Sydney Festival
Sydney Festival's powerhouse general manager Josephine Ridge is known for her quiet charm, eyewatering competence and an ability to maintain a poker face that would enable her to break hearts and banks at high-rolling tables in Las Vegas.
During the Sydney Festival (January) she was asked, en passant, "If Fergus is leaving at the end of the next festival, have you got candidates in mind?"
Her smile didn’t give a hint of whether she was holding a flush or just cards, "We're talking to people," was her reply.
Yes, well. It was announced by the Festival this morning (February 2) that current director and CEO, Fergus Linehan, has been asked and has agreed to stay until 2009. This extends his original contract by one year and one festival.
Linehan's own response, on the back of more good figures for the 2007 festival, was typical. Throughout the 117-event festival, whenever called upon to speak, Sydney’s newest and currently favourite Irish-Australian was always quick to acknowledge the people who work with him. And today's quotable quote suggests he knows how fortunate he is in the team he’s got in the office down at The Rocks.
"I am deeply honoured and grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this extraordinary Festival through to 2009," Linehan says. "It seems like only yesterday that I arrived in Sydney, a city I have grown to love and admire. The support of the Festival Board and the talent and dedication of the Festival team, under our General Manager, Josephine Ridge, makes coming to work each day a real pleasure. We are all committed to doing our very best to delivering a Festival of which Sydney and NSW can be proud."
Within days Linehan will be jetting off in search of new delights for January 2008.
