Farewell to Culture Lab's founding director, Sally Jane Norman

In January 2010 Sally Jane is leaving Newcastle to join the University of Sussex as founding Director of the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts with a Chair in Performance Technologies. She will create and contribute to research, teaching and public engagement activities focused on performance, new media practice and critical theory, and steer refurbishment of the iconic Grade II Gardner theatre building at the heart of Sussex's parkland campus bordering the South Downs. 

Sally Jane came to Newcastle in September 04 to create Culture Lab in the worn out facilities used as the University Sports Centre, whose transformation began in summer 05. Culture Lab opened a year later as an award-winning building designed to host interdisciplinary research, with input from a dedicated cross-campus "User Group" and core staff Sarah Greenhalgh and Liz Bradley, subsequently joined by Dave Green and James Mooney. With this close-knit team, Sally Jane has steadily built up Culture Lab's practice-led research and engagement portfolio, established a resident population from all three faculties, seeded collaborative initiatives, and raised profile at regional, national and international levels. She has secured AHRC, EPSRC, ESRC and European funding (FP6 with Research Associate Martyn Dade-Robertson, now lecturing in architecture at Newcastle), collaborated on numerous editions of "Music & Machines" with Bennett Hogg (www.musicandmachines.co.uk), and on projects leading to Newcastle's £12M Digital Economy Hub (with Paul Watson and Patrick Olivier, www.side.ac.uk), serving regional bodies including the Board of Audiovisual Arts North East (www.avfestival.co.uk/about/avane). 

We hope that from her Sussex base Sally Jane will uphold networks with Newcastle University colleagues, staff and students alike, in the interdisciplinary, collaborative research spirit that has been decisive for Culture Lab's success.  

Published: 20th October 2009