New boss for Baltic art centre

Mr Snoddy is expected to take up his new post next year

The Baltic centre for contemporary arts in Gateshead has appointed a new director.

Stephen Snoddy, currently the director of the Milton Keynes Gallery, was appointed to the post on Tuesday.

Mr Snoddy is expected to take-up his new duties full time from early March 2004.

In July, Sune Nordgren, who steered Baltic through its first turbulent year, announced he was to step down for a post as founding director of the National Museum for Art, Architecture and Design, in Norway.

The centre opened in July 2002 and was a major part of the Newcastle Gateshead bid for Capital of Culture in 2008 - eventually awarded to Liverpool.

The £46m project transformed the former Baltic Flour Mills, a disused 1950s grain warehouse, into an international contemporary arts venue.

The former-flour mill was transformed into a £46m art complex

Alan J Smith, chair of Baltic board of trustees' said: "It is with enormous enthusiasm and real excitement about the future, that I welcome Stephen Snoddy as Baltic's new director.

"Baltic is entering a fresh phase of progress, building on its first very successful year and a half since opening and we are very fortunate to have attracted someone of Stephen's reputation and exceptional abilities to take Baltic forward to even greater achievements".

Mr Snoddy was born in Belfast, in 1959, and has worked in England since 1987 at Arnolfini, Bristol; Cornerhouse, Manchester; Southampton City Art Gallery and Milton Keynes Gallery.

He is known for his broad range of curatorial interests and he has written on such artists as Richard Hamilton, Jack B. Yeats and Jochen Gerz.

He is also Chair of the Jury for the Comme Ca Art Prize North which was launched in October 2003.

Mr Snoddy was appointed as director of Milton Keynes Gallery, part of a brand new £30m theatre and gallery complex, in the spring of 1998.