After training in theatre and dance at the Welsh College of Music and Drama, Rambert School and the London School of Contemporary Dance, Janet Archer went on to win the first Cosmopolitan Dancer of the Year Award in 1981. One of her prizes was to become the first member of the National Youth Dance Company.
After freelancing across England and Wales, she took up a post as Dance Animateur, and later Arts Manager for Welwyn Hatfield Council. Concurrently, with regional colleagues, she set up and toured a repertory dance company, Nexus, and an associated youth dance company, Osmosis.
In 1991 she moved to Newcastle to take up the post of Director of the new national dance agency for the region, Dance City. During her sixteen years in post, she developed the organisation to span dance production, education, community provision and professional development, developing projects like Dance in Action, COLINA (with Rui Horta), the NewcastleGateshead International Dance Festival and the first regional British Dance Editions in 1998 and 2000. One of her proudest achievements has been the conception and development of Dance City’s new £7.6m dance centre, which opened in 2005.
Other roles have included chairing the audience development agency, Audiences North East, and sitting on boards including Phoenix Dance Theatre, as well being a founder member of the Newcastle Gateshead Arts Forum. She is also a Common Purpose 2020 Graduate.
Janet took up the post of Director, Dance Strategy at Arts Council England in 2007. Since she has been in post she has contributed towards national policy, planning frameworks and development, working with partners to develop new resources for dance in a number of areas. She is a member of the Advisory Board for Carte Blanche in Norway and has recently joined the Board of the Work Room in Scotland.