From Party Glitz To Festival Honcho
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday April 24, 2008
THE creative director of Sydney's last three New Year's Eve celebrations, Wayne Harrison, is tipped to become the next director of the Sydney Festival.
The Lord Mayor and festival chairwoman, Clover Moore, is expected to announce the appointment shortly. Harrison, a former chief executive and artistic director of the Sydney Theatre Company, is among the frontrunners for the post, which was advertised in London and New York. Fergus Linehan will deliver his fourth and final Sydney Festival in January when it presents the epic cycle War Of The Roses, featuring Cate Blanchett and the Sydney Theatre Company's full-time actors' ensemble. Linehan, who directed the Dublin Theatre Festival, has been credited with building a vibrant and wide-reaching event. Initiatives such as the About an Hour series at the Opera House, with tickets to all shows $25, the Famous Spiegeltent in Hyde Park and this year's free Festival First Night have helped make the event popular and inclusive. The enterprising Harrison is seen as an ideal successor to Linehan, given his international contacts, producing experience and investment in the development of artists. He recently directed the circus-burlesque show Absinthe in New York and Miami.Harrison, who is in London, was not available for comment yesterday. At the helm of the Sydney Theatre Company in the 1990s, the director once said the difficulty of leading the organisation was manoeuvring through public taste, public expectation and some of the political demands made on the company because it accepts government money. His commercial ambitions were criticised by some for being out of step with the core business of the state's subsidised drama flagship. Although running the multifaceted arts festival invites the same pressures, the event's growth, international partnerships and aspirations are such that Harrison's entrepreneurial flair is probably what is required. He directed the 2006 Commonwealth Games' closing ceremony in Melbourne.
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald