A national youth arts charity has implemented a joint leadership model, appointing its chief executive and deputy chief as co-leaders.
Artswork has announced that from April, Louise Govier and Annabel Cook will become co-chief executives, each working a four-day week – with their out-of-office time falling on differing days.
Govier previously worked a five-day week as the charity’s chief executive, a role she has held since August 2020.
Before this, she worked for the National Trust for 10 years, first as a visitor experience and communities manager and then as a general manager, both for properties across South West Hampshire and the New Forest.
Cook has been Artswork’s deputy chief executive since July 2021, before which she was the charity’s head of education, skills and expertise for nearly three years.
She previously worked at the Hampshire Cultural Trust from 2012 to 2019, first as an area manager before progressing to become head of combined arts.
The charity said its shift to a co-leadership model would not involve changes to its wider organisational structure, adding that all line management arrangements remained the same.
Both co-chiefs will continue to lead the areas they oversee in the organisation, but will share responsibility for strategic direction, external relationships, sector advocacy and engagement with Arts Council England.
Artswork said the model would provide it with “increased leadership capacity and resilience at a time of significant change across the cultural sector”.
In a joint statement, the co-chief executives said: “We’ve been working closely together for more than five years and really enjoy pooling our strengths and talents to innovate, find solutions and make the most of opportunities.
“Artswork supports thousands of young people every year to lead change in their communities and in their own lives: we hope that this evolution will enable us to extend that work even further.”