A NEW arts chief has taken up his post as part of an ambitious bid to develop and deliver four exciting new annual festivals for the city.
Earlier this year the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport awarded £3million from the Cultural Development Fund, which is administered by Arts Council England, towards the costs of the ambitious £4.5million scheme known as The Arches-Worcester.
As part of the cash pot, new festival director David Edmunds has been tasked to deliver a new celebration of the arts in the heart of Worcester city centre.
Mr Edmunds has spent more than two decades working in the cultural and creative industries. He founded Dep Arts, one of the North of England’s leading independent production companies, and spent over a decade producing and directing work there.
The company toured, programmed and commissioned work in a variety of art forms.
Prior to Dep Arts, he worked for some of the UK’s leading cultural organisations including The Royal Shakespeare Company and The Lowry, and has served on numerous arts boards during his career. He is also a founding member of the Guild of Media Arts in York.
“I’m delighted to have been appointed as the new festivals director for The Arches-Worcester. It feels like a really exciting time for Worcester in terms of culture and I have been struck by the level of ambition shown by all those I’ve encountered so far,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to working with the sector within the city in tandem with bringing the very best work from all over the world to Worcester.
“It’s going to be an exciting couple of years and hopefully the start of Worcester becoming synonymous with the word Festival.”
The first festival, a Festival of Light, will be staged in early 2020 and will see a series of light based installations put up around the city. Further details will be announced later in the year.
David and his team will be based in The Arches-Worcester when the refurbishment is complete.
As well as delivering four major Worcester festivals, the team will support the organisers of smaller scale community festivals.
