Hoffman to quit as Dublin fringe director

Published Tuesday 13 May 2008 at 15:00 by Matthew Hemley

Dublin Fringe Festival director Wolfgang Hoffman is to step down from the role following this year’s event in September.

German-born Hoffman, who has been director of the festival since 2004, said he was leaving because he wanted to spend more time with his family, who are based in his homeland.

The director said he would be moving back to Germany after this year’s event was complete.

Speaking about his departure from the Dublin fringe, Hoffman said: “I had done one three-year contract and had entered another contract, but I realised that because my family are back in Germany, I wanted to be back there with them, so I quit my job.”

He added he was excited about the coming festival and added: “The fringe is a fantastic organisation to work with and I intend to make my last festival the best one yet.”

Chair of the Dublin Fringe Festival Una Carmody said Hoffman’s work had led the fringe “in new directions”.

“He has been in charge of exciting new developments and will be much missed when he goes in September. The board wish him well in his future endeavours and we all look forward to working with him in the coming months,” she said.

The board has now advertised the role and said it aims to have a new director in place by October 2008.

Last week, Hoffman announced that his Edinburgh fringe set-up Aurora Nova - of which he is founder and director - will not be part of this year’s festival, claiming rising costs across the board had made the venue unviable to run.