Jonathan Holloway (born 15 January 1970) is an artistic director and theatre director. Originally from

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

in the north of England, he is currently the artistic director of

Melbourne Festival Melbourne International Arts Festival, formerly Spoleto Festival Melbourne – Festival of the Three Worlds, then Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, becoming commonly known as Melbourne Festival, was a major international arts festi ...

. Previously he established the National Theatre's ''Watch This Space'' Festival, was artistic director and chief executive of the

Norfolk and Norwich Festival Norfolk & Norwich Festival is an arts festival held annually in Norwich, England. It is one of the oldest city festivals in England, having been held since 1824 and tracing its roots back further to 1772. It was initially conceived as a fundra ...

and most recently the artistic director of the Perth International Arts Festival., which culminated with ''The Giants'' by Royal de Luxe, one of the largest arts events ever staged in Australia.

Biography

Holloway grew up in

in the north of England. He studied drama at

University of Exeter , mottoeng = "We Follow the Light" , established = 1838 - St Luke's College1855 - Exeter School of Art1863 - Exeter School of Science 1955 - University of Exeter (received royal charter) , type = Public , ...

, and started his programming career whilst reading drama there, promoting and presenting bands and artists including

The Sugarcubes The Sugarcubes ( Icelandic: Sykurmolarnir) were an Icelandic alternative rock band from Reykjavík formed in 1986 and disbanded in 1992. For most of their career, the band consisted of Björk Guðmundsdóttir (vocals, keyboards), Einar Örn Bened ...

Thom Yorke Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician and the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. A multi-instrumentalist, he mainly plays guitar and keyboards and is noted for his falsetto. He has been descri ...

(pre- Radiohead), Siouxsie and The Creatures,

Transvision Vamp Transvision Vamp were an English pop rock band. Formed in 1986 by Nick Christian Sayer and Wendy James, the band enjoyed chart success in the late 1980s, particularly in 1989. James, the lead singer and focal-point of the group, attracted medi ...

and The Inspiral Carpets. He was resident theatre director of the Wilde Theatre in Bracknell (directing under the name Jack Holloway) and in July 2003 was creative director of Elemental, a large-scale theatre, music and spectacle event at Chalon dans la Rue festival in Chalon-sur-Saône, France. From 1997–2004 he set up and ran the National Theatre's events department on London's South Bank, where he was the founding manager of ''Watch this Space'', the ''Festival of Lights'' and co-wrote/directed ''Robin Hood'' in the National's Loft Theatre. From 2004 to 2011 he was artistic director and chief executive of the

, during which time audiences grew from 35,000 to 278,000 and ticket sales tripled to over a third of a million Pounds, making it the fourth largest city arts festival in the UK. In March 2015 he completed four years as artistic director of the Perth International Arts Festival. He commissioned and programmed Australian premieres including the final three piano etudes from Philip Glass; ''Landfall'' by

Laurie Anderson Laurel Philips Anderson (born June 5, 1947), known as Laurie Anderson, is an American avant-garde artist, composer, musician, and film director whose work spans performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and ...

and the

Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for almost 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classic ...

; ''The Refusal of Time'' by

William Kentridge William Kentridge (born 28 April 1955) is a South African artist best known for his prints, drawings, and animated films, especially noted for a sequence of hand-drawn animated films he produced during the 1990s. The latter are constructed by ...

; ''Between the Desert and the Deep Blue Sea: A Symphony for Perth'' by composer

Tod Machover Tod Machover (born November 24, 1953, in Mount Vernon, New York), is a composer and an innovator in the application of technology in music. He is the son of Wilma Machover, a pianist and Carl Machover, a computer scientist. He was named Direct ...

; keynote speeches from writers Martin Amis,

Lionel Shriver Lionel Shriver (born Margaret Ann Shriver; May 18, 1957) is an American author and journalist who lives in the United Kingdom. Her novel '' We Need to Talk About Kevin'' won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2005. Early life and education Shriver ...

and Margaret Atwood; ''Situation Rooms'' by

Rimini Protokoll Rimini Protokoll is a German theatre group founded in 2000 by Helgard Haug, Stefan Kaegi, and Daniel Wetzel. They create stage plays, interventions, scenic installations, and radio plays. Many of their works are characterized by interactivity ...

; and ''Scattered Light'' by Jim Campbell. For the opening event for the 2012 Festival, Holloway programmed ''Place des Anges'' by Studio Cirque, which attracted 30,000 people. and won the Helpmann Award for Best Special Event His closing event in 2015 was ''The Giants'' by Royal de Luxe. Through many months of research and many trips to

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, Royal de Luxe designed a story that drew as much from

Nyoongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the so ...

culture as it did from the legacy and myth of the

ANZACs ''Anzacs'' (named for members of the all volunteer army formations) is a 1985 Australian five-part television miniseries set in World War I. The series follows the lives of a group of young Australian men who enlist in the 8th Battalion (Austr ...

. In January 2015 Holloway was appointed artistic director of Australia's

Melbourne International Arts Festival Melbourne International Arts Festival, formerly Spoleto Festival Melbourne – Festival of the Three Worlds, then Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, becoming commonly known as Melbourne Festival, was a major international arts festi ...

Boards

* Holloway has been the chair of Total Theatre Network (the UK's national development agency for physical and visual theatre) * He has been on the Executive of the British Arts Festivals Association, the national membership body for arts festivals in the UK * From 2012 to 2015 he was an ambassador for Children and Young People of WA

Honours

* In 2015 he was bestowed Honorary Citizenship of the

City Of Perth A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

* He is a fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts

Personal

As of January 2015 Holloway lived in Melbourne with his wife Jenny Vila and two children

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holloway, Jonathan 1970 births Living people Australian theatre directors