Former boss of Scottish Opera lands arts role at Olympics

Published on Wednesday 13 January 2010 21:36

A FORMER boss of Scottish Opera has been named chief of the "Cultural Olympiad" to orchestrate Britain's arts programme during the 2012 Olympics.

Ruth MacKenzie has been an adviser on culture to the UK government and worked as a theatre and festival director. But her tenure as Scottish Opera's chief a decade ago saw her dragged into ugly rows over multi-million-pound debts.

The former long-time director of the Edinburgh International Festival, Sir Brian McMaster, was one of four artistic advisers named for the board of the Cultural Olympiad.

Another was Alex Poots, who once worked in the Edinburgh Fringe, but has made his name recently as the director of the new Manchester International Festival.

There have been continuing concerns in Edinburgh over how the Olympics will affect Festival business in the summer of 2012, and whether visitors to the Olympics and Paralympics can be persuaded to make the journey north.

Ms MacKenzie's job will be to spearhead entertainment and arts events around the Games, in what is seen as a huge international platform for the UK cultural offering.

She said her first job would be to do a comprehensive audit of existing plans.

Ms MacKenzie was the general director of Scottish Opera from 1997 until 2000, at a time when it regularly hit the headlines over its troubled finances.

In 2001, an MSPs' report pointed the finger of blame at her over Scottish Opera's debts of 2.5 million, caused in part it said by a costly production of Macbeth. She rejected the accusations.

Ms MacKenzie has also worked as director of the Chichester Festival Theatre and the Nottingham Playhouse, and as the first director of the Manchester International Festival.