Mikey Martins has worked in the arts festival industry for more than two decades, across Europe, Canada and Australia. He has worked on numerous high-profile national and international cultural events and organisations, including the Norfolk & Norwich Festival, Sydney Festival, Out There Festival, Montreal – Just for Laughs, Melbourne Festival and as a creative producer with Theatre Bristol.
Mikey is on the steering group for the IN SITU network, is the chair of Cultural Collisions Hull, a board member of Surge (formerly Conflux) in Scotland and he is also a trustee of Welcome House – a support organisation for refugees and asylum seekers in Hull.
Mikey is passionate about how art in public space, arts festivals that integrate with communities, multi-disciplinary artists and place, can be truly powerful change making and transformative forces for the city (or town) where they operate.
Mikey believes great things can happen when working truly in collaboration, across sectors, across borders and across continents. Art and artists can change the often negative narratives so prevalent in our modern day society, but not on their own….
Mikey moved to Hull after taking up his appointment as CEO and Artistic Director with FFAT in 2015.