Haverhill Arts Centre’s creative director Dan Schumann ‘sad to be leaving’ after landing a job with Cameron Mackintosh
Haverhill Arts Centre’s creative director and manager has been described as a ‘hard act to beat’, as he prepares to leave for a new job with arguably the biggest name in theatre.
Dan Schumann, who took up the post in June 2021, will be leaving the arts centre next Friday to take a up a new role in London as a producer with Cameron Mackintosh, who has been described as the world’s most prolific producer of musicals in theatre history.
Among the shows he produces are Les Miserables, Hamilton and Phantom of the Opera.
When he arrived at the arts centre, Dan already had a stellar CV in theatre production, including working at the Almeida Theatre in the West End and for some Bill Kenwright Productions.
Dan, who lives in Fordham, said his departure has come earlier than he would have wanted, but reflected on his time in Haverhill with pride and pleasure.
He said: "It is a shame. I would have liked to stay for longer – that is the way it goes and it's sad all round.
"I have loved it. Every minute.
"I think, when I came, we were in quite a damaged world still.
"It was a case of trying to get audiences back after the pandemic and we've had the cost of living crisis and so it's been great to build a programme that has brought people back and improved the range of things and quality of things and the range of companies that we work with and the type of product we have built.
"All of that has been good and we had a massive success this year with the panto (Dick Whittington).
"That was a first because we did it all ourselves and that was a source of great pride because we did it all ourselves and audiences loved it."
Haverhill’s town clerk, Colin Poole, described mixed emotions that Dan is leaving Haverhill so soon.
He said: “We knew we had landed an amazing catch when Dan accepted the post here, as his arts background was glittering.
“So we are thrilled for him that he has been headhunted by Cameron Mackintosh and really excited for his future, but he made such a difference in a very short time, he will be a hard act to beat.
“Dan was very generous in using his little black book of contacts to bring some really high profile names, notably John Cleese and Lesley Garrett to name but two, to Haverhill.
“His in-house production of our recent panto, Dick Whittington got rave reviews and was record-breaking in both ticket sales and the valuable financial contribution it made to the arts centre.
“So we are very sorry to see Dan leave, but he leaves with all our best wishes.”
Last year Dan also oversaw The Urban Frame – Mutiny in Colour, a very successful summer exhibition of works at the arts centre by Banksy and other contemporary artists and a free exhibition of 35 posthumous prints of the famous cut-outs produced by Henri Matisse.
Haverhill Town Council is currently in the process of trying to recruit a replacement for Dan.
