Longtime Vancouver arts administrator Laura Efron has been named the new executive director of the Vancouver Fringe Festival.

She replaces David Jordan, who has moved on after 12 years to become arts services manager for the City of Burnaby, a position that oversees the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, fests at Deer Lake Park, and more.

Efron, who officially starts her role on December 11, has spent the past two decades working on the cultural scene here, including stints at Rumble Theatre, the Arts Club Theatre Company, the Firehall Arts Centre, and Capilano University’s BlueShore Centre. She's also a cofounder of the indie theatre- creation centre Progress Lab 1422.

“My love of the Vancouver Fringe Festival began when I volunteered for the Festival in 1997 shortly after moving to Vancouver,” she said in a press statement released today. “Since then, I have enthusiastically attended the Festival as a member of the theatre community, been a donor, and helped facilitate Fringe shows at the Firehall Arts Centre during my time as the General Manager. I am excited to take on this role because of the opportunity to be surrounded by such enthusiastic volunteers and artists and to be part of a team that is working hard to provide theatre for everyone.”

Efron was chosen from a search process that saw applications come in from as far away as California and Ottawa. She was chosen by the Fringe board of directors, alongside community representatives Howard Jang (who is a professor of professional practice at SFU and director of Woodward’s Cultural Unit) and Tara Travis (a Fringe artist alumni).

The Fringe is scheduled from September 6 to 16 next year.