After running the Sheffield International Documentary Festival since 2006, Heather Croall is returning to South Australia to take charge of the Adelaide Fringe Festival.
The English-born, Whyalla-raised Croall will take over as director and CEO from Greg Clarke at the end of the fifth edition, which runs February 13-March 15.
“After living in the UK for nearly a decade, I am absolutely over the moon to know that I am coming home to South Australia to take up this amazing job,” she said. “Greg Clarke is going to be a very hard act to follow but I am going to give it all I've got to fill those big shoes.”
Last year Clarke announced he intends to move back to Sydney and work as an arts consultant on individual projects.
Adelaide Fringe chair David Minear said, “Heather is an exciting, ideas-rich entrepreneur and leader with a proven arts track record. She understands the power of team and setting a clear vision. She also has a wicked sense of fun.
“Heather now has the wonderful opportunity to stamp her finger prints on the look, the flavour, the texture and destiny of this much-loved South Australian event.”
Croall told Adelaide media she is looking to expand the festival beyond the CBD further into suburban areas and Hills towns, make the Fringe more affordable for younger people, and to provide more opportunities for artists working in new, emerging and experimental art forms.
She is credited with rebuilding the Sheffield festival, boosting the number of delegates from 500 to more than 3,200, and transforming it into one of the most acclaimed of its kind.
Mark Atkin will serve as acting director of the doc/fest while a full time replacement is sought. Until recently Atkin was head of the Documentary Campus Masterschool.
Last November Sheffield’s Hallam University awarded her an honorary doctorate for services to film and culture.
In 2013, the Alliance of Women of Film Journalists named her Ambassador of Women’s Films for her work “to boost documentary film and open opportunities for women filmmakers”.
She was the director of the Australian International Documentary Conference from 2003-06 and was the recipient of the AFC fellowship program in 2005.