Nelson Festivals Trust announces Artistic Director’s end of tenure

After four successful years with the Nelson Festivals Trust, Artistic Director, Lydia Zanetti is moving on in 2025.

From navigating a global pandemic, floods and funding changes, to envisioning and delivering spectacular and life-changing commissions and events such as THAW, Tense, Ko Te Ākau, the By Whakatū Residency Programme and the return of the beloved Mask Carnivale, Lydia Zanetti has created awesome and inspiring festivals. Under their stewardship we have seen audiences moved, emboldened and awed. Together with a capable dedicated team, they have delivered some spectacular offerings and industry firsts, such as, Pay What You Can ticketing across the whole festival. From its bold establishment, this has been a successful initiative that continues to provide increased access for many people in our community to enjoy and participate in the festival and performances.

Trust Chair Ali Boswijk thanked Lydia Zanetti on behalf of her fellow board members.

“The Trustees of the Nelson Festivals Board are immensely grateful for the huge contribution that Zanetti has made in delivering the Arts Festival for the community here in Whakatū. We are all very aware that after thirty years, the Arts Festival is a taonga for this region and it takes a special person to accept the challenge of delivering this dearly loved event. Lydia Zanetti did this in spades, achieving excellence in their programming choices and artistic content, guided by their own eloquent and emotive curatorial statements.”

The Trust Board, General Manager and Festival team who have worked with Lydia Zanetti for the past four years, thank them for their care and dedication to this taonga of a festival and wish them all the best for the very exciting future ahead.

Lydia Zanetti will deliver the 2024 Nelson Arts Festival with the exciting programme that they and the team have lovingly curated, before finishing their role in late December.

In this, the thirtieth year of the Nelson Arts Festival, the Trust looks to the horizon, igniting sparks of transformation and inciting the power of creativity as a force for positive change. They fiercely stand as a champion for artists and the arts, a catalyst for crucial conversations, and a mirror to our moment in time.

General Manager, Ruth Roebuck and the board are tasked with recruiting our new Artistic Director and will soon be welcoming applications from interested parties.

Ali Boswijk – Chair | Nelson Festivals Trust
30 September 2024