The Scottish curator Helen Nisbet has been appointed director of Glasgow International, Scotland’s biennial contemporary art festival. She will take up the post ahead of the 11th edition next year (5-21 June 2026).
Nisbet was previously artistic director of the Art Night contemporary art festival in Dundee and the chief executive of Cromwell Place gallery hub in London. She also served as a jury member for the 2023 Turner Prize.
She says in a statement: “Glasgow International is a critical biennial which represents a diversity of contemporary and cultural practice, and it is a privilege to lead it into its next phase.”
Art world figures such as Martin Clark, the director of Camden Art Centre, and Polly Staple, former director of collection (British Art) at the Tate, welcomed the appointment on social media.
The previous festival director was Richard Birkett, who last year presented what The Art Newspaper columnist Louisa Buck described as “the strongest and punchiest editions in recent years”.
Some projects for the festival are selected through an open call from an invited panel of international and local artists, curators, producers and the Glasgow International Programme team. Both Nisbet and Birkett were on the selection panel for the 2026 Open Call, from which an artist list will be announced in due course.
Glasgow International is supported by Glasgow City Council, Creative Scotland and Glasgow Life, the charitable trust responsible for running the city’s cultural offer on behalf of the council.
