David Sefton was named executive and artistic director of UCLA Performing Arts in October 2000, following a celebrated 20-year career in the arts and media in the United Kingdom where he worked at London’s Royal Festival Hall from 1993–2000 in positions including head of contemporary culture.

Upon arriving in Los Angeles to take the reigns of the 70-year-old UCLA Performing Arts program, Sefton renamed the series “UCLA Live” and spearheaded a major shift aimed at bringing cutting-edge, international theater, dance, music and spoken word performance to Los Angeles. The centerpiece of these fresh initiatives and Sefton’s crowning achievement is the annual UCLA Live International Theatre Festival.

UCLA Live’s International Theatre Festival is the signature event of its kind in the United States and has helped put Los Angeles on the cultural map. The festival has become a domestic launching pad for major talents like the National Theatre of Scotland, Italy’s Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio and Los Angeles’ playwright Heather Woodbury, while also providing a first-time portal on the West Coast for theater legends like the Royal Shakespeare Company and director Robert Wilson.

In 2008/09, UCLA Live will host the West Coast debut of Ireland’s internationally acclaimed Druid Theatre Company, along with four U.S. exclusives including the return of Volksbühne in its second-ever visit to the U.S. Sefton previously presented such prestigious troupes as Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, Piccolo Teatro di Milano, Mabou Mines, Complicite, Gate Theatre Dublin, Forced Entertainment and the Wooster Group — many for the first time in Los Angeles or the country.

Sefton’s programming at UCLA Live celebrates excellence in many forms. His global talent searches have helped establish UCLA Live as one of the most important presenting institutions in the United States—an epicenter of world-class artistic expression and risk-taking innovation. Focusing on the international, UCLA Live offers audiences everything from classical Chinese opera to post-punk noise experiments; from ballet to contemporary dance/performance; and from chamber recital to live art. With Sefton at the helm, UCLA Live has been described by The New York Times as “the dominant player on the scene … the King-Kong of Southern California performance.”

During his tenure at Royal Festival Hall, Sefton worked with all of the United Kingdom’s major orchestras and ensembles, and supervised international orchestra, chamber and piano series. He also undertook the full production of many of South Bank Centre’s major festivals, including the annual Meltdown Festival, the largest and most influential festival in the Center’s season. His legacy is a critically and publicly acclaimed program that fostered new developments in music, performance and multimedia.

In addition to his work with Royal Festival Hall, Sefton produced three music programs at the Edinburgh Festival (1997–1999) and completed a recording project with Ute Lemper (1999). He has lectured extensively around the world and is the recipient of several major awards for his work. Sefton also has worked as an arts journalist and served as assistant director at both the Unity Theatre in Liverpool, England, and the Millfield Theatre in London.

He now lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Amanda Sefton-Hogg, and son Ambrose.

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