Katherine leads the way

JUST Festival director Katherine Newbigging made time, as usual, to talk to people and make sure everything was in order for tonight's official closing event and celebration at St John's Church in Edinburgh.

Katherine has been involved with Just and its predecessor, the Festival of Spirituality and Peace, in various capacities since 2008, latterly as coordinator and - since last year - director.

She is among the youngest major festival directors in Britain, but has built up a great body of experience and excellent relations with the whole range of people (artists, agents, technicians, staff, volunteers and other specialists) needed to put a demanding event like Just on.

Just is now an established part of the Edinburgh scene, and as soon as this one is wrapped, planning will start for 2014. As was the case this year, the festival will also take on a number of events across the calendar.

The Just festival has broken box office records in 2013, with some 145 events, 450 performances and around 30,000 people coming along.