Brighton Festival chief executive to step down

Andrew joined Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival (BDBF) as chief executive in 2008, establishing the guest director model for Brighton Festival – England's largest curated multi-arts festival - with artists such as Anish Kapoor, Laurie Anderson, Kae Tempest, Lemn Sissay and Frank Cottrell-Boyce. Alongside commissioning works for the Festival with national and international partners, he has developed a vision for the organisation as a year-round centre of artistic activity, involving all areas of the community.

Over the past six years BDBF has also taken over the management and operation of Brighton & Hove Music and Arts and East Sussex Music Service, engaging around 20,000 children and young people each week in music making across 270 schools under a new organisational banner Create Music..

Andrew said: “The last sixteen years at Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival have been the most enjoyable, mind-stretching and challenging of my career and I have been honoured to lead such a committed and talented team, guided by such an insightful and supportive board of trustees.

“We have always sought to enable Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival to be an organisation that works alongside its partners and its communities – one that is properly in service to its residents and visitors, not just in providing great art and entertainment but in developing skills, social cohesion and economic benefit for everyone.

"Crucial to that aim has been the steadfast commitment of Brighton & Hove City Council and Arts Council England and I am grateful to them, and to all our funders, patrons and supporters, for their belief in the role Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival plays in this city and the wider region and for all their advice and guidance over the years.

“It is a wrench to be leaving this great city on the edge, which I will always love, but I am confident Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival is just at the start of an incredibly exciting creative adventure and can’t wait to see what it produces next.”

Danny Homan, chairman of trustees, Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival said: “We are enormously sad that the time has come for Andrew to move on after leading Brighton Dome, Brighton Festival and Create Music with such skill and distinction. During his tenure, Andrew and his team have transformed our organisation and he leaves us in robust health and full of creativity and ambition. Andrew will be missed by colleagues and stakeholders across the city and the region where he has had such a positive and enduring impact. The Trustees and I are hugely grateful for all his hard work and accomplishments and wish him well with his new challenge.”