Druid Theatre has appointed Anneliese Davidsen as the company’s new Executive Director. She replaces Feargal Hynes, who moved on to become Chief Operating Officer with event promoter, MCD late last year.

Jay Perry is Druid’s new Head of Development. The previous Development and Marketing person, John McEvoy, left last summer to become Head of development at the Royal Irish Academy of Music

Anneliese Davidsen has 20 years’ experience in England’ s cultural sector. Ten of those were as Executive Director of the UK’s leading space for young audiences, the Unicorn Theatre in London. Before that, she had senior positions at the Young Vic, Sadler’s Wells, and touring company Paines Plough. In the spring of 2020, she became Director of Two Temple Place, a charity-owned historic building in central London, leading its cultural and community programmes.

Jay Perry is a former Director of Development and Fundraising with the Irish Film Institute, having moved to Dublin in 2021 from St. Louis, Missouri. In the US, he worked to raise funds for a variety of non-profit arts and culture organisations, including the Gateway Arch Park Foundation and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. He has already started with Druid while Anneliese Davidsen will take up her position next month.

Pictured: Druid’s new Head of Development, Jay Perry and the company’s new Executive Director Anneliese Davidsen. Photo: Declan Colohan.