Ikon is pleased to announce the leadership team taking the gallery forward in its 60th year.
The Board of Trustees have made permanent appointments for Ian Hyde, Chief Executive Officer; Melanie Pocock, Artistic Director (Exhibitions); and Linzi Stauvers, Artistic Director (Education).
“To be appointed as Ikon’s leadership team during the gallery’s 60th anniversary is very special. Through this new collaborative structure, covering commercial enterprise, exhibition curation and education practice, we are excited to oversee the future development of Ikon in showcasing the visual arts regionally and internationally. From our gallery in Birmingham, a city built on enlightenment principles, we will forge new cultural, industrial and communal partnerships.”
Ian Hyde, Melanie Pocock and Linzi Stauvers
Ian Hyde, Chief Executive Officer, has an overview of the whole organisation, having joined Ikon in 2016 as Deputy Director and later becoming Chief Operating Officer. Hyde has a particular focus on Ikon’s business operations, with financial knowledge across all areas, managing engagement with key funders and stakeholders while leading the team to explore new revenue streams and strategic relationships. He is also Company Secretary and facilitates the charity’s Board of Trustees. Prior to his roles at Ikon, Hyde was an elected councillor for Manchester City Council and worked freelance across multiple organisations for over a decade – including SHOUT Festival for Queer Arts and Culture, Boardmasters, NASS Festival, SKY, Olympic Games London 2012, Manchester International Festival and Manchester Pride – running their forward planning, liaison and event control functional areas.
Melanie Pocock, Artistic Director (Exhibitions) leads on Ikon’s exhibition programme, publications, and, with the wider team, off-site projects. Melanie Pocock joined Ikon in 2020 and has curated exhibitions including a major presentation of performance art by Indonesian artist Melati Suryodarmo (2023); Horror in the Modernist Block, an exhibition of work by 20 UK and international contemporary artists exploring the relationship between architectural modernism and horror (2022-23); and off-site projects including artist Hew Locke’s city-centre installation Foreign Exchange, presented by Birmingham 2022 Festival. Pocock moved to Ikon from her previous position as Assistant Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore (ICA), prior to which she held curatorial positions at Modern Art Oxford and Art Scene China. She holds an MA (Distinction) in Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art, London. A member of the International Association of Art Critics (Singapore), Curatorial Committee of the Association for Art History (UK), and a contributing editor at ArtAsiaPacific, her writing has been published in numerous publications, exhibition catalogues and journals.
Linzi Stauvers, Artistic Director (Education) leads on Ikon’s education programmes with university, school, charity and criminal justice partners. Working with teaching staff at Wolverhampton School of Art, she co-produced Ikon’s current exhibition Start the Press! (2024), which brings printmaking to life around an antique printing press in the gallery. She also co-curated the exhibition Imposter Syndrome (2023), the culmination of Dean’s Kelland’s four-year artist residency at HMP Grendon, with community members at the Category B prison. Having joined Ikon in 2017, she leads on long-term projects including Art at HMP Grendon, funded by the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust, and Ikon Youth Programme on Slow Boat, funded by Freelands Foundation. With a PhD in History of Art from University College London, Stauvers has worked in education departments at the National Portrait Gallery, Milton Keynes Gallery and The Hepworth Wakefield. From 2011-16, she was Producer at Pavilion, Leeds, commissioning moving image work with artists in response to heritage sites, including an abandoned cinema, tv studio and eighteenth-century landscape.
“On behalf of Ikon’s Board of Trustees, I would like to express how delighted we are to appoint the gallery’s new leadership team. We have been on a thorough and considered journey to reach this point, taking time to consult with sector colleagues, supporters and artists and working with a specialist recruitment agency to reach the best possible outcome. Ian Hyde, Melanie Pocock and Linzi Stauvers bring a wealth of knowledge and experience, both local and international, and the new style of leadership we were looking for. We are excited to work with them and the gallery’s wider team to provide a welcoming and inclusive space for new and challenging experiences of art, to remain a key component in the region’s cultural landscape and to realise this new phase in Ikon’s history.” Professor Helen Higson OBE DL, Chair of Ikon Board of Trustees. Professor of Higher Education Learning and Management, Aston University.
“Congratulations to Ikon on the appointment of their new leadership team. We’re excited to see how the next chapter unfolds as they enter their 60th anniversary year and next decade. Ikon has a strong reputation for presenting work that encourages participation and debate on key social issues. Ian Hyde, Melanie Pocock and Linzi Stauvers bring significant individual experience to the organisation which will prove invaluable as they move into this important next phase of Ikon’s story and continue to showcase work of local, national, and international significance.”
Darren Henley CBE, Chief Executive, Arts Council England
“As Cabinet Member for Digital, Culture, Heritage & Tourism it is a great pleasure to learn that Ian Hyde has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer, alongside Melanie Pocock as Artistic Director (Exhibitions) and Linzi Stauvers as Artistic Director (Education). Birmingham City Council fully appreciates the contribution that Ikon Gallery has made to the city’s cultural identity over the last 60 years and we wish the management team and Trustees all success going forward.”
Councillor Saima Suleman, Cabinet Member for Digital, Culture, Heritage & Tourism, Birmingham City Council
