Madani Younis leaves Bush to take role at Southbank Centre

Madani Younis has announced that he will step down from his role as artistic director and CEO of the Bush Theatre, to take up the new role of creative director at the Southbank Centre from January 2019.

Younis joined the Bush in 2012 and has since delivered the largest capital project in the theatre's history. His most recent season – featuring Monica Dolan's The B*easts, Arinzé Kene's Misty and the revival of Leave Taking by Winsome Pinnock – broke audience and box office records . He directs his final play for the Bush this month, An Adventure by Vinay Patel.

The new role of creative director will see Younis work closely with Southbank Centre's director of the Hayward Gallery, Ralph Rugoff, and director of music, Gillian Moore CBE, to create collaborations and cross-commissioned work across Southbank Centre's 17-acre site.

On the announcement, Younis said: "I'm absolutely thrilled to be joining Southbank Centre and extremely excited about this new chapter in my life. I'm looking forward to joining Elaine, Ralph and Gillian to develop impactful, forward-looking cross-artform collaborations and, as part of the wider artistic team, bringing world-class art to audiences old and new."

In January this year, Jude Kelly stepped down as artistic director of the Southbank Centre after more than a decade in the role.