Fran Loudon

Newcastle born, Fran Loudon has lived and worked in several different countries including Ireland, Canada, UK and South Africa, has a love of science, education and the arts, and is passionate about social justice and upliftment.

Fran has experience across a range of sectors in small business and on community committees and boards often as a founding member. She is a generalist with strong communication and organisational skills who sees connections between variables and is not averse to the risk of trying new things, providing support and building confidence in the teams required to do them.

Initially graduating with a BSc, DipEd (UoN), her roles and responsibilities have been as wide ranging as Art Director for an Irish village drama group working with rural youth to design and build sets, to Education Director for a well-established township NGO in South Africa, developing new models of support, initiating and consolidating teacher upskilling programs with improved facilities.

Returning to her hometown Fran joined Newcastle Art Space in 2023 as a studio artist for connection to a local creative community and won the Hunter Emerging Art Prize 2025 in Ceramics with a wall installation appropriately entitled “Here I Am Again, Home”. Fran now brings her extensive experience to the organisation as part of the team guiding and supporting its vision and goals.