1981 by Judith Knight, then director of Artsadmin,” explains Marriage. 

“Witnessing the creativity of IOU and other groundbreaking companies like Welfare State and Bread and Puppet, it was obvious that the iconoclastic imaginations were never going to be confined to traditional arts spaces. These were genius artists who eschewed the trappings of commercial success for a deeper and greater involvement with the communities within which they lived and worked. 

“So few of them still exist – but IOU heroically continues to live by these values and has survived with new ideas, new generations coming to the fore. I am honoured to play a part in the continuing success of the company.”

Joanne Wain, CEO of IOU, commented on the new Trustee’s appointments:

”This new leadership team marks a significant chapter in IOU’s journey, blending historical legacy with forward-thinking vision, ensuring its continued impact on the arts landscape for years to come. We are delighted to be working with an array of leaders in their fields from artists and sculptors, production managers and art strategists’.