Janet Archer is Executive Producer of The New Real at Edinburgh Innovations/Edinburgh Futures Institute and Interim Chief Executive for Edinburgh Printmakers. Before taking up her role at the University she was Chief Executive of Creative Scotland [2013-2018] where she led on the formation of a 10 year plan for the arts, screen and creative industries which secured an additional £48m for these sectors between 2018 and 2021. 

Janet was Director, Dance for Arts Council England [2007-2013], working as part of the National Arts Strategy team from a base in London. While in this role, she commissioned a transformative Dance Mapping Study, set up the National Youth Dance Company working with the Department for Education and produced State of the Arts: Artists Shaping the World 2010, a national symposium for the arts attended by artists and key cultural leaders. 

Her practice based work includes a 16 year period as Artistic Director for Dance City, the National Dance Agency for the North East of England [1991-2007], Directing Nexus Dance, an international touring company commissioning major UK and international choreographers [1986-1991] and sitting on Boards including The Work Room, Glasgow [Chair], Audiences North East [Chair], Phoenix Dance Theatre and ANDA, the Association of National Dance Agencies. As a dancer, she won the Cosmopolitan Dance Award and as a producer, the Digital Dance Award and the British Gas Working for Cities Award. 

Janet trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama followed by the Rambert Academy and London School of Contemporary Dance. Her family background is from Allahabad [now Prayagraj] in India, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, and Derby in England. She has worked internationally for much of her career, forging producing and project partnerships across Europe and more widely.