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Next year’s Castlemaine State Festival will be Martin Paten’s last.
Mr Paten will farewell the Castlemaine State Festival after 10 years as its director.
“It gets harder and harder to leave festivals but I think it is healthy for a festival to have a change of directors, even if it's a festival you feel you could continue to keep working on,” he said.
“It's in really good state to hand it over, good resources and good community support for the next director.”
Mr Paten said when he arrived in Castlemaine in 2008, he new very little about the popular event.
“After couple of months here I found myself in the hot seat, directing the festival,” he said.
“I think I had seen one event years back but I couldn't imagine the sort of ride I would be on when I arrived.
“It is an extraordinary way to connect with the town.”