Mark Ball to leave LIFT for Manchester International Festival

Artistic director and CEO of LIFT Festival Mark Ball is to become associate artistic director at Manchester International Festival.

Ball will join MIF in June to focus on creating and delivering the artistic programme for Factory, Manchester's flagship venue for large-scale performance. He begins at the festival full-time in June.

The recruitment process for the artistic director position at LIFT will begin in February.

Ball joined LIFT in 2009 and has curated four of the biennial festivals. In that time has presided over 133 shows and events seen by over 200,000 people in over 50 venues. He will work closely with Manchester International Festival's artistic director and CEO John McGrath.

Ball said: "I have had the time of my life at LIFT. LIFT is an organisation I love dearly and its art, its values and its people I cherish. I will miss it enormously, but after eight years leave confident that it’s in great shape, and I look forward to seeing LIFT evolve under new artistic leadership."