Kathleen Soriano Broadcaster for SkyArts Portrait/Landscape Artist of the Year
Kathleen Soriano is the Guest Speaker at the Private View Opening of the Pastel Society Annual Exhibition 2023
She will be speaking at 5.30pm on Tuesday 23rd May.
Kathleen Soriano began her career in the Education Department of the Royal Academy of Arts over 35 years ago, also acting as the first ever Registrar of the permanent collection. In 1989 she joined the National Portrait Gallery, where as Director of Exhibitions & Collections she was also responsible for conservation, design and for all national and international programmes. In 2004 she became one of the first cohort of Clore Leadership Fellows, working at the South Bank Centre and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. In February 2006 she became the second Director of Compton Verney Art Gallery, Warwickshire, putting the venue firmly on the international cultural map. January 2009 saw her appointed Artistic Director at the Royal Academy where she was responsible for exhibitions such as Bronze, David Hockney, Anselm Kiefer, Australia, Manet, Van Gogh, Moroni, Oceania – her programme occupying 6 of the top 10 exhibition slots in the UK (as featured in the Art Newspaper statistics) year on year.
In 2014 she established her own curatorial, artistic advisory and strategic consultancy company. As well as working closely with, and advising museums and galleries including Tate St Ives, Museum of London, and Manchester Art Gallery, she has acted as Interim Director at Firstsite, Colchester and Artistic Director of the Jakober Foundation, Mallorca. Soriano is a Senior Associate with the international cultural consultancy AEA (Adrian Ellis Associates) with whom she has most recently been working on the redevelopment of the National Archaeological Museum, Athens. As well as curating many successful exhibitions, and working strategically with living artists, she has lectured and written extensively in her field. Her book Madam and Eve on women artists, co-authored with Liz Rideal, was published in April 2018.
She is Chair of the Liverpool Biennial, Chair of Art UK, and a specialist advisor to the National Trust. Previously she has held roles on the strategic committee of the Grand Palais, Paris, the Wellcome Collection exhibition advisory group, and chaired the Churches Conservation Trust’s Art Advisory group. She was a founder member of Women Leaders in Museums Network, sits on the advisory council of 2 Temple Place, the editorial board of Apollo and the visual arts committee of St Paul’s Cathedral, London and is a faculty member of Oxford University Cultural Leadership Programme.
Her broadcast activities include the ten series of Portrait/Landscape Artist of the Year for SkyArts.
