Former CEO of Manchester City Council, Sir Howard Bernstein is among nine new members appointed to the board of Manchester International Festival.
Sir Howard joins former Manchester Arts supremo Maria Bakshaw, now Director of London’s Tate Gallery and Lemn Sissay,the University of Manchester’s Vice Chancellor.
The full list of appointsments is as follows:
Maria Balshaw – Director, Tate
Richard Bell – North West Senior Partner, Deloitte
Sir Howard Bernstein – former CEO, Manchester City Council 1998 – 2017
Alan Bishop – former CEO, Southbank 2009 – 2017
Jamil Khalil – CEO and Founder, Wakelet
Amy Lawrence – Young Person’s board representative, Artist
Malcolm Press – Professor and Vice-Chancellor, Manchester Metropolitan University
Lemn Sissay MBE – Author and Broadcaster
Cathryn Wright – Managing Director, Stonewall
Tom Bloxham, Chair of the Board: “With the addition of these nine names the board is now ready to take Manchester International Festival forward into its second decade. The next few years will be momentous for the organisation and the region as The Factory is built and inaugurated. In this board we have real expertise from across the arts and creative, academic, business, digital and public sectors – skills we will be drawing on to make the most of the possibilities The Factory offers.”
John McGrath, Artistic Director and CEO: “We are delighted to welcome these nine wonderful individuals to our board. The breadth of their experience is remarkable and I know they will bring great energy to MIF as we head towards the opening of The Factory in 2020.”
The Factory is a new £110 million theatre and arts venue due to open its doors in 2020 on the old Granada Studios site, designed by Rem Koolhaas’s OMA. Ground-breaking took place at this year’s MIF, in a ceremony led by artist Laurie Anderson. MIF will continue to run the biennial festival, making use both of The Factory and its usual wide range of venues and found spaces.
