Former Derry Culture Company boss appointed Edinburgh Fringe Festival chief

The boss of Derry’s year as City of Culture is to be the new leader of the world’s biggest arts festival.

Shona McCarthy (pictured) will become chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in March next.

Ms McCarthy told heraldscotland.com she was “thrilled” to be appointed ceo of an organisation she had “long admired.”

She added: "I have spent 25 years working in the cultural sector and have seen up close and personal the transformative power that art can have on people, on cities and on wellbeing.

"I passionately believe in personal and collective creativity as a force for good in a turbulent world.

"I have visited Edinburgh and the Fringe on many occasions and there is no better outlet for creative expression than the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the greatest open access arts festival in the world, and I can’t wait to work with and support all those who make up such a wonderful festival.”

She also paid tribute to her predecessor.

She said: "Kath Mainland has done a terrific job and there is a brilliant team already in place, I look forward to joining them."

Ms McCarthy is currently director of Shona McCarthy Consulting, founding director of Culture Trust, chairperson of Oh Yeah music centre in Belfast, and Walk the Plank in Manchester.

She was awarded an Eisenhower Fellowship for Innovation 2014.

From 2011 – 2014 she was chief executive of the Culture Company, leading up and during Derry’s year of City of Culture in 2013.