Kath M Mainland heads to Melbourne

Kath M Mainland is standing down as chief executive of the Edinburgh Fringe after seven years.

She will take on the role of executive director of the Melbourne Festival from February.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, which oversees the month-long event, will now start seeking a replacement before the next Fringe starts on August 5 next year.

Announcing the news, Mainland said: 'I love the Fringe and I have lived in Edinburgh for over 20 years because of it. I'm immensely proud of the Fringe Society staff and their achievements – I have had the opportunity to work with an amazingly hardworking, imaginative and talented group of people.

'I'd especially like to take this opportunity to thank all the creative souls who take part in the Fringe and make it what it is – the world's largest, most renowned open-access arts festival. Every year artists from all over the world travel to this great festival city to bring audiences their extraordinary work, and it's because of them that the Fringe is so successful, and Scotland has such a unique cultural event to be proud of.'

The chairman of the Fringe Society, Sir Timothy O'Shea, paid tribute to her work, saying: 'Kath's passion for the arts, their place in society and our unique festival city of Edinburgh has led her to achieve great success as chief executive of the Fringe Society. Her enthusiasm is contagious, her spirit is generous, and her vision and hard work has been truly remarkable. We are extremely sad to see her go.'

Mainland took her after her predecessor, Jon Morgan, resigned in the wake of the 2008 box office fiasco that led to a ten per cent slump in ticket sales. Her previous jobs included running the Edinburgh International Book Festival and being general manager of the Assembly Theatre.

During her tenure at the Fringe, its size has exploded. There were 1,216 more shows in the 2015 programme than in 2009 and 48 more venues. This year, an estimated 2,298,090 tickets were issued for Fringe shows.

Mainland was awarded a CBE for services to culture in Scotland in June last year.

Published: 9 Nov 2015