The presenters of the Atelier LJUBLJANA 2012: Jonathan Mills

Jonathan Mills is the Festival Director and Chief Executive of the Edinburgh International Festival (UK). He joined the team of presenters of the Atelier for Young Festival Managers in 2009 in Varna (Bulgaria), in 2011 in Izmir (Turkey) and now for the third time in Ljubljana. “Festivals are one of the few remaining entities in which the artistic setters are allowed and indeed expected to take risk, as Bernard Faivre d’Arcier stated. It is not simply about taking risks for granted; it is about reinventing and revigorating even the most established festivals. Thus, those in charge of these precious entities have an enormous responsibility, as much as what we do, to reflect the imagination of the artists,” said Jonathan Mills during the Atelier VARNA 2009. Jonathan Mills took up his current post in October 2006. Before this appointment, he was the Vice-Chancellor’s (Professorial) Fellow at the University of Melbourne, Director of the Alfred Deakin Lectures and an Artistic Advisor to the Melbourne Recital Centre & Elisabeth Murdoch Hall. One of Australia’s most experienced festival directors, his previous posts included Artistic Director of the Melbourne International Arts Festival, the Melbourne Federation Festival, the Melbourne Millennium Eve celebrations and the Brisbane Biennial International Music Festival. As a composer, he is regularly commissioned in Australia and increasingly in Europe and the UK. His composition “Sandakan Threnody for solo tenor, choir and orchestra” won the Prix Italia in 2005. He is a visiting Professor at both Edinburgh and Edinburgh Napier Universities, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Chair of the British Council’s Advisory Board. He was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia in the Queens’s Birthday Honours in 2011. Eight renowned festival managers from all over the world will guide the participants throughout the seven days of the Atelier LJUBLJANA 2012 under the coordination of Hugo De Greef (Belgium): Robyn Archer (Australia), Bernard Faivre d’Arcier (France), Nele Hertling (Germany), Michal Merzcyński (Poland), Jonathan Mills (United Kingdom), Gerard Mortier (Belgium) and Fruzsina Szép (Hungary). In the run-up of the Atelier, all presenters will be introduced. Keep an eye! More info on the Atelier LJUBLJANA 2012 on the Atelier website.