MANCHESTER International Festival have announced Fiona Gasper MBE, the current Executive Director at the Royal Exchange Theatre, as its new Executive Director.
I can’t imagine a better person to join the MIF Executive Team as we enter into a bold new phase in the Festival’s life
After five years at the Royal Exchange, Gasper will take over from MIF’s current Executive Director Jim Forrester in March 2016 and join newly appointed CEO, John McGrath, who replaced MIF's founding Artistic Director Alex Poots earlier in the year.
Gasper has been celebrated for leading the Royal Exchange Theatre in a 'bold new direction' and her commitment to creating 'opportunities for emerging theatre practitioners and artists'.
With 30 years experience in the cultural sector, including a role as Executive Producer of Liverpool’s 2008 European Capital of Culture Programme, Gasper has made a significant impact at the Royal Exchange and steered the organisation through a 'major restructure' including the move to a sole Artistic Directorship under Sarah Frankcom and the appointment of a new Chair of the Board, Ben Caldwell.
Speaking on her former role, Fiona Gasper said: "The Royal Exchange is a truly unique theatre and it has been an absolute pleasure to be its Executive Director for the past five and a half years. We have been through many changes during my time here and it has been hugely exciting and rewarding to work with Sarah and a brilliant staff team on that journey.
Fiona Gasper MBE"The theatre is brave, bold and ambitious and Sarah’s vision and determination to push the boundaries of what kind of theatre the Exchange can be is inspiring, I look forward to seeing the company flourish. I am really thrilled to be joining John at MIF but have relished my time in helping to shape the Exchange into an organisation which is hugely relevant to theatre making in all its forms in Manchester and nationally.”
Gasper, who was awarded an MBE for services to the arts in June 2009, joins the arts festival following this year's successful showcase.
“Fiona Gasper has long been one of my arts heroes," says new MIF CEO John McGrath. "We worked together when I first came to Manchester in 1999, re-imagining Contact Theatre, and I was inspired at every step by the ways in which she combines vision and strategy to get great things done.
"Her work since then at Liverpool Capital of Culture and at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre has had a massive impact in both those cities. I can’t imagine a better person to join the MIF Executive Team as we enter into a bold new phase in the Festival’s life.”
