Verschoor has a long history with the Festival of Ideas, having produced the 2011 version of the event.

The festival was held every two years from 1999 until 2015, when the State Government dumped its funding due to a tightening arts budget.

Festival founder Greg Mackie took back ownership of the event from the Government and formed a not-for-profit organisation to reboot the festival in 2016. That event attracted about 15,000 people to 50 events.

Verschoor, the deputy lord mayor of Adelaide who has had a long career in arts and cultural management, said today she was excited by the event’s move to Adelaide’s West End.

“With the AFoI returning to July we will be will part of an exciting cultural program, ‘ART=IDEAS’ that will extend beyond our main AFoI dates to include the whole month of July,” she said.

The festival will run from July 12-15, with organisers promising a celebration of “the life of the mind, the role of the public intellectual” and debate on “some of the most perplexing and vexing issues of our times.

Verschoor will work with a new advisory committee to oversee the event, including:

• Emeritus Professor Ian Gibbins (convenor)
• Kristin Alford, Director of MOD, UniSA
• Darryl Gobbett, Financial Advisor, Baillieu Hoist
• Helen Loudis, Clinical Trial Project Manager, SAHMRI
• Peter Mares, Independent writer and researcher
• Amy Milhinch, Creative Director, Freerange Future
• Liz Nowell, CEO, ACE Open
• Vic Pisani, WOMADelaide Planet Talks Program Manager
• Jacinta Thompson, Executive Director, Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre, UniSA
• Sarah Tooth, Director, Writers SA

– InDaily