Greenwich + Docklands Festivals Appoints Michelle Walker As Executive Director

Greenwich + Docklands Festivals (GDF) today announces the appointment of Michelle Walker as its new Executive Director. She takes up her role in March.

Michelle Walker said today, "I'm delighted to be joining the team at GDF, with their ground-breaking artistic programme, commitment to supporting the work of diverse artists, and passion for transforming communities. I'm very excited to be a part of the organisation's next chapter and look forward to working alongside GDF's many local and national partners over the coming years."

Artistic Director of GDF Bradley Hemmings said, "I'm so pleased to be welcoming Michelle Walker as our new Executive Director. She brings with her an impressive track record of resourcefulness and creativity, coupled with a rare strategic intelligence, which will make the months ahead an exciting time, not only for all of us here at GDF, but also the wider outdoor theatre sector."

Since January 2015, Walker has been Artistic Director of Hat Fair - the UK's longest-running festival of outdoor arts, which attracts 60,000 people onto the streets of Winchester over 3 days each July. Previously she was the Producer at Oxford Playhouse, where she was responsible for creating shows on the main stage, in the studio and in off-site locations - including running tracks, shopping centres, car parks, and disused garages - as well as being responsible for The Playhouse's artist development work. Whilst at The Playhouse she collaborated with artists including Chris Goode, Molly Naylor, Margaret Drabble, Paterson Joseph, Glyn Maxwell and Anne-Marie Duff. She has previously produced for Shared Experience, Bristol Old Vic, Foursight Theatre and UK Arts International, a company specialising in presenting contemporary South African theatre in the UK. In 2009/10 she was the West Midlands' Fellow on the Clore Leadership Programme and in 2014 she received a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust travel fellowship with which she visited theatre companies in Bolivia and festivals in France. She has also recently been appointed to the board of ISAN.

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