DUBAI (DIFF) Festival Development Director

Dan Butkovich is responsible for ensuring DIFF's new initiatives are consistent with the overall vision of the festival. In his role, Dan works at developing all of DIFF's technological demands and adapting them to meet the requirements of the festival's comprehensive internal training programmes. He also oversees Registration & Accreditations, the Box Office, and Customer Services.Dan has more than 20 years of experience in the field of customer service management, across a range of arts and not-for-profit organisations and has worked closely with DIFF since it was launched. In the previous edition he was involved in tripling audience attendance since the inaugural year and worked with a team to ensure DIFF patrons received the highest level of customer services.In recent years, Dan has provided consultancy services to numerous organisations, including DIFF, and worked at developing policies and processes for various departments, implementing ticketing solutions for events, providing training and establishing international guidelines for customer services.Previously with the Toronto International Film Festival Group, Dan, developed and managed the Box Office and Customer Services departments. Under his leadership, the Box Office became an important source of revenue for the festival and brought in more than $4 million from the five divisions of the group. Dan also maintained a 95 % customer satisfaction rate for 10 consecutive years.