Sheila Pratschke, director of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig, Co Monaghan, has been appointed director of the Irish College in Paris. She will take over from Helen Carey in January.
Ms Pratschke has run the artists' retreat at Annaghmakerrig since 2001.
Ms Carey has been director since the Irish College/Centre Culturel Irlandais reopened to the public in October 2002.
The Centre Culturel Irlandais presents an Irish cultural programme, research facilities and accommodation, and is located in the Collège des Irlandais in the Latin Quartier.
Ms Pratschke said she was thrilled. "Working at Annaghmakerrig has taught me the importance of encouraging and developing Irish artists at a national level, and I am happy to expand that now to include international exchange in one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world.
"A career change that involves living and working in Paris is one of the few opportunities that could have arisen to tempt me away from beautiful Annaghmakerrig, and I look forward to the exciting challenges that lie ahead."
Her departure from Annaghmakerrig indicates that the director's post there will soon be open.
Ms Pratschke was director of the Irish Film Institute in Dublin for seven years, and also worked in the Irish Museum of Modern Art, IMMA, the Kerlin Gallery, UCD and on international arts festivals.
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