Just in from ArtsWest, which is two weeks away from announcing its lineup for next season – the Junction-based arts enterprise has chosen a new managing director. Here’s the announcement:

ArtsWest Playhouse and Gallery announces the appointment of Line Sandsmark as its new Managing Director, effective March 22, 2012.

Ms. Sandsmark recently returned to the Northwest, after twenty years’ arts management and producing experience in Scandinavia and Europe. After acquiring an undergraduate degree in Comparative Literature from the University of Washington, and studying Critical Theory and Film Analysis at the graduate level at the Sorbonne, Sandsmark turned to film in the late 1990s, producing award-winning short films through her own production company, Kaliber Filmproduksjon, continuing as a regional grantmaker for the Norwegian Ministry of Culture, and heading the Copenhagen-based European Documentary Network.

ArtsWest’s Board President, Judy Burbrink, believes Ms. Sandsmark is just what the organization needs. “ArtsWest Board of Trustees is thrilled with the selection,” she said. “Line’s experience covers both business and the arts and can only add to the great strides ArtsWest has made in recent years. We welcome her expertise, her energy and her vision.”

Sandsmark returned to Seattle in 2010 and continued her commitment to the non-profit arts sector, working as a project manager for organizations such as Washington Filmworks and the Nordic Heritage Museum while completing her MFA in Arts Leadership at Seattle University.

“I have a long and continued commitment to the non-profit arts sector, and am delighted to be with ArtsWest – an established and ever-growing organization,” said Sandsmark. “It’s exciting to be working in the realm of live performance and exhibition again.”

ArtsWest’s leadership transition started seven months ago, when executive director Alan Harrison departed (WSB coverage here). Acting managing director Katie Koch confirms that the ensuing changes announced later in the fall are still in effect: Christopher Zinovitch is Artistic Director and Lauren Domino is Development Director.

(Photo credit: Briana Chicha)