New Art Centre has announced that Jessica Smith has been appointed Managing Director. This is the first such position in the New Art Centre’s history since Madeleine Bessborough CBE founded the gallery in 1958.

With over 25 years’ experience across the commercial art world Smith brings an extensive knowledge of contemporary artists, an ardent understanding of working with artist estates and a thorough insight of the complex split between a critical sphere focused on cultural value and a fluctuating commercial market. Smith previously held positions at the New Art Centre from 2017 to 2022 as Associate Director and Director. Since then she has been partner for the artist management consultancy Southern & Partners and Director of Bo Lee & Workman gallery. Earlier in her career she led the art fair programme at White Cube leaving to manage monographs and coordinate exhibitions in London, Berlin and New York.

The New Art Centre, Roche Court Sculpture Park is a commercial gallery set in the rolling Wiltshire countryside, near Salisbury. Established in Sloane Street, London in 1958, the New Art Centre is a specialist in 20th- and 21st-century art.

In 1994, the gallery moved from London to its current location at Roche Court, East Winterslow in Wiltshire. The house at Roche Court was originally built in 1804 for the family of Admiral Nelson. The park and woodlands which surround the house enable a focus on exhibiting outdoor sculpture, making the New Art Centre, Roche Court Sculpture Park a pioneer of the commercially run sculpture park in the UK.