David Binder announced as LIFT guest artistic director

David Binder has been announced as guest artistic director for the next London International Festival of Theatre in 2018.

It was announced in January this year that previous artistic director Mark Ball was to leave the festival to become associate director of Manchester International Festival. A search for a permanent artistic director of LIFT is due to begin this summer.

Binder has worked recently as LIFT's artistic associate, where he arranged the performances of Taylor Mac at Hackney Empire and YOUARENOWHERE at Shoreditch Town Hall. His work in New York includes The High Line Festival, curated by David Bowie and he has produced the Dutch New Island Festival.

Other work includes the Tony Award-winning production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, 33 Variations starring Jane Fonda and Of Mice and Men starring James Franco and Chris O'Dowd.

Binder said: "I’m thrilled and honoured to be LIFT’s 2018 guest artistic director. For two decades, the festival has acted as my unparalleled guide, taking me to every corner of London. It has introduced me to new forms, new ideas and new communities, and to international artists, who again and again, have changed the way I perceive the world."

LIFT 2018 will take place in London throughout the month of June.