Ms Roisin McDonough has been appointed chief executive of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. She succeeds Mr Brian Ferran, who is due to retire in October.
Ms McDonough was not one of the hotly tipped contenders for the job, perhaps because her background seems very different to that of those who have traditionally held ACNI's top jobs.
She is currently chief executive of the West Belfast Partnership. Relations have often been sour between ACNI and much of the west Belfast arts community because of perceived bias against events, such as the West Belfast Festival, which have an openly nationalist agenda.
She is also, of course, the first woman to head up the staff of ACNI, just as Ms Patricia Quinn is the first female director of An Chomairle Ealaion. Increasingly, women are taking over the top jobs in the arts in Ireland.
A Trinity graduate, her career has mostly been in community leadership. She was director of a Craigavon-based anti-poverty programme, the Brownlow Community Trust, a team leader with Making Belfast Work and a director of the Training Network for Women.
She is currently abroad, but the statement she issued stresses the capacity of the arts to bring about social change: "The arts have always had an important contribution to make to our social and cultural life. The opportunities conferred as a result of the wider change process that is occurring in our society make that contribution even more pertinent and politically significant."