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DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

PuSh International Performing Arts Festival appoints Annie Clarke as new managing director

Clarke will replace Keltie Forsyth after this year’s fest comes to a close

By Gail Johnson

PUSH INTERNATIONAL PERFORMING Arts Festival has appointed Annie Clarke as its new managing director.

Clarke will replace the PuSh Festival’s current director of operations, Keltie Forsyth, who is transitioning to the role of artistic director at Presentation House Theatre. Clarke takes over on February 11, after the current festival comes to a close.

Clarke, who was selected by a hiring committee of PuSh board members, will co-lead the festival with artistic director Gabrielle Martin.

Clarke recently returned to Vancouver after several years in Toronto, where she worked on more than 20 productions as producer at Soulpepper Theatre Company and as the lead producer for its new play development program and Slaight Music residency program. Before her time with Soulpepper, Clarke spent four years working at Generator, an arts-service organization focused on artist producers, and was also the general manager of Groundling Theatre Company.

Clarke has collaborated in various ways with Discord and Din Theatre, Shakespeare in the Ruff, One Little Goat Theatre Company, Studio 180 Theatre, and Native Earth Performing Arts, as well as Vancouver’s F-O-R-M (Festival of Recorded Movement).

The PuSh Festival’s 20th edition is now running until February 9 at various venues throughout Vancouver.

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Gail Johnson

Gail Johnson is cofounder and associate editor of Stir. She is a Vancouver-based journalist who has earned local and national nominations and awards for her work. She is a certified Gladue Report writer via Indigenous Perspectives Society in partnership with Royal Roads University and is a member of a judging panel for top Vancouver restaurants.

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