Bayreuth Festival named by Bavaria's culture minister, Thomas Goppel, to take over the Festival. They were to take up their duties immediately, since their father had announced his retirement at the conclusion of the 2008 Festival. They were chosen ahead of the pair of their cousin, Nike Wagner, and Gerard Mortier, who had placed a late bid for the directorship on 24 August. The conductor Christian Thielemann has agreed to act as chief adviser to the new directors, effectively taking the role of music director of the Festival. The festival draws thousands of Wagner fans to Bayreuth every summer. It is very
George Town Festival core of George Town as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the previous year. Encouraged by the success of that event, a longer, month-long festival was mooted in 2010. Joe Sidek, a well known Malaysian artist, was roped in to manage the festival. In spite of budgetary constraints, the inaugural event was successfully held throughout the month of July in 2010. The art festival has been organised yearly since then, with events being held by utilising the city's heritage architecture as performance venues. The 2014 edition drew in 218,355 visitors, a figure which rose to 250,000 in the following year.