EDINBURGH.- The Edinburgh Art Festival board are delighted to announce the appointment of Joanne S Brown as the Festival’s first ever Director. Joanne will lead the Festival into a new phase, bringing the visual arts together under a combined vision for development. The Edinburgh Art Festival aims to strengthen the platform it provides for artists, galleries and museums across the city, as well as build its connections with audiences and with partners, including Festivals Edinburgh and the new visual arts programme at the Edinburgh International Festival.

The Edinburgh Art Festival is now entering its fourth year, and aims to showcase world class visual arts exhibitions and events in the capital, engaging audiences locally, nationally and internationally. This year’s Festival runs from 26 July to 2 September 2007. Highlights of the programme include a special focus on Picasso, with complementary exhibitions at the National Museums and National Galleries; a strong programme of single-artist shows at the National Galleries, including Andy Warhol, Richard Long and William Blake; site-specific work by Alex Hartley at the Fruitmarket Gallery and by David Batchelor at the Talbot Rice Gallery; new exhibitions by Scottish artist Nathan Coley at Doggerfisher and South African artist William Kentridge at Edinburgh Printmakers; while the City Art Centre stages a survey of the Arts and Crafts Movement in Scotland. Full details of the 2007 Edinburgh Art Festival programme will be announced in May.

Festival Chair Tessa Jackson said: “We are delighted with this year’s programme and with the appointment of Joanne Brown as Edinburgh Art Festival’s first Director. Joanne brings strategic leadership experience of developing festivals and will enable EAF to maximise the considerable curatorial strength which exists within its affiliated galleries and museums.”

Joanne Brown said: “It is a privilege to become the first Edinburgh Art Festival Director. This is an important step in the Festival’s development and I am delighted to have the opportunity to build on its success to date. This is a glorious time for the visual arts in Scotland - we have such a wealth of creative talent and energy. I look forward to working with the visual arts sector, and with the public, to develop the Festival as an integral part of the city’s cultural life.”