CLARE man Mike Fitzpatrick has been appointed director of Limerick National City of Culture 2014, the board have confirmed.
This announcement follows the advertisement of the position and the interviews in recent days. The Newmarket on Fergus internationally renowned curator held the position as interim head prior to the announcement after the resignation of former CEO Patricia Ryan in January.
Commenting on the appointment, Chairman of the Board Pat Cox said, “We are delighted to have a candidate of the calibre of Mike Fitzpatrick leading the year. We look forward to building on the success of the first quarter of the year, with Mike in charge for the remainder of the project in tandem with City of Culture team.”
Mr Fitzpatrick has accepted the offer of appointment subject to the agreement of Limerick Institute of Technology to extend the secondment.
Speaking to the Clare Champion following his announcement as interim head, Mr Fitzpatrick said he was “very positive” about the project.
“There is a fantastic weight of optimism and hope behind it. People are very keen for it to succeed and I am very positive that we will pull it off. It means a lot of work to make it happen and that has started already. It’s a great honour to have been asked to carry out this role, it has come about in an unusual way but I am proud to take this role. I am a very passionate devotee of culture in the region and it’s wonderful to be given this opportunity.”