David Sefton is Director of Culture and Creative Projects for the Institute. David has recently returned from Australia, where he was Artistic Director for the Adelaide Festival of Arts.
David joins with a wealth of experience across the arts in the UK, the US and Australia, including a decade on London’s South Bank where he was founding director of the legendary Meltdown Festival; following that he spent ten years in the US Artistic & Executive Director of UCLA Live, the public arts unit of the University of California in Los Angeles and one of America’s largest campus-based public presenters.
From there he moved to Australia where he was Artistic Director of the Adelaide Festival (Australia’s equivalent to the Edinburgh International Festival). He has consulted for the Walt Disney Organisation and is also the recipient of awards including the Chevalier des Artes et Lettres, presented by the French President in May 2010.
His board
service includes 10 years on the board of the Hackney Empire, the London
theatre renowned for its groundbreaking work with the communities of the East
End.
He
also served as a member of the Arts Council of England Music Panel and the
Literature panel of Greater London Arts; in the United States he was a board
member of ISPA and served as a panelist on the Large Grants Panels for Los
Angeles County. In Australia, he sat on the boards of EAF, the Experimental Art
Foundation; WRITERS SA, the South Australian Writers Association and the Arts
Industry Council of South Australia.
David has responsibility for developing
an integrated approach to our arts and culture activity, and will build on the
excellent work already happening at the Institute by leading the expansion of a
strong portfolio of industry and stakeholder partnerships, and national and
international connections.
‘I’m thrilled to be joining ICCI at such an exciting time. I am convinced that there is enormous benefit to be gained for academia and the creative industries from an active partnership like this.’
