Sydney Festival gets a new executive director

Bell Shakespeare’s Christopher Tooher was announced as the new executive director for Sydney Festival today.
He joins Festival Director Lieven Bertels to deliver one of Australia’s most popular events. “I am excited by his appointment and look forward to be working with Chris across my three Festivals 2013-2015. It is really wonderful to be able to complement our team with another leading Sydney arts professional, and this only weeks after the recruitment of Fiona Winning as our new Head of Programming,” said Bertels.
Currently the General Manager for Bell Shakespeare Company, Tooher has previously worked as a Producer at Sydney Opera House and was the Director/CEO of Wollongong’s Illawarra Performing Arts Centre. A member of panels and committees for the Australia Council for the Arts and Arts NSW, he is also active on a number of Boards including Australian Dance Theatre, Legs on the Wall, Critical Path, Arts On Tour NSW, Performing Arts Touring Alliance and Australian Theatre Forum.
“Sydney Festival is a preeminent cultural event on the Australian calendar. Its position is unrivalled, showcasing the best of the world’s art in the country’s truly global city, celebrated in summer and cherished and loved by the community. I look forward to working with Lieven and all the team in continuing to deliver a Festival that surprises, delights and exceeds the expectations of our audiences and community,” enthused Tooher.
“It’s fantastic to have Christopher Tooher at Sydney Festival, bringing his experience from
some of Australia’s pre-eminent arts companies. Sydney Festival is one of Australia’s premier and most important arts events and I am confident that Christopher will make a valued contribution to the Festival team alongside Festival Director Lieven Bertels. Together they will present as a formidable pair,” said Minister for Tourism, Major Events and the Arts George Souris.
“Christopher’s experience managing touring and performance programs will be extremely valuable in his new role as Executive Director of Sydney Festival. This excellent decision rounds out the new leadership team’s strong internationalconnections with deep local production knowledge,” commented Lord Mayor and Chair of Sydney Festival, Clover Moore MP.
Tooher’s exciting new challenge is to run one of Australia’s premier art events which attracted over half a million punters this year and included nearly 400 performances spread across 122 events featuring the best of international and local theatre, dance, music, film, visual arts and talks as well as major free outdoor events.
Tooher takes on the role from Josephine Ridge who had joined Sydney Festival in 2003 and was recently appointed as Creative Director for Melbourne Festival.
Next year’s edition of the Sydney Festival takes place from January 5-28.