Adelaide Festival co-directors Rachel Healy and Neil Armfield will leave their positions earlier than planned, to be replaced by English arts "powerhouse" Ruth Mackenzie.
The pressures of COVID, other work opportunities and health concerns all played a part, with the handover to begin in the middle of the year.
Healy and Armfield were appointed as co-artistic directors in 2015, taking over from David Sefton and overseeing the event from 2017 onwards.
While it has been rewarding work, Healy said bringing together programs through the COVID years had been tough.
"It was just the constant uncertainty, the endlessly changing situations.
"Neil's got a few health issues in the background and I don't think it would be a surprise to anybody that the last two years, of the seven we've been with the Festival, have been unrelentingly intense."
But the pair are not leaving the festival in the lurch for next year, with 80 per cent of the major events already either confirmed or well advanced.
Healy said there was an extraordinary backlog of international projects that couldn't be previously programmed due to the pandemic.
"There's a vast number that we are still really passionate about, some of which we've actually co-commissioned that are sitting there and from companies that are committed to coming to Adelaide in 2023," she said.
"We don't have to get on the planes as we did every other year of our tenure."
When the two hand over, they are confident they are leaving the festival in sound financial shape.
"When we started the donations to the Adelaide Festival were about $55,000 a year, now they're $2 million," Healy revealed.
"That comes from supporters all across the country and all across the world.
"We feel really confident that we are gifting it to the new artistic and executive leadership."
Festival chair Judy Potter has paid tribute to Healy and Armfield, saying they were owed "a huge debt of gratitude for their uncompromising artistic vision".
Mackenzie 'not afraid to push the boundaries'
Ruth Mackenzie CBE has more than 40 years of experience in the international arts world.
She has been director of the Holland Festival and Manchester International Festival, as well as being in charge of the cultural program for the 2012 London Olympics.
Mackenzie was also sensationally sacked by the renowned Chatelet Theatre in Paris in 2020 for reasons that are still unclear.
Currently a consultant artistic director for the Mayor of London, she plans to be here by mid-year, once a visa has been approved.
"There is no better place to show how vital, innovative, inspiring, collaborative and responsible the arts can be than in Adelaide."
Ms Potter said Mackenzie was an exciting appointment, and the first overseas director since Sefton.
"She is not afraid to push the boundaries in reaching out to a younger demographic, while appealing to our existing, fiercely loyal audience."
Healy said Mackenzie's overseas experience would ensure she brought a "different perspective" to the event.
"And that's what's exciting and that's why we turn over artistic directors at the Adelaide Festival, because it is something that is endlessly refreshing," she explained.
Mackenzie will take over stewardship of the 2023 Adelaide Festival, before programming the 2024, 2025 and 2026 events.
