Channel 4 Appoints Arts Commissioning Editor

LONDON: John Hay, who first joined Channel 4 last year, has become the network's new commissioning editor for arts.

In his new role, Hay will work under Ralph Lee, the head of factual for Channel 4. His duties will include finding new projects and overseeing the upcoming 2014 arts commissions involving Grayson Perry, James Rhodes and Wayne Sleep.

Hay took over for Julia Harrington as history commissioner in August 2012. Since then he has managed such productions as Richard III: King in the Car Park and has commissioned D-Day: As It Happens, The Plane that Saved Britain, as well as the Secret History strand and Walking the Nile. Earlier in his career he served as a program-maker for the BBC Arts Department.

Lee said: "I'm delighted that John is taking up this role, having already made a significant impact since joining the channel a year ago. His creativity, insight and passion for the arts will help to build on the great work Tabitha [Jackson, commissioning editor for arts at Channel 4] has been doing."

Hay added: "I've spent much of my career making arts television but never had a chance to commission it, so this job feels like coming home. Tabitha has left an amazing legacy, and Channel 4 has the most creative, most ambitious and most supportive culture I've ever worked in, so I think there's a real chance here to find and back genuinely extraordinary work."