Helen Marriage is Director of Artichoke and was Creative Director of Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture, until April 2020 when Artichoke’s involvement ceased due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Artichoke works with artists to reimagine public spaces, aiming to appeal to the widest possible audience and has created some of the most celebrated outdoor art in recent times, including the Lumiere light festivals, The Sultan’s Elephant, Antony Gormley’s One & Other Fourth Plinth commission and PROCESSIONS, a mass participation artwork celebrating 100 years since some women won the right to vote in the UK. Helen’s previous work includes a seven-year period as Director of the Salisbury Festival. She created the first Arts & Events programme for Olympia & York, the developers of Canary Wharf in London, was an Associate Director of the London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT) and managed a variety of independent artists at Artsadmin in the early 1980s. In 2012, she was awarded a Loeb Fellowship at Harvard Graduate School of Design, a prestigious fellowship awarded to individuals working in urban design and planning. Her appointment was an acknowledgement of the impact Artichoke has made on the way mass public art events are negotiated and staged. She was awarded an MBE for services to the arts in the New Year’s Honours list in 2016.