CAREER ACT public servant Sam Tyler has been appointed as the acting director of artsACT for a period of three months, following the departure from the job of David Whitney.

The short-term appointment confirms arts community expectations that a career bureaucrat will ultimately fill this position – it is understood that recruitment to the directorship of artsACT is still underway.

Tyler has been working in the ACT Government for more than 12 years, the last six with artsACT in the role of manager, arts policy and previously manager arts policy and infrastructure.

Although not a familiar figure within the on-the-coalface creative community, she is however well-known to successful players in the ‘arts-hub’ funding game, notably those at the Kingston Arts Precinct, Ainslie and Gorman Arts Centres and Belconnen Arts Centre.

Her most recent achievement, the development of the heavily-criticised 2015 ACT Arts Policy and artsACT Strategic Plan, has certainly been noticed and implementation of the policy and plans will be the focus of her next three months, until October.

Gary Rake, deputy director general, Arts, Business, Events, Sports and Tourism, confirms the steady-as-she-goes approach when describing the appointment as, “a smooth transition for the arts community, many of whom will already know and have worked closely with Sam.”