Olivia Ansell appointed as Sydney Festival’s new director

A Sydneysider with a passion for her city's stories, Olivia Ansell's first Sydney Festival program will be presented in 2022.

‘I’m a Sydneysider and I have a passion for Sydney,’ said Olivia Ansell, the newly appointed Director of Sydney Festival. 

‘I know the city so well and so intimately having spent my whole career producing and curating big international moments, and moments with local artists in this city. So I really want to get in there and use those connections and my passion for the stories we can tell to reinvigorate and rejuvenate the city – and also keep Sydney Festival as one of the world’s major arts festivals and one of the biggest commissioners of international Australian work.’

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Richard Watts is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts