Frie Leysen

Frie Leysen

Frie Leysen (born in Hasselt in 1950) is a Belgian festival director. She founded the art centre deSingel in Antwerp, and was a director of the organisation from 1980-1991. She founded the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels in 1992, and led the event until 2006. She curated the Theater der Welt in 2008-2010, was an artistic director at Berliner Festspiele in 2010-12, and was the theatre director of the Wiener Festwochen in 2013-14.

She was awarded the Flemish Community Award for general cultural contributions in 2003, an honorary doctorate from the Free University of Brussels, and the Erasmus Prize in 2014.