After coming in at the tail-end of the pandemic, Mark Foster, chairman of Chichester Festival Theatre’s board of trustees, now finds himself overseeing an exciting new era.
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00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Brewparks Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Now, as a new
00:06 season begins at Chichester Festival Theatre, it is lovely to speak to the Chairman of the
00:10 Board of Trustees of the Festival Theatre, Mark Foster. Now, this is coming up for your
00:15 third season at the Festival Theatre, isn't it, in effect? Does it feel different, new
00:20 Artistic Director?
00:22 It does feel different. I mean, it feels exciting. I mean, a new Artistic Director is an opportunity
00:28 for us to kind of just add an extra dimension and flavour of newness to what we're doing.
00:34 Of course, we want to build upon all the greatness that's been the past of Chichester and the
00:39 last few seasons have been hugely successful as well. So it's not about changing course
00:44 dramatically. It's standing on the shoulders of Daniel and the work that came before.
00:50 But you suspect it will feel different in some ways? It has to feel different, doesn't
00:55 it?
00:56 Well, it does. It brings a different perspective. Anyone brings a different perspective to the
00:59 work. Justin, in particular, obviously brings a perspective that comes from actually a lot
01:04 of his focus on working with younger people. His prior role at the Unicorn was obviously
01:09 a children's theatre, apart from the work that he had done with the Royal Shakespeare
01:14 Company before that. And he brings there for a very particular perspective that comes from
01:19 that, as he does with, I think, a very exciting vision for the role that different aspects
01:25 of what it means to be English right now means as a theme for this year's season.
01:32 It's going to be really exciting, isn't it? And Daniel's, Justin's predecessor, Daniel,
01:38 was making the point that obviously theatre needs to move on and it does so by changing
01:42 artistic director.
01:43 Yes, as I say, any organisation benefits from changes in leadership. In my world of business,
01:53 I always felt there was a time when CEOs met their sell by date. And I think that is true
01:58 of artist directors, though it's fair to say that we would have been very happy to have
02:02 had more years of Daniel. But that's just where we are.
02:06 Well, you were lucky to have had the two because Daniel did such a fantastic job steering the
02:10 whole organisation through the pandemic, which in some ways seems a long time ago, doesn't
02:14 it? But what a brilliant thing he did.
02:18 It was Daniel and Cathy. I mean, I think the key thing, again, about our model that you
02:22 should do is this, the double headed executive director, artistic director model that we
02:26 have. And I think it's actually a fantastic model. And it was the way that the teamwork
02:32 between Daniel and Cathy was fundamental to that successful period.
02:36 And I'm delighted to see the teamwork already coming to fruit between Cathy and Justin as
02:43 well, because it's that combo of understanding, yes, the art, yes, the work that's going to
02:49 be exciting and interesting on our stages, but it's putting it into the model of an organisation
02:53 that in the round has to be financially successful, has to think about the marketing, has to think
02:58 about how we build a team of people who are going to execute everything on the stages,
03:02 behind the scenes. And it's that combo of leadership that actually is, I think, at the
03:06 heart of the success, certainly for Chichester.
03:10 But in overseeing that, you've brought some incredible experience as a businessman to
03:14 the business, haven't you, to the organisation. What are the principles from all your years
03:18 of business leadership that you are now applying to the theatre, do you think?
03:23 Well, one of them I just touched on there, which I think is that in the end of the day,
03:26 it's around the leadership and around the team that is important. Leaders do set a tone,
03:33 the collaboration and the teamwork between players and your team is fundamental to making
03:37 any organisation successful. And without it, frankly, it's always a problem. But also,
03:43 I think the idea of about clarity of vision and the direction of an organisation and being
03:48 able to communicate that clearly to all those stakeholders who are engaging with it. And
03:52 I think that the opportunity for us as a board and leadership team at Chichester to be clear
03:58 about what we want to be famous for and then make sure that the work we do, the collaborations
04:04 we undertake, the people we bring on board are all part of making that be true. And I
04:09 must admit, I'm very excited by the fact that we've had a number of new people join the
04:13 team as recently in some key roles, and they're all playing a part, I think, in helping us
04:19 to think about how Chichester can be even more successful in the period ahead.
04:24 So the theatre is in a really good place, isn't it? A very good summer last year and
04:27 an excellent winter, renewal, new people and bookings doing well for the summer.
04:34 Yes, I'm delighted. I don't take any of the credit so far of the process of success. But
04:41 clearly, the organisation has been in good health. It's seen through the tough times
04:47 of COVID better than many. It's hugely dependent upon the fantastic support it gets from the
04:54 community of Chichester and all those supporters of the organisation to make it be successful.
04:59 But we are lucky that we are in good place. It's allowing us to think about doing even
05:03 more new things. So you will have seen that we're thinking about the creation of this
05:07 third space, The Nest, which is going to be a very exciting project that we're getting
05:12 our minds around right now. And as I say, I think that we're looking forward to Justin's
05:18 first season. But we're already thinking about exciting things for the next year as well.
05:22 So I must admit, there's lots of really good stuff coming down the track.
05:27 Fantastic, clearly very exciting times. Lovely to speak to you, Mark. Thank you very much
05:31 indeed. It's a pleasure.
05:33 [BLANK_AUDIO]