Institute of Contemporary Arts
Melanie Coles has extensive experience in operations and visitor services, currently serving as the Head of Operations & Visitor Services at the Institute of Contemporary Arts since May 2013. Prior roles at the Institute include Head of Visitor Operations, Senior Operations & Visitor Services Manager, and Operations & Visitor Services Manager, along with an earlier position as Programme Assistant. Previous experience includes commercial development administration and hosting at the Barbican Centre, and event assistance at Roundhouse Trust. Melanie's career also encompasses production, writing, and technical coordination for media organizations like CiTR 101.9 FM, Discorder Magazine, and CTV News, as well as a position as Consignment Manager at Zulu Records. An educational background includes a Bachelor's degree in Media Arts from Emily Carr University of Art and Design, earned between 2003 and 2008.
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Institute of Contemporary Arts
Founded in 1946 by a collective of artists, poets and their supporters, the Institute of Contemporary Arts is an independent organisation and registered charity which supports the most pressing debates in contemporary culture. The ICA stages groundbreaking exhibitions, performances and keynote lectures by many of the world’s leading thinkers. Previously home to the Independent Group, the ICA played a pivotal role in the development of Pop art and charted the course of punk, performance art and independent cinema. The ICA staged the first institutional exhibitions by Francis Bacon, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Tacita Dean, Damien Hirst, Mike Kelley, Mary Kelly, Barbara Kruger, Gerhard Richter, Dieter Roth, Cindy Sherman, Nancy Spero, and Cosey Fanni Tutti and early exhibitions by Bernadette Corporation, Robert Mapplethorpe, Steve McQueen and Tino Sehgal; many now historic performances including those by Laurie Anderson, Einstürzende Neubauten and Yoko Ono; legendary concerts by The Clash, Throbbing Gristle, The Smiths, David Bowie and The Beastie Boys; and critical discussions by the likes of Kathy Acker, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Stuart Hall and Homi K. Bhabha. The ICA Cinema and its dedicated artist’s film programme continue to showcase independent film and support pioneering filmmakers including Chantal Akerman, Kenneth Anger, Matthew Barney, Derek Jarman, Ken Loach and Laura Poitras. From its home on The Mall – the geographic heart of the UK establishment – the ICA is an organisation in which different modes of cultural production thrive on the mutual engagement with one another, and a programme that speaks to the challenges of the 21st century.