The Grand Opera House York is delighted to welcome their new Theatre Director Laura McMillan, who will be re-locating to York from Coventry. Laura’s previous position was Director of Audience Strategy at Coventry City Culture Trust, the charity responsible for the delivery of Coventry’s year as UK City of Culture 2021. Laura was the first employee of Coventry City of Culture Trust in October 2015 where she was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the bidding process including the coordination of writing the bids, managing multiple stakeholders across the region and presenting to the judges.
In her most recent role at the Trust, Laura was responsible for the Marketing, Communications, Ticketing, Digital Content and Monitoring and Evaluation departments and was part of the Senior Management Team. She oversaw the audience development and tourism strategies for the Trust and was a member of the West Midlands Combined Authority Regional Tourism Board and Destination Management Organisation Board. Laura was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2022 for services to Culture and the Community in Coventry. Previously to joining the Trust, she worked in the Sales and Marketing department of Warwick Castle before moving to the Marketing department of the Royal Shakespeare Company where she spent four years marketing their productions.
Laura aims to ensure that the GOH is rooted in the wider city of York and is seen as a welcoming place that locals and visitors can spend quality time in. Her ambitious programming following the re-launch of the building and continues to bring world-class high quality shows to the heart of York including music, comedy, theatre and dance. Laura also wants to continue on the Grand Opera House legacy of providing a stage for the very best of local talent.
‘Our new Creative Learning Producer, Kelly Culver, will help us open up the behind the scenes of the theatre more than ever before. We will also work with local schools and colleges to provide incredible experiences and introduce them to the world of working in a theatre. The theatres new Ambassador Theatre Lounge will help us provide that next level of VIP exclusive experiences for our audiences joining us to celebrate a special occasion, or just treating themselves. And in the short term I’m so excited to welcome Berwick Kaler back for a season of hilarious family fun.’