Open School East is thrilled to announce the appointment of Polly Brannan as Artistic Director.

Polly brings extensive experience to Open School East, and will be responsible for the organisation’s artistic vision, devising curricula across the school’s learning programmes, delivery of the Associates programme, and curatorial projects which range from the popular free public programme to yearly commissions.

Polly was Education Curator at Liverpool Biennial 2012-18 and Education Curator at Serpentine Galleries 2011–13. She is Founder, Co-Director and artist with network Avant Gardening. She curated, delivered and produced large-scale commissions with artists Mohamed Bourouissa, Koo Jeong A, Ryan Gander, Monster Chetwynd, and Rehana Zaman amongst many others. Previous engagements include Triangle Network Fellowship, Ethiopia; Istanbul Biennale 2017, Turkey and Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India 2018. Polly is currently training to become a qualified Forest School Leader.

Open School East’s Chair, Sarah Griffin, said, “Polly brings a wealth of experience and new ideas, as well as a commitment to testing alternative education models – at the heart of OSE’s ethos. We are all thrilled that she is joining the organisation.”

Polly Brannan said, “I am delighted to be joining Open School East to continue and build upon the important work that has been done so far. I look forward to supporting artists and young people on their journey through an ambitious alternative education model, developing new ideas for the organisation, and working closely with them to support positive change, artistic development and programmes with communities and residents of Margate.”