March 2, 2009

FUEL FESTIVAL TRUST APPOINTS NEW DIRECTOR    

Hamilton’s Fuel Festival Trust is pleased to announce the appointment of a new director to run the next Fuel Festival of New Zealand Theatre in mid 2010.

The Trust has appointed Greg Latham to the position. Mr Latham will direct the Hamilton based theatre festival considered a niche festival for the country.

Mr Latham has been the associate director of the Tauranga Arts Festival for the past six years, a position he will continue to hold. In 2008 he managed Platform, the University of Canterbury’s Festival of Arts and is a lecturer in Event Management at CPIT.

Mr. Latham, an accomplished musician, having completed a BMus from The Melbourne Conservatorium is also a Licentiate of Trinity College, London. He is an experienced event professional having worked on the Montana World of WearableArt Awards, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The New Zealand International Festival and the Christchurch Arts Festival.

Mr Latham lives with his family in Christchurch and together with his partner runs Innerwink, a successful event management company.

Fuel Festival Chair, Fletcher Pilditch, described Mr Latham as "an experienced festival professional with a huge range of skills and creativity." The Trust is looking forward to the next Fuel Festival of New Zealand Theatre in 2010.

This is the Trust’s seventh festival and will be the first one directed by Mr Latham who will also be directing the Fuel Festival of New Zealand Music in July 2009. "This newer festival," said Mr Pilditch "is in its early stage of development, and our new director is very much looking forward to developing it further over the next few years."