Leadership changes at Freedom Festival Arts Trust

Freedom Festival Arts Trust has named PHIL HARGREAVES as its new Festival Director and KAREN HALL as Chair of the Board of Directors.

The 2024 edition of Freedom Festival, which is an annual music and performance arts festival in Hull, will run from 28 August to 1 September.

Hargreaves will officially join the team on 2 September, while Hall has already taken up post. 

An award-winning creative producer, Hargreaves was most recently interim lead for Culture and Head of Creative Programmes for Bradford Council, where he contributed to BD:Festival and developed a new festival, BD:Is LiT.

“Freedom Festival is uniquely Hull, yet connected nationally and internationally,” Hargreaves said. 

“The festival's reputation for premiering exceptional cultural experiences and its ethos of creating dialogue around social issues are what attracted me to the role. I'm excited to continue delivering great art while pushing for additional resources and partnerships to grow the offer and range of work we do.”

Hall is the Charity Lead at Hull and East Riding Medical Research Centre (Daisy Appeal) and a former CEO of Mires Beck Nursery.

“Bringing people together to experience real emotions raised by artistic performance is quite a responsibility for the team to deliver year after year,” Hall said. 

“I was interested in helping the board support the aims of the festival and assisting our executive team with the challenges facing an arts charity in this difficult financial climate, particularly in funding our annual work in the community.”