Tag: new director

Festivals Edinburgh appoints new Director

After a worldwide search, Festivals Edinburgh has appointed Lori [Lorraine] Anderson as its new Director, succeeding Julia Amour who is stepping down from the role in October 2024.

Lori Anderson will lead the organisation in the next stage of development, as it takes the steps needed to achieve the ambitions mapped out in the 2030 Festival City Vision.  She brings unique experience to the position most recently as Director of Culture Counts, the network of arts, heritage, and creative industries organisations in Scotland, and previously with Scotland + Venice, Creative Dundee, Collective Gallery, and Museums Galleries Scotland.

Simon Gage, Chair of Festivals Edinburgh said: “Lori joins us at a moment of significant change in our festivals landscape.

“We’ve bounced back from the covid pandemic but remain fragile, as does the wider culture eco-system. There are many challenges to be confronted in the coming years, but also many opportunities to be seized, and in Lori we believe we have found an exceptionally authoritative advocate to help shape our collective future.”

A post-pandemic study has shown that the Edinburgh Festivals are an even stronger draw now thanks to their unique, ‘must see’ reputations, which support the regrowth of jobs and livelihoods. As well as realising more cultural and economic impact with a lower carbon footprint, the Festivals engagement with local communities and schools has also risen by more than a third since 2018.

The new Director will take up her role just as changes are underway in both festivals’ strategies and wider culture & tourism policies, including the planned introduction of a Visitor Levy by City of Edinburgh Council – the first in the United Kingdom – and the national campaign for all political parties to reinvest in culture, building on Scottish Government commitments to increase funding by £100m over coming years.

Commenting on her appointment, Lori Anderson said: “The Edinburgh Festivals are amongst Scotland’s greatest cultural assets, recognised at home and abroad as bringing immense cultural, economic and social value to the country and its people.

“The fragility of our cultural landscape is all too familiar to me, but the agility of the Edinburgh Festivals in responding to change has always impressed me, and I look forward to taking up this crucial role at the heart of the festivals family.”

British Council Scotland appoints Peter Brown as new Director

British Council Scotland has announced the appointment of Peter Brown as its new Director. Peter will lead global education and arts programmes and will sustain and grow the British Council’s current network of relationships across Scotland.

He will support engagement around culture, education, and cultural relations with a network of over 100 international offices, taking the best of Scotland to the world and vice versa.

Peter will join the team in Edinburgh, moving from Serbia where he has been Director for the Western Balkans for the past three years.

In Belgrade, Peter led the British Council’s work across the Arts, English, and Education – most recently on the UK government funded 21st Century Schools programme, reaching 1 million 10-15 year old children in 4000 schools between 2019 and 2022.

Peter is excited to return home to Scotland and says about the new role: “I’m absolutely thrilled to join the team in Edinburgh and to head up the British Council in Scotland. I’ve been with the British Council for over 30 years and have worked around the world making global connections and building relationships with the UK. I’m looking forward to carrying on this work in, and for Scotland”.

“The British Council has brilliant and well-established arts and education programmes connecting across the country and I’m excited to help create more opportunities for Scottish creatives, students, and organisations to build worldwide connections.

“More broadly, I will look at how we help amplify the cultural assets of Scotland such as its leadership in creative showcasing and education partnerships.

“We’re working with the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities to offer the global EARTH Scholarship programme focused on creative approaches to the climate crisis.

“We’ll be working with Creative Scotland on the UK-France 2024 Spotlight Fund, and the British Council Connections Through Culture Grants are now open – linking the UK with East Asia. In November, a highlight for Edinburgh will the Going Global Education conference”.

Peter brings with him a wealth of international experience, having led policy and education work across the Western Balkans and has held Country Director roles in Mozambique, Venezuela, Uganda and Ethiopia.

Welcoming Peter into the Director role, Seona Reid, Chair of the British Council Scotland advisory committee, said: “We are delighted to welcome Peter into this important role. Peter has longstanding connections with Scotland and has a reputation for delivering work internationally and creating lasting value.

“I have no doubt he will make a very significant contribution to the internationalisation of education and arts in Scotland in the coming years, working alongside valued partners including the Scottish Government.”

Jenny Niven announced as new Director of Edinburgh International Book Festival

Jenny Niven, new director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival

Today the Edinburgh International Book Festival announces that Jenny Niven, a leading cultural producer and director who has worked with a range of influential literary festivals in Scotland and internationally, will replace Nick Barley as Festival Director.

Jenny will begin her new role in September after Nick has overseen his final Festival programme, following a hugely successful 14 years.

Nick Barley, outgoing Edinburgh International Book Festival Director, said: “I am absolutely over the moon that Jenny Niven has been chosen to take over from me as the next Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

“Jenny has a stellar reputation in the world of literature and culture, both in Scotland and elsewhere. She is open-minded, dynamic and – vitally for this role – a good listener who knows that running a festival is a team game. On top of that, her creativity, connections and enthusiasm will be a huge asset to the Festival.”

Allan Little, Chair of the Edinburgh International Book Festival Board of Directors, said: “We are very excited to welcome Jenny Niven as the new Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

“Nick leaves incredibly big shoes to fill, but Jenny is no stranger to the Festival or the world of the written word here in Scotland, and indeed further afield, and we look forward to seeing what she brings to this new Book Festival chapter.”

Jenny will join the team as the Festival prepares for an exciting move to its new permanent home at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, a landmark development based on the site of the old Royal Infirmary on Lauriston Place, in 2024.

Jenny Niven, the new Edinburgh International Book Festival Director, said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be appointed to lead the Edinburgh International Book Festival as its new Director.

“The Festival has influenced Scottish culture, and shaped the development of book festivals globally, for 40 years. There’s no greater platform to bring together the conversations that we need to have, to celebrate the role of creativity, imagination and story in understanding and reshaping the world around us, and to demonstrate that exploring the world collectively via books and ideas is one of the most rewarding and enriching experiences you can have.

“The opportunity to reimagine the Festival in its exciting new home at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, and to lead the organisation at such a pivotal time for Scotland’s cultural life, is an honour.

“Following the inspirational lead of Nick and his predecessors, I am excited to begin working with the impressive Festival team and board, and the incredible network of partners the Festival has cultivated in Scotland and beyond, to build on the Festival’s stellar reputation and to shape its future.”

Jenny is founder and Director of the award-winning Push the Boat Out, a festival of poetry, spoken word and language; Executive Producer of Dandelion, an epic programme of sowing, growing and sharing across Scotland, and was previously the Head of Literature at Creative Scotland. She was named in The List’s ‘Hot 100’ people influencing Scotland’s arts and cultural landscape in 2022.

For more information on Edinburgh International Book Festival visit:

https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/