After a comprehensive recruitment process, Fierce are thrilled to be welcoming new Executive Director Ethan Hudson to the team beginning in September 2025. Ethan joins after Director (Operations) Catherine Groom and Director (Producing) Pippa Frith left earlier this summer to take on the roles of General Manager for Artsadmin and Executive Producer for Selina Thompson Limited, respectively. He will join Artistic Director Clayton Lee as co-director of Fierce.
Ethan says: “I am thrilled to be joining Fierce Festival as Executive Director at this momentous time for the organisation. As we approach Clayton Lee’s second festival as Artistic Director next year, and Fierce’s 30th anniversary in 2028, we have an opportunity to demonstrate the power and relevance of live performance in Birmingham today. In these times of rapid change, I look forward to building a solid foundation for the next 30 years of Fierce, alongside Clayton and the communities of Birmingham. I cannot wait to get started on this next great chapter for Fierce, and to witness the incredible work I know will come out of, and into, Birmingham over the coming years.”
A lifelong Brummie, Ethan is a production manager, change-maker, and consultant.
Working in theatre, dance and live art since 2010, Ethan has delivered complex international festivals in Birmingham (BE Festival, On The Edge Festival), multi-partner international projects (We are Lightning Australia, Of Riders and Running Horses, ECHO) and memorable UK tours (Burnt Out in Biscuit Land, Civilisation). Ethan has previously worked with Fierce as Production Manager on the UK tour of Paul Ramírez Jonas’ Public Trust.
In his work as a production manager, Ethan has extensive experience in developing novel touring infrastructure and best practice. Leading production for the Collaborative Touring Network (BAC), Ethan built teams to tour eight shows a year to eight regional partners in non-theatre contexts over a period of six years. The works were staged at, or close to, their original scale, bringing theatre to communities that would otherwise not be able to access them. Recently, Ethan has worked to pioneer a micro infrastructure for the critically claimed and technically complex concept tour of ECHO by Nassim Soleimanpour, in collaboration with global partners LIFT, Royal Court Theatre, Riksteatern, Why Not Theatre, and Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles, setting a new standard for sustainable touring.
Since founding Frontseat Media in 2012, Ethan has overseen teams delivering hundreds of projects a year, resulting in thousands of public performances a year, across the UK and around the world. He led Frontseat Media to offer scenic fabrication, equipment hire, equipment sales and other technical services. He also worked to develop and test start-up business ideas in business-incubator schemes, notably gaining micro-investment for an automated eco-engineering business in 2021.
Ethan’s drive for change has led him to be an active part of the local and national co-operative movement, working towards mutuality, equity and common ownership of the things we all need. He brings his values into his work and his working skills into his activism, and continues to champion social justice and ecological causes in his work in the arts.
Fierce’s Chair of Trustees, Paul Burns says: “On behalf of the trustees I would like to welcome Ethan to Fierce as Executive Director. Although it’s really welcome back, wearing a new hat – Ethan has worked with us before as a production manager, so has a deep understanding of what we do and how we work. During the interview process we were impressed by Ethan’s enthusiasm to put this understanding to work in a new role, his willingness to learn and apply his skills in new parts of the organisation, and his passion for our values and ethics. We look forward to working with Ethan to build on the many brilliant things that Catherine and Pippa achieved at Fierce, and can’t wait to see what he and Clayton cook up together.”