Kris Nelson was announced as the new Festival Director for 2026 by the Sydney Festival Board of Directors in September 2024.

Following a six-and-a-half year stint as Artistic Director and CEO at the prestigious London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT) and over a decade spent living and working in the UK and Ireland, Kris Nelson has relocated to Sydney and will deliver his first program as Festival Director in January 2026.

As Artistic Director and CEO of LIFT, Nelson was responsible for the biennial festival program of international performance in London. Held every second June and taking place across numerous venues, LIFT has drawn international acclaim for its brave stagings of contemporary, political and experimental theatre. Nelson’s dynamic programs as Artistic Director and CEO with LIFT featured the likes of 24-hour theatrical phenomenon The Second Woman by Sydney’s own Randall and Breckon, named The Guardian’s top theatre pick of 2023, and past Sydney Festival favourite, the indoor beachside opera work, Sun & Sea. He also commissioned premieres of several globally successful British works including I Am From Reykjavik by Sonia Hughes and The Making of Pinocchio by Cade & MacAskill. In 2021, Nelson lead LIFT to launch Concept Touring, an innovative platform designed to explore sustainable forms of international collaboration with little to no travel; it led to Nassim Soleimanpour and Omar Elerian’s LIFT 2024 hit, ECHO (Every Cold-Hearted Oxygen).

Originally from Saskatoon in Canada, Nelson has spent over a decade working internationally in arts and cultural events and is no stranger to making his mark on a new city through his bold curation. While cutting his teeth working as a freelance curator and producer on festivals across Canada including Vancouver’s PuSh International Performing Arts Festival and the roving Magnetic North Theatre Festival, Nelson also championed the works of experimental Canadian theatre and dance companies via his own Montréal-based touring agency, Antonym Productions. Nelson later relocated to Ireland where he served as Festival Director of the Dublin Fringe Festival from 2013 to 2017, Ireland’s largest multi-disciplinary arts festival and one of the few curated fringe events in the world.

The full announcement can be read here.

Previous directors were:

Olivia Ansell: 2022–2025
Wesley Enoch AM 2017–2021
Lieven Bertels: 2013–2016
Dr Lindy Hume AM: 2010–2012
Fergus Linehan: 2006–2009
Brett Sheehy: 2002–2005
Leo Schofield: 1998–2001
Anthony Steel: 1995–1997
Stephen Hall: 1977–1994