Biography

Ruth Mackenzie CBE is the Artistic Director Designate for the Holland Festival, Amsterdam’s prestigious international arts festival, with her first festival being June 2015.

She was most recently the Director of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, and Curator of its finale, the London 2012 Festival. This official cultural programme for the Olympic & Paralympic Games was the largest UK Festival in the country’s history, involving over 25,000 artists from every country participating in the Games, and over 20 million attendances, 80% of which were free.

She was General Director of the Manchester International Festival and Scottish Opera; Artistic Director of Chichester Festival Theatre, Executive Director of Nottingham Playhouse, Head of Strategic Planning for the South Bank Centre. She has also been Consultant Dramaturg to the Vienna Festival, Consultant to the BBC, Tate, London Symphony Orchestra, British Film Institute amongst others and Expert Adviser to 5 Secretaries of State for Culture, Media & Sport in the UK Government.

She is currently working for the BBC, Arts Council, Imperial War Museum and the British Council in Israel and Palestine.