Frie Leysen (19 February 1950 – 22 September 2020) was a Belgian festival director. She was director of the art centre deSingel from 1980 until 1991. In 1994, she co-founded the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels.
Biography
Frie Leysen was born in
Hasselt
Hasselt (, , ; la, Hasseletum, Hasselatum) is a Belgian city and municipality, and capital and largest city of the province of Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is known for its former branding as "the city of taste", as well as its ...
on 19 February 1950
as the daughter of Bert Leysen, the first programming director of the
NIR,
and the twin sister of actor
Johan Leysen
Johan Leysen (19 February 1950 – 30 March 2023) was a Belgian actor. He appeared in more than 130 films and television shows from 1977. He starred in the film '' De grens'', which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1984 Canne ...
. She studied Medieval Art History at the
University of Leuven.
Leysen was the first director of art centre
deSingel
deSingel is a Belgian arts center. It is located on the Desguinlei in Antwerp. Its various stages, concert halls and exhibition spaces offer a manifold program of music, dance, theater and architecture. It is also home to the Royal Conservatory ...
in
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, from 1980 to 1991.
Together with Guido Minne she founded the in Brussels in 1994. The first edition of the festival took place in May 1994. Under her direction the festival became an internationally acclaimed major event for Belgian and international performing artists. Frie Leysen started curating several international projects. In 2007 she organized Meeting Points, a multidisciplinary festival taking place in nine different Arabic cities (Amman, Damascus, Beirut, Ramallah, Cairo, Alexandria, El Minia, Tunis and Rabat), as well as in Brussels and Berlin. She curated the
Theater der Welt in 2010, was an artistic director at
Berliner Festspiele
The Berliner Festspiele (German for Berlin Festivals) are a series of festivals, art exhibitions, and other cultural events organized all year long by a common organization in Berlin. Events are held at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, a pre-ex ...
in 2010-12, and was the artistic director of the
Wiener Festwochen
__NOTOC__
The Wiener Festwochen (Vienna Festival) is a cultural festival in Vienna that takes place every year for five or six weeks in May and June. The Wiener Festwochen was established in 1951, when Vienna was still occupied by the four Allie ...
in 2013–14. She curated the performing arts program of Homeworks 7 in Beirut in 2015.
After a period of illness, Leysen died on 22 September 2020 aged 70.
Awards
In 1991 she received the Award ‘Arkprijs van het Vrije Woord’ (Ark Prize of Free Speech).
She was awarded the
Flemish Community Award for general cultural contributions in 2003,
an honorary doctorate from the
Free University of Brussels University of Brussels may refer to several institutions in Brussels, Belgium: Current institutions
* Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), a French-speaking university established as a separate entity in 1970
*Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), a D ...
,
and the
Erasmus Prize
The Erasmus Prize is an annual prize awarded by the board of the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation to individuals or institutions that have made exceptional contributions to culture, society, or social science in Europe and the rest of the world. It ...
in 2014.
In 2018 she received the “Bernadette Abraté Award”, given by the French speaking theatre critics in Brussels, Belgium. The Award was given to her and Christophe Slagmuylder for their work at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts. On 28 August 2019 Frie Leysen received the EFFE lifetime achievement award. The EFFE, the European Festivals Association, acknowledged her commitment to artists and her actions for artists’ creative freedom.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leysen, Frie
1950 births
2020 deaths
Festival directors
Catholic University of Leuven alumni
People from Hasselt