As of 1 September, Rainer Hofmann will start as senior programmer for theatre and dance at the Holland Festival. Together with director Emily Ansenk, programme director for music and music theatre Jochem Valkenburg, and programmer Katinka Enkhuizen, he will form the Festival’s Programme Team. Each year, the team also invites an associate artist to present new work and to act as a conversation partner and source of inspiration. Rainer Hofmann succeeds Kasia Tórz, who has been working with the Holland Festival since 2022 and will take up a new position at De Singel in her hometown of Antwerp on 8 September.
Emily Ansenk on the appointment of Rainer Hofmann:
'Rainer Hofmann is a programmer with a sharp eye for urgency, innovation, and craftsmanship. His many years of international experience and his in-depth vision in the field of theatre and dance align seamlessly with the character of the Holland Festival. I greatly look forward to our collaboration.
- Emily Ansenk, director of the Holland Festival
About Rainer Hofmann
Rainer Hofmann (1965, Burglengenfeld, DE) has been head of programming at the KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen in Hanover since 2021. From 2013 to 2021, he was artistic director of SPRING Performing Arts Festival in Utrecht, where he and a small team developed the festival into an internationally leading platform for innovative makers. Previously, he worked as a dramaturg at, among others, Schauspiel Köln, the Salzburg Festival and Stadttheater Bern.
During his years in the Netherlands, he was committed to the development of emerging makers, including Florentina Holzinger and Julian Hetzel, and programmed international artists such as Romeo Castellucci, Marlene Monteiro Freitas and Rimini Protokoll.
'I look forward to working with the team to create a programme that dares to be artistically free, resonates socially, and takes the audience on a layered, meaningful journey.'
- Rainer Hofmann