Jenny Howard Coombes is an established cultural leader with a career spanning 25 years working across the arts, culture, and major events sector.

Prior to joining Edinburgh International Festival as Head of Partnerships, she was Executive Director of Dandelion 2022 leading on the delivery of an award winning, major nationwide creative programme engaging schools, communities, and industry throughout Scotland.
In 2012 she became Executive Director & joint CEO of Freedom Festival (Hull) and played a central role in building an international arts organisation and annual festival. During her tenure at Freedom Festival, she contributed significantly to the cultural transformation of the city – galvanising investment in the arts to increase access, engagement and enable community led creative initiatives and supported, as a delivery partner, the UK City of Culture programme during 2017.