FORMER Skipton resident Matt Burman has been appointed artistic director of Yorkshire Festival 2016.

Matt, one of the UK’s top programmers and producers, will lead on the next year's event, which will see hundreds of shows, concerts and projects celebrate the very best artists and companies, from across the county and around the world, during 18 days from June 16 to July 3.

Matt said: “Yorkshire Festival will burn bright across a constellation of sites – from dale to coast, moor to city, club to stately home, we will be filling the county with a rich and diverse programme of experiences.

“I'm really happy to be back in the county I grew up in. So many of my formative cultural experiences were here."

Previously head of programme and audiences at Warwick Arts Centre and executive producer at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival, Matt spent his teenage years in Skipton and is still a regular visitor.

His parents, Alasdair and Sheila, live in the town and are stalwarts of Skipton Music Festival. In fact, Matt won a first prize at the festival in the late 1980s in the under-16 violin class.

"I love Skipton and the landscape around the town," said 43-year-old Matt.

He added the festival will encompass the whole of Yorkshire, and he will be looking at ways of bringing it to Skipton and into the Dales.

"We are in the very early stages of planning, but the festival will have a county-wide reach. It is very much a collaboration with artists, companies and venues, and we need to identify the best way forward."

Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive, Sir Gary Verity, said: “I’m delighted to have Matt on board and am excited about how the festival is already shaping up."

David Lascelles, Earl of Harewood and chairman of the Yorkshire Festival, added: “Delivering a festival of this scale and ambition is an exciting challenge. We hope everyone in the county will be fired with the same kind of enthusiasm they showed for the Yorkshire Festival in 2014.

“We are very grateful to our funding partners, Arts Council England and Yorkshire’s local authorities, for helping to make this happen.”