National Gallery Director Selected for Oxford’s Cultural Leaders Programme

Caymanian cultural leader Natalie Urquhart has been accepted into the prestigious Oxford Cultural Leaders programme, joining 26 cultural leaders from across the globe this September.  Designed and delivered by Oxford University’s Saïd Business School  and its Gardens, Libraries & Museums, Oxford Cultural Leaders is a residential course for senior creative sector professionals. Selected from a competitive application process, Urquhart is the first Caymanian to attend this acclaimed international cultural leadership programme.

“The cultural sector has evolved rapidly since the pandemic. As cultural leaders, we are reimagining how we can best serve our communities, while forging new connections, and addressing new complexities of sustainability, Artificial Intelligence and funding,” says Urquhart. “This course offers an opportunity to strengthen leadership skills and to gain renewed access to current knowledge and best practice.”

The intensive programme will focus on both traditional cultural leadership practice and new entrepreneurial skills within the industry. Following the completion of the programme, participants emerge as part of a diverse global network of over 250 cultural leaders that represents some of the world’s leading museums, galleries and cultural venues, which Urquhart hopes will bring increased opportunities for collaboration with the Cayman cultural sector. “I am excited to bring renewed and revitalised leadership skills into my institutional roles, personal projects, and wider national cultural advisory work, and to share these with our team upon my return.”

Natalie Urquhart Bio

Born in George Town, Cayman Islands, Urquhart currently serves as the director of the National Gallery, and the creative director of Cayman Art Week. She has led the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands since 2009, where she has overseen the growth of the dynamic arts organization into a fully-fledged National Art Museum with a purpose-built facility, tri-island programming, and global presence.

Urquhart has held leadership roles at the Museums Association of the Caribbean (2017-2020), and the Cayman National Cultural Foundation (2022-2024), where she led both institutions through periods of strategic and policy development In 2021 she founded Cayman Art Week to support the strategic growth of the Cayman art market and gallery sector.

She currently serves as an ICOM UK Trustee, a Project Advisor for the Shared Islands Stories Project (University of St Andrews), and was formally on the boards of the Chamber of Commerce, the Tilting Axis Caribbean art alliance, the Cayman Islands Constitution Commission, the Nationals Arts & Culture Awards Committee, and the Cayman Islands National Cultural Policy Committee, and others, as well as contributing to working committees for UNESCO and the EULAC Foundation and national cultural advisory projects.

Urquhart is the recipient of the Young Caymanian Leadership Award and several National Awards for her work, and was recognised in the 2022 Queen's New Year Honours list with a British Empire Medal for her contribution to arts and culture in the Cayman Islands and wider region.