Liverpool Arab Arts Festival (LAAF) is delighted to welcome Sioned Jones as its new Chief Executive Officer and Artistic Director. Sioned brings nearly 30 years’ experience working at a senior level in the not-for-profit sector that has included roles as CEO at The Circle, a women’s rights organisation founded by Annie Lennox, Director at the Tax Justice Network and Deputy Director at Oxfam GB.
She also has extensive experience as a Trustee and currently sits on the Board of 3 charities, Storyhouse, the award-winning arts centre and creative hub in Chester, where she chairs the Development Committee and sits on the Artistic Impact and Finance committees, Magic for Smiles, a charity that works in several Arab countries and the UK working to support refugee children by bringing joy through Magic shows and workshops and Child to Child, a pioneering organisation in children’s participation.
Speaking about her appointment Sioned said, “I am absolutely delighted and thrilled to be joining LAAF, the UK’s longest-running annual Arab arts and culture festival, whose mission, to educate, challenge and engage communities in Arab arts, culture and heritage across the UK and internationally is one I feel incredibly passionate about. It is a real honour to have the opportunity to work with the Board and team, our partners, artists, funders and communities to build upon LAAF’s reputation and credibility for showcasing the richness of Arab art and building communities.”
Chair of LAAF, Afrah Qassim, said: “The Board are thrilled to appoint Sioned as CEO and Artistic Director at LAAF. She comes with a wealth of experience in all aspects of working in partnership and leading organisations. Coupled with her passion and knowledge of the power of arts and storytelling to connect, share experiences, grow understanding and preserve and build new cultures we look forward to this next chapter in LAAF’s journey and warmly welcome Sioned to the organisation and Liverpool.”
LAAF as an organisation was formally founded in 1998 with the first festival taking place in 2002 and has run annually since as a celebratory event raising awareness and promoting an understanding and appreciation of Arab culture for both Arab and non-Arab audiences in Liverpool and beyond. LAAF is the UK’s longest-running annual festival of Arab arts and culture.
2027 marks twenty-five years since that first festival. In that time, the festival has grown in size, confidence, expectation and ambition and remains the only annual multi-art form festival of its kind in the UK. It has become widely valued, with strong public affection and a broad audience, and recognised for its work supporting and championing creatives from the Arab region and its diaspora and fostering cultural understanding and appreciation through arts.