One of the first gigs he helped organise was the Ross Kilda Festival, now known as St Kilda. He lead the organisation of the Titanic Centenary and Arthur's Day in Ireland.
He was also a stage technician for Jimmy Barnes in the early 90s.
With a year-and-a-half to plan for the next festival in 2018, Mr Anderson hoped to grow and develop the festival bigger than before.
Mr Anderson said he had a number of plans he wanted to talk over with the trustees on how it could be improved for 2018.
Last year the festival featured 68 gardens and artists.
Mr Anderson first lived in the Bay when his family moved to Whakatane at the age of 12, he then moved to the Waikato at 19 for a year before heading over to Australia and Ireland.
The Mount Maunganui resident said the next Garden and Arts Festival could be a great tool to draw more visitors to the Bay of Plenty.
"After being overseas, you come home and realise how beautiful it is here. We have the opportunity to make it a really great event, a national and international fixture on the events calendar. It will be a great tool to bring more people into the area.
"It's already a good festival with a great reputation. The people who run it and the people who work on it, we are all very positive. I am very excited to be among that positivity. "
Bay of Plenty Garden and Art Festival chairwoman Niki Burley said Mr Anderson had produced and directed a variety of sporting, musical, cultural, historical and commemorative events.
"Marc has an excellent connection with artists and with the creative community.
"He will rapidly engage and form an easy rapport with the festival festival's gardeners, volunteers and community."
