Dance Base announces Jeanie Scott as new Chief Executive and extends Tony Mills’ term as Artistic Director

Dance Base, Scotland’s National Centre for Dance, is thrilled to announce that its new Chief Executive will be Jeanie Scott. Scott will join the organisation in early November, taking over from current Chief Executive Jim Hollington on 15 November. The Board has also confirmed that Artistic Director Tony Mills has been invited to renew his initial term as Artistic Director, due to expire in September 2025 for another four years.

Jeanie Scott joins Dance Base from Culture Radar, a UK-wide research and development consultancy which she founded in 2019. She is a respected cultural leader with over 30 years’ experience working across the arts and creative industries as a consultant and director. She is passionate about improving working and practice conditions in the arts, and the long-term sustainability of arts and culture for the benefit of communities and society. She serves on the national What Next? Leadership Group bringing cultural professionals together to debate and shape the future of UK arts and culture. She is also a Creative Scotland Clore Fellow.

Tony Mills joined the Dance Base team in 2021 with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic still being felt strongly within the organisation and Scotland’s dance community. Based on his two decades experience as an independent dance artist himself, he has developed the organisation’s support for the dance community and built partnerships nationally and internationally to achieve this.  His 2024 Dance Base Festival programme in partnership with Assembly Festival, saw 33 companies from around the world and from right here in Scotland performing within the building throughout August. This year, Mills also pioneered the Fringe Fragments programme, an international industry pitching platform allowing dance artists to showcase their work to programmers from across the world. An extension of his contract to 2029 will provide Dance Base with consistent artistic leadership, allowing the organisation to continue to build its unique artistic vision, support Scottish dance artists, and solidify strong relationships with some of the world’s most daring and innovative artists and dance companies.

Together, Scott and Mills will lead the organisation through the impacts of Creative Scotland’s Multi-Year Funding Programme announcements expected at the end of October and the ongoing funding challenges being faced by individual dance artists.

Co-chairs of the Dance Base Board, Alice McGrath and Paul Fitzpatrick, said: "Jeanie has an incredible overview of the cultural sector in Scotland and has an exemplary approach to leadership. She will be an excellent successor to Jim Hollington to ensure that Dance Base continues to succeed and thrive. It continues to be an uncertain time for the arts and Jeannie's skills and experience will support the artists, audiences and communities we work with, as well as the excellent Dance Base team."

Incoming Chief Executive of Dance Base, Jeanie Scott said: “I first connected with Dance Base in my teens as an early career dancer. It offered something genuinely new for the city and the country – access to some of the most exciting dance professionals working in Scotland with a vibrant and diverse dance community to belong to. And 20 years on, Dance Base is still delivering – it’s a vital ingredient in the city’s cultural offer and an essential development support for professional dance artists in Scotland.

“I’m joining an organisation with strong artistic leadership, outstanding professional artists, a talented team and a vision I believe in and am passionate about - I’ll be working hard with the board and team to build its future.”

Artistic Director of Dance Base, Tony Mills, said: “Dance Base has been with me, in one way or another, throughout my entire career as a dance artist. It continues to be an incredible privilege to contribute to the future of an organisation that supports so many people to get dancing and plays a vital role in our national cultural ecology. I'm thrilled to welcome Jeanie to the organisation. I know she'll be an incredibly valuable member of the team, as we push forward following our mission to help dance flourish and change lives in Scotland. A huge thank you goes to Jim Hollington, who has built an incredibly strong foundation for the organisation that has emerged through a very challenging time for the arts.”