The Council of the Market Theatre Foundation (MTF) has announced that its chief executive officer, Ismail Mahomed, has resigned.

Ismail Mahomed took the reins at the Market Theatre Foundation in August 2016 after his eight-year stint as the Artistic Director of the National Arts Festival.

With more than 35 years’ experience in the arts sector, he is a multi-award-winning cultural administrator. His last working day at the Market Theatre Foundation will be 30 June.

The chairman of the council, Gerald Themba Dumas, said that the council appreciated Mahomed’s service and dedication to the Market Theatre Foundation during his tenure.

“The Market Theatre Foundation excelled both locally and internationally during Ismail Mahomed’s tenure and this is evident by the many awards and accolades won by the MTF. The partnerships fostered by him and his team go a long way in maintaining the MTF’s position as a leading international arts institution,” said Dumas.

Mahomed has overseen the operations and provided leadership for the Market Theatre Foundation’s four business units – Market Theatre, Market Theatre Laboratory, Market Photo Workshop and the Windybrow Arts Centre – and developed a unified administrative system across all the divisions which included a revision of several policies and the development of standard operating procedures.

He drove the activation of the Windybrow Arts Centre as a multi-cultural business unit of the Market Theatre Foundation and, in partnership with the Coloured Cube and Sticky Situations, established the two Pan-African Reading Rooms at the centre.

He directed the restructuring and re-envisioning of the Market Theatre Laboratory and, under the leadership of Clara Vaughan, championed the Market Theatre Laboratory.

Mahomed said, “With the support of the council, colleagues and stakeholders who remained focused to our core objective of serving our artists and audiences we were able to achieve several more milestones at the Market Theatre Foundation. I want to thank the many partners and stakeholders whom I have had the privilege to work with so that we could collectively build on the legacy of the founding fathers of the Market Theatre Foundation.”

The Market Theatre Foundation is a 43-year performing arts institution with more than 300 awards for artistic excellence and four awards for human rights.