In a way, this week's announcement of the programme for the Brighton Festival was a bit of a tease.

It was entirely devised by the new chief executive Nick Dodds' predecessor Chris Barron.

So while it tells us about the style of Mr Barron, it gives no hint of Nick Dodds' personality or the many changes to the festival he may be contemplating.

Wisely, for the moment, he is keeping those thoughts for the deep of the night when he stares at the stars from his bedroom window.

For those who ask, he repeats his mantra about getting through this first festival before revealing any plans or prophesies.

However, there is much to be learned from his background.

For the past decade, he has sat at the right hand of the Edinburgh Festival's brilliant but self-effacing artistic director Brian McMaster.

As the administrative director, he was responsible for that festival's financial, legal and operational stability.

Running one of the world's biggest international arts festivals is a rough business and the hurly-burly of the competition is as tough as it gets in the arts world.

He learned a lot. He may be a charmer but he has nerves of titanium. So, it is fascinating that, for the time being at least, he has decided not to appoint an artistic director in Brighton.

In truth, it may never happen. He is taking artistic responsibility himself with the help and advice from his experts in the fields of theatre, dance, music, literature and so on.

I get the impression after several conversations that he views the sprawl of Brighton Festival events as being in need of rigorous pruning.

I, too, have long argued that the philosophy of "size matters" has been the wrong philosophy.

What the festival really lacks is focus. While I am not suggesting for a moment it should become exclusively a music festival, a theatre festival or a dance festival, I believe it should lean positively towards one of the disciplines.

Given the theatrical history of this city of ours, my inclination would be towards theatre.

Interestingly, in that context, there is excited talk around Brighton about the possibilities of a "producing" theatre - as opposed to the Theatre Royal which is a receiving theatre, putting on the work of visiting companies.

It could commission plays as well as producing established drama and could even create an in-house repertory company.

Add to that the innovative work being produced in local video, film and TV studios and there is an overall drama package for which the festival would be a spectacular showcase.

Nick Dodds is already aware of it. He has his ear to the ground.

Inevitably, any attempt to prune will meet entrenched opposition. I suspect he is tough enough to deal with it. His job is to create a new festival for a new era - not to drag the old one along, hoping it will survive.