Maja Hoffmann, the founder of the Luma Foundation, is set to become the first female president of the Locarno Film Festival.
Hoffman will replace long-serving president Marco Solari, who steps down after 23 years in the role.
Solari will assist Hoffmann during a transition phase, which will begin following the close of this year’s 76th edition of the event.
Hoffman founded private sector cultural organisation the Luma Foundation in 2004 in Zurich to support artistic creation in visual arts, photography, publishing, documentary films, and multimedia.
She is also president of the Swiss Institute New York and of the Fondation Vincent van Gogh in Arles, vice-president of the Emanuel Hoffmann Foundation Collection in Basel and a board member at the Serpentine Galleries in London, the Kunsthalle Zürich, and the New Museum and the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, both in New York State.
Hoffman’s name was put forward at the head of shortlist of possible candiates by an appointments committee tasked with finding a successor to Solari. Her appointment was approved today by Locarno’s board of directors. Her candidacy will now stand for approval at the festival’s Extraordinary General Meeting on September 20.
As well as Hoffman’s candidacy a number of changes to the festival’s governance will be voted on at the EGM. If approved, the overhaul will see the membership of its board of directors reduced from 27 to seven, while two new consultative bodies will be introduced: a Policy Advisory Board and a Industry Advisory Board. Both will provide support for the board of directors in its strategic planning.
Hoffman said: ”After spending many years exploring and putting into practice a range of projects, both in Switzerland and abroad, I am pleased to be able to put my experience and knowhow at the service of the future of this prestigious Festival, and so help foster the development of culture in Switzerland.”
Solari said: “I am delighted that Maja Hoffmann has accepted, because I am quite certain that her exceptional experience in the art, film and multimedia fields will enable her to lead the Festival towards a new phase in its history, in a scenario where the fundamental requirement is to focus on the excellence of our cultural offering.”
The Locarno Film Festival will take place from August 2-12.
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