Nicole Doucet appointed Director of Arts Disciplines

For immediate release

Nicole Doucet appointed Director of Arts Disciplines

at the Canada Council for the Arts

Ottawa , December 20, 2007 – Robert Sirman, Director of the Canada Council for the Arts, announced today that Nicole Doucet has been appointed Director of Arts Disciplines, effective February 11, 2008.

A native of Hearst, Ontario and initially trained in the visual arts, Ms. Doucet is currently Director of Music and Dance at the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ), that province's arts funding agency; between 2002 and 2005, she served as CALQ's Director of Theatre, Multidisciplinary Arts and Circus Arts.

Before arriving at CALQ in 2002, Ms. Doucet, who holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in visual art from the University of Ottawa, worked for the Canada Council in a variety of positions, with responsibilities that included managing the Council's touring grant program and administering the program of support to French-language theatre companies. She previously served as an administrator for several theatre companies, including Théâtre-Action in Ottawa and Théâtre de Quat'Sous in Montreal and spent nearly 10 years managing La Maison Théâtre, a Montreal-based association aimed at presenting and promoting theatre for young audiences.

As Director of Arts Disciplines, Ms. Doucet will be responsible for managing the development and operation of the Canada Council's grant programs which provide support to Canadian artists and arts organizations. More than $140 million in grants was awarded to artists and arts organizations last year in dance, music, theatre, media arts, visual arts, writing and publishing, and interdisciplinary arts. The position was created as a result of a restructuring which divided the Council's former Arts Division into two separate divisions: Arts Disciplines and Arts Development. The current Director of the Arts Division, André Courchesne, will serve as Director of Arts Development.

"We are delighted that Nicole Doucet has agreed to return to the Canada Council as Director of Arts Disciplines," Mr. Sirman said. "She has devoted her entire professional life to serving the arts, and this is a natural next step on that journey. She will be a tremendous asset to our organization."

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