Multiple ARIA winner Katie Noonan has been unveiled as the new artistic director of the National Folk Festival.
The singer-songwriter will present her first festival in Canberra in 2022.
The festival is normally held each Easter in Canberra, but has not been held since 2019 due to COVID-19 restrictions leading to cancellations in 2020 and 2021.
Noonan said she was thrilled by the new role.
"The folk music of today's Australia is a multifaceted, multicultural and vibrant tapestry of colours and sounds," Noonan said.
"I look forward to weaving this tapestry into something rich and beautiful with you all - a tapestry that makes us feel all welcome and at home in our nation's capital."
Noonan has previously spent four years as artistic director of the Queensland Music Festival and was the musical director of the opening and closing ceremonies at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
The folk festival's managing director, Helen Roben, said the appointment of Noonan to the new role was a boost to the event.
"We have no doubt that her breadth of experience and unwavering passion for the arts will shape the festival's evolution, helping to grow the National Folk Festival's reputation as one of the best folk festivals in Australia," Roben said.
In addition to her solo work, Noonan has been involved in the pop-rock band George as lead singer, as well being a founder of the jazz trio Elixir.
More recently, Noonan was a contestant on The Masked Singer Australia.
Noonan said she was looking forward to helping put next year's festival together.
"Music for me is a lifelong lesson, a generous act of giving and means to change the world," she said.
"For me, music is home, it is a safe place where everyone is welcome. It is a tool to explore our identity, to ask questions and to better ourselves as humans."
