Kieran Swann is a curator and producer. He is dedicated to art that creates spaces for relief and resilience; provokes change and exchange; and demonstrates care, generosity, and beauty.

Kieran has spent nearly twenty years working across and between artforms; gallery-based exhibitions, public art, performance, social practice, co-creation.  He is currently Curator for Create London, chiefly responsible for A House For Artists, an ambitious new project providing long-term affordable housing for artists, and a programme of contemporary art and engagement in Barking; and the White House, a space for artist residencies, events, and community-led activity on the Becontree Estate in East London.

Kieran is also one half of McCarthy-Swann Projects, a curatorial collaboration that supports contemporary artists to create moments of connection, between artists, audiences, communities and individuals. McCarthy-Swann Projects platforms feminist, queer, and culturally diverse perspectives, to expand understandings of what is possible through a generous sharing of experiences.

Kieran has worked in a range of senior leadership roles across the arts sector; as Head of Live Programme for Wellcome Collection, a London museum focused on the intersection of art and health; Head of Programme for Arnolfini, Bristol’s international centre for contemporary arts; Program Producer for Theatre Network Australia, the nation’s leading advocacy organisation for the performing arts; and Program Manager for  Metro Arts, Brisbane’s home for experimental and contemporary art and performance. He has also worked on festivals and projects with Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, Performance Space 122 (now Performance Space New York), Danspace Project, and Venice International Performance Art Week..

Kieran has studied at Wesleyan University’s Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance, in Connecticut USA; Victorian College of the Arts; and Queensland University of Technology.

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