University of Essex’s comms lead, Irene Constantinides, to join Arts Council

Arts Council England has appointed the University of Essex’s director of comms, Irene Constantinides, as director of media and stakeholder relations.

As director of media and stakeholder relations at Arts Council England, Constantinides will be responsible for reputation management and advocacy for public investment in the arts.

She will lead the Arts Council’s media, internal comms, stakeholder and public affairs teams, reporting to Mags Patten, national director of advocacy and comms. Constantinides will join the organisation in March.

Constantinides currently manages the global profile of the University of Essex as one of the UK’s top universities for research. She has a background in journalism and has also worked at London Metropolitan University.

Patten said: “I’m delighted Irene is joining us. She has a lot of experience in actively advocating and in leading teams. I’m looking forward to her applying her energy to demonstrating how the arts and culture benefit us as individuals, as a society and our creative economy.”

Constantinides added: “I’m immensely passionate about the arts and am excited by the opportunity to work at Arts Council England. I am a true believer that the arts have an invaluable impact on so many people across the country. I look forward to working closely with the team to drive forwards the communications strategy.”

Constantinides succeeds Cassie Chadderton who left the organisation in December 2015 to join UK Theatre.