tiata fahodzi Announces Kirsten Burrows as New Executive Director

tiata fahodzi is delighted to announce the senior appointment of Kirsten Burrows as their new Executive Director. Burrows will join current Artistic Director and Chief Executive Natalie Ibu in leading this pioneering theatre company towards an even brighter future. She will take up this role in February 2018.  

Kirsten Burrows joins tiata fahodzi as Executive Director after three years as General Manager of China Plate. Prior to this, General Manager posts have included Candoco Dance Company and Islington Community Theatre (Company Three). She was also Producer and Strategy and Development Manager for Dante Or Die Theatre, most recently on the acclaimed I Do (Almeida Festival) and the Farnham Maltings commissioned Take On Me.  

Kirsten Burrows comments, tiata fahodzi represents a progressive, innovative and fresh attitude to what theatre can be in our contemporary, multi-faceted and multi-cultural society. It’s a hugely exciting time for the organisation as we plan for a future that exemplifies the many voices and stories that coexist within a ‘multiple mainstream’. I’m thrilled to be joining Natalie Ibu and the team as tiata fahodzi’s new Executive Director to help shape and deliver the company’s vision; celebrating the African heritage experience and looking forward to a future that continues to magnify the multiple experiences of all our lives.  

In June 2017, it was announced that tiata fahodzi would be continuing to be part of the Arts Council National Portfolio with an incredible 43% uplift. With a mission to illuminate the mixed, multiple experiences of the African diaspora in Britain today, tiata fahodzi’s Artistic Director Natalie Ibu has embarked on an international research trip, visiting five cities, three continents over four weeks and meeting 30 artists in Oslo, Johannesburg, Baltimore, LA and New York. This project is supported by the British Council and Arts Council’s Artist International Development Fund. 

With the protagonists of African heritage at its heart, initiatives led by tiata fahodzi also include the Artistic Director Leadership Programme, with resident Trainee Artistic Directors as well as Leaders of Tomorrow, which sees the support of a community of 30 experienced BAME theatre practitioners with ambitions to lead a theatre company. The ground-breaking work of this consortium is an important and much-needed enterprise to imagine and resource a future where leadership looks and feels different in order to ensure that the industry is representative of the world it serves.  

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Natalie Ibu, artistic director & chief executive of tiata fahodzi, comments, We are thrilled to welcome Kirsten to tiata fahodzi. Kirsten brings with her impressive experience, an unwavering commitment to audiences and artists and a clarity of purpose, joining me to make a new executive team to drive forward our ambitions and continue to assert us as a company for the Britain of tomorrow.  

After the critically acclaimed world premiere of good dog by Arinzé Kene, the company – with Tara Finney Productions and Watford Palace Theatre – are exploring a follow up national tour and a number of exciting digital opportunities.