The Changing Face(s) of Chisenhale Dance Space

We’re well into 2023 now (we can’t believe it either…!) and over these last few months we’ve seen lots of changes at CDS. We’ve had new fresh faces joining our staff and trustees as well as lots of exciting conversations, action and progress behind the scenes, working towards a relaunch of our artistic membership. 

Staff

Rachel Goodsall has now joined us as full time as General Manager, and she is overseeing our space hire: 

Rachel is an experienced arts professional who has worked for a variety of charities in Event and Front of House Management. She is drawn to organisations who focus on supporting the creation of new work and artistic development. Rachel started her career in Liverpool at Bluecoat, where she met Mary Prestidge and heard stories of Chisenhale’s creation. After relocating to London in 2020 she continued to work in the cultural sector, most recently at The Coronet Theatre in Notting Hill, before joining the team at CDS. 

Rachel will work closely with Es and Reece, who took up the role of Executive Director back in September 2022, to move CDS forwards into its next chapter. 

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Trustees

We are also thrilled to introduce six new trustees: Bakani Pick-Up, Georgia Clark, Naomi Taylor, Sally Rose and Beatrice Perini. They all have a wealth of knowledge and experience in producing, artmaking, curating, fundraising and organising, and we feel hugely positive about the contributions they will make to our organisation in the coming months. 

You can check out our Trustees page to read more about them.

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Members 

We are also (!) gearing up to open our doors to new artist members in September this year, for the first time since 2019. This is a crucial moment to bring fresh energy into the organisation and strengthen our community roots. 

Many members have shared that there needs to be more clarity around what being a member involves – what they can expect, and what will be expected of them? Our new CDS Members’ Committee have been working hard to develop our thinking around these questions as well as make our membership more inclusive to marginalised artists, and we look forward to sharing more information soon about how new artists can join the fold.

In April we will also launch ‘WTF Thursdays’, a new initiative that hands the keys to our building over to members every Thursday evening, focussed towards events that bring members together and deepen community connection. 

 Stay tuned over the coming months as we begin to ramp up to our relaunch and in the meantime, you can stay up to date with signing up to our mailing list.