If you have been keeping a keen eye on our vacancies page, you will have spotted that our Festival Director Rosie Turner, who has held the post with distinction for nearly 20 years, has decided it’s time to pass on the torch and that 2023 will be her final year with the Festival. We are incredibly sad to see Rosie go but the search is now on for an ambitious and creative collaborator to embrace the challenges and opportunities of leading a cultural organisation in East Kent.

Festival Director Rosie Turner writes,

“After almost 20 happy years at the helm of Canterbury Festival I have decided it’s time to hand over this jewel of a job to somebody new. It has been a fun-filled journey from our old HQ in Christ Church Gate to Festival House in Orange Street – via the occasional community opera, cathedral play and massive lighting and sound installation. The joy of producing an annual arts festival has been incredible and it has been a massive team effort. Thanks to everyone – the staff team (present and previous), the Trustees, Sponsors, Friends, artistic partners and performers in Canterbury and beyond, and chiefly to our audiences – who stuck with us “for richer, for poorer, in Covid and in health”. We couldn’t do it without you, and it would be pointless to try. So do please keep coming!

The search is underway for a new Festival Director and I will be staying until Christmas to make sure the handover is seamless – so put your teary hankies away for now! I’ve got quite a bit of programming to complete before I sail off into the sunset so I’d better get on with it.

 See you at the Festival!”

Applications for this post are now closed.