The United Kingdom\u2019s Labour government last week announced a suite of ministerial appointments under newly minted Prime Minister Andy Burnham, among them former Adelaide Festival Artistic Director Ruth Mackenzie.<\/p>\n
She will take up the role of UK Arts Minister, gaining a Peerage in order to serve as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the British House of Lords. It\u2019s the latest high-profile appointment for Mackenzie since leaving Adelaide, with Mackenzie also serving as director of arts at the British Council.<\/p>\n
An under-secretary of state in the UK is a junior ministerial position, with its holder responsible for assisting the senior minister in charge of a department.<\/p>\n
Mackenzie was named as successor to long-running Adelaide Festival heads Neil Armfield and Rachel Healy in March 2022<\/a>, and was expected to program the 2025 and 2026 festivals. However, in August 2024, the state government announced Mackenzie would leave the festival<\/a> for a newly-created role in the Department of Premier and Cabinet as program director, arts, culture and creative industries policy.<\/p>\n Following the announcement, which came just months before the festival typically announces the following year\u2019s program, former festival director Brett Sheehy was tapped to finalise the 2025 program amid discussion of budget difficulties the previous year.<\/p>\n The 2024 festival reported a \u201crecord attendance\u201d of 555,505 \u2013 a figure that includes several major free events \u2013 but also recorded a box office drop-off of more than $1 million, from $5.4 million in 2023 to $4.3 million in 2024. At an Estimates Committee session in June 2024, then-Arts Minister Andrea Michaels said the Festival had to make \u201csignificant savings\u201d in the following year.<\/p>\n Festival CEO Kath Mainlaind, who was appointed shortly after Mackenzie, also announced her departure in March 2025<\/a>, as Sheehy reported \u201ca very healthy six-figure surplus\u201d following the 2025 festival.<\/p>\n