Staff Directory

Meet our team

The Gallery is run by Co-Directors Peter Richards and Sarah McAvera. Working together, they set the strategic direction for the gallery, design the programmes, source the funding and allocate the staffing resources to achieve this vision. Both are among Ireland’s leading specialists in Northern Irish Art and collectively have over 36 years’ experience of curation, leadership and project management in the Visual Arts sector, at national and international level.

Peter Richards

Co-Director

Peter Richards

Co-Director

Peter Richards has led the Golden Thread Gallery since 2001, transforming its vision and overseeing more than 300 exhibitions across Northern Ireland, the UK, and internationally. With three decades of experience as both a curator and an artist, his expertise spans exhibition programme development, strategic planning, and advocating for the arts. Peter is currently a member of the Royal Ulster Academy’s Council and the Cathedral Quarter Trust board.

He has previously held key leadership positions, including Chair of the Belfast Visual Arts Forum, Secretary of the International Association of Art Critics (Ireland), co-director of Catalyst Arts, and founding member of Bbeyond, Belfast. As an artist, his work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is featured in major collections.

Sarah McAvera

Co-Director

Sarah McAvera

Co-Director

Sarah has two decades of experience as a project manager, curator, facilitator and fundraiser, and has been with the GTG since 2005. Her role encompasses strategic development, fundraising, management, stakeholder engagement, curation and mentoring. Sarah was editor of the GTG Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art series, and her writing has appeared in Circa, Irish Arts Review and CURA Magazines. She is a member of the Belfast Visual Arts Forum Audiences Group and the Imperial War Museum Specialist Subject Network. Sarah’s commitment to making the arts more accessible and championing Northern Irish artists was recognised in her 2023 NI Women’s Award for Achievement in Arts & Culture.  

Liz Byrne

Development Manager

Liz Byrne

Development Manager

Liz Byrne is Development Manager at Golden Thread Gallery. She joined the GTG as fundraising officer in August 2019, seeking new funding and partnerships. Liz oversees the gallery’s daily operations, including coordinating the volunteer programme, and works directly with the Co-Directors to support the gallery’s strategic development and vision for the future. Her role encompasses identifying new opportunities and community partnerships, diversifying income, fundraising and donations, and managing press and marketing. Her previous experience includes Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children’s Books in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Before working in the arts, Liz was a producer for BBC Current Affairs for 12 years, producing award-winning investigative films for Panorama, Spotlight NI and BBC Three. Liz holds an MA in Creative Writing from QUB. She received a 2024 ‘Inspirational Woman in the Arts’ award from Local Women Magazine.

Mary Stevens

Exhibitions Officer

Mary Stevens

Exhibitions Officer

Mary has worked at Golden Thread Gallery since May 2018 and was made the Exhibitions Officer in August 2019. Previously, Mary worked at the University of Atypical (formerly Arts and Disability forum) the MAC Belfast, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, and was a Co-Director of Catalyst Arts Belfast for two years. Mary is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh (MSc) and the University of Ulster (BA Hons). She has published articles in Paper Visual Art, VAN Newsletter, The Thin Air, and the Herald, Scotland. For GTG she has co-curated several exhibitions, including Hold On Tight (an exhibition of female performance artists, November 2022) Claire Langan’s solo exhibition The New Dawn Fades (August 2023) and curated I Can Never Nail the Days Down in January 2023. She was a member of the British Art Network’s Emerging Curators Group (2023) and was recently awarded funding from the Paul Mellon Foundation (BAN) and a Frieze curatorial grant from Art Fund UK (2024). 

Isabel Duffy

Engagement Assistant

Isabel Duffy

Engagement Assistant

Isabel Duffy is the Engagement Assistant at Golden Thread Gallery. Isabel is a collage artist and facilitator from Margate. She gained her MA in Fine Art from the Edinburgh College of Art at The University of Edinburgh in 2022. Isabel previously worked at National Museums NI, Dovecot Studios and the Fruitmarket Gallery. She founded This and That Art Collective in Edinburgh in 2021, and Cotyledon in Belfast in 2024. Isabel has curated and exhibited in multiple group shows, including Pink Moon at Sett Studios and Cotyledon at Boundary Taproom, alongside delivering open access collage clubs.  Isabel was a selected visual artist for Hidden Door Festival 2022 and is currently an Emerging Artist at Creative Exchange Artist Studios thanks to Arts Council NI.

Board of Directors

Joe McVey

Joe McVey (Chair), a founding partner of Blueprint Development, has worked extensively in regeneration and development, in local government and the private and community sectors.

Molly Rainey

Molly Rainey’s specialism is in Law. She is a solicitor at Millar McCall Wylie where she mainly specialises in the sale and disposal of businesses, investment into companies and commercial contracts. She also advises in the area of media law, providing legal advice in relation to the development and production of movies and tv series.

 

Amanda Croft

Amanda Croft, art historian and former Teaching Fellow and Head of the History of Art department at Queen’s University Belfast.

Tony Hill

Tony Hill, Artist & former Director of the Master of Fine Art Course at University of Ulster.

Eimear Henry

Eimear Henry’s specialisms are culture, tourism, heritage and arts management. Currently, she is leading the development of the Belfast Stories Centre and formerly she was Culture, Arts and Tourism Manager for Belfast City Council. She also worked previously at OMAC and Replay Theatre.

Catherine McLaughlin

Catherine McLaughlin, Campaign Manager at The National Museum of the Royal Navy, visual artist and visual arts representative of the Go Girls.

Caroline Martin

Caroline Martin is Head of Corporate Marketing & Communications at Dale Farm and brings extensive experience in developing and executing strategic marketing and communication plans, engaging stakeholders and event management.

Róisín Burns

Róisín Burns is a public affairs consultant at Connect. She advises organisations on political and stakeholder engagement, strategic communications and public policy, alongside delivering research, media relations, events and training.  

Front of House Volunteer Team

Alexandra Moore Brian McAvera Charlotte Blair Ena Watts Eva Greta

Henry O’Neill Layhwa Cheah Leo Fitzsymons Louise Kennedy

Rachel Glass Sarah Boylan Sarah Lunn Tara McBride

 

 

 

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