Virginie Dupray (Kisangani, Democratic Republic of the Congo) is executive director of Studios Kabako. Find out what Virginie is hoping to gain from Producer Farm, a week-long residency (26-30 June) for performing arts producers to get together, get informed and get away.
Why did you apply for Producer Farm? To share and connect with people doing the same job but in different contexts… Producing is often quite a solitary profession. Having worked a few years in London in the 90’s, I was also interested in reconnecting with the British context.
What are you hoping to get out of it? To find a space to share, reflect and exchange in a collective way, get inspired by others and also enlarge my network with UK professionals.
What do you think is important about the producing you do? In the Studios Kabako’s context, the most important is not producing, it’s not even about art but it’s maybe building something there in a very isolated and vulnerable context. Having communities around that believe in this project in a context where it’s almost impossible to believe in anything.
So I am proud to have participated to the growth of this strange dream, a space to create, search, doubt, in Kisangani DRC. By fostering young Congolese artists, dancers, actors, musicians, film-makers, and giving them opportunities to at last tell their own stories. In Congo and round the world, travelling abroad and coming back… It’s not about changing the world but changing through art the life of a few talented people around us.
Virginie is executive director of Studios Kabako, the training, production and touring structure founded by Congolese choreographer Faustin Linyekula, based in Kisangani DRC. She writes for arts magazines, and translates for arts and theatre catalogues. She previously held senior communications roles at the French Institute, London and the Centre National de la Danse, Paris.
Up To Nature, Zierle and Carter, Balloon Exit © Carl Newland
