Castlefield Gallery announces new Artist Development & Creative Communities Producer and new Castlefield Gallery Volunteer and Gallery Coordinator

We are proud to announce that Elysia Lukoszevieze has been appointed to the role of Artist Development & Creative Communities Producer and Ryan French will undertake the role of Castlefield Gallery Volunteer and Gallery Coordinator. We are thrilled to have them join the team.

Elysia is a curator and writer who recently completed her Contemporary Curating MA at Manchester School of Art. In her previous role at the Holden Gallery she coordinated and curated a series of Graduate exhibitions and facilitated independent performance projects with artists Bruce Asbestos, Chris Alton and students of the Manchester Metropolitan University. Earlier this year she was awarded a British Council Fellowship to work at the Venice Biennale for the month of May whilst exploring her own research project. She co-ran the gallery space Pavement Gallery, curating exhibitions of works by Kerry Tribe, SUPERFLEX, Peter Liversidge, Johanna Billing and Joseph Kosuth. Her writing has been published on Corridor8 and PQ. Throughout her masters, her research concerned the documentation and re-enactment of performance art, exploring how the audience recollections of events could be used as a form of documentation to inform future iterations of the work. This culminated in a duo of performance events held at the Holden Gallery and PINK in 2021.

Alisha Kadri, Castlefield Gallery Trustee and key decision maker for the appointment says:

We are delighted to have Elysia join the Castlefield Gallery team. As part of her new role, Elysia will help research, develop and deliver our artist development and public engagement programmes. Elysia, who just graduated with an MA in Contemporary Curating at Manchester School of Art, is already bringing her energy and experience to this role, a role focused on activity central to our charity’s purpose.

Ryan Peter French is an artist who graduated with a first degree from Manchester School of Art. After regularly volunteering at Castlefield Gallery for almost a year, Ryan has now progressed to the role of Gallery & Volunteer Coordinator.

Ryan’s multi-disciplinary practice involves digital art that is a social commentary through the lens of a queer, working class artist. His work explores themes of hyperreality, reproduction of imagery, consumerism and excess. Aside from his creative practice, Ryan has been involved in various projects and events in the arts such as Decorating Dissidence’s ‘Digital Dada Salon’ in which he was both a contributing artist and panellist, and leading the workshop ‘How to Make a Zine’ for the LBGT foundation based on his own illustration work. In 2023 Ryan will be studying an MA in Art Gallery and Museum Studies at the University of Manchester.

Helen Wewiora, Castlefield Gallery Director and Artistic Director says:

As one of our past volunteers, Ryan knows what a crucial role our volunteers play in all we do at Castlefield Gallery. He has a deep insight on how our volunteers are key to our charity purpose, vision and values. We are really excited Ryan has been appointed to the role, further growing artist representation and voice in our team. With his enthusiasm and experience, Ryan will further develop our Volunteer Programme, at the same time supporting our exhibitions, commissions and day to day operations of the gallery.