Trained in European economics (HEC - Paris and the University of Cologne) and in history of art, Virginie Dupray first held positions in communications and public relations at the Institut français in London, where she participated in the launch of Ciné Lumière, the first French-speaking repertory cinema in London, and, from 1999 to 2003, at the Centre national de la danse, setting up the communication and graphic identity of the young public institution.

 

From 2000 onwards, several encounters led her towards the African continent. In 2001-2003, she produced, under Nganti Towo’s direction, two editions of the Kaay Fecc festival in Senegal (2001-2003), then was the administrator of the Scénographies urbaines in Kinshasa in 2006-2007. But it is above all within the Studios Kabako, alongside Faustin Linyekula, that she develops numerous projects from 2003 onwards.

 

Executive director of the structure until 2021, she accompanied the production and dissemination of Faustin Linyekula's creations and projects, as well as those of other artists in the fields of dance, theatre, music and film. These include choreographers Papy Ebotani, Dinozord, Dorine Mokha, Djino Alolo, percussionist Huguette Tolinga, composer and filmmaker Franck Moka and directors Christiana Tabaro and Michael Disanka. In collaboration with the association 1er Temps / Andréya Ouamba and CulturArte / Panaibra Canda, she wrote and directed Pamoja, a pan-African residency and creation programme between Kisangani, Dakar and Maputo, funded by the European Union (2012-2015).

 

More recently, she designed and coordinated the programme Dessine-moi une forêt ! (2019-2020) on the issue of deforestation and the film Lettres du continent (2020).

 

Today, as an independent producer, she accompanies three exceptional women, Nadia Beugré, Dorothée Munyaneza and Marcela Santander. She has also been collaborating with Nacera Belaza.

In 2021-22, she wrote for the MC93 in Bobigny Common Stories, a 3-year Creative Europe programme she is now coordinating.

She is a member of the committee of experts for the dance programme of the Institut français Paris.

 

Virginie Dupray writes occasionally for the press, has published two artists’ notebooks with the Editions de l'Oeil and has just published for Art Moves Africa a report on the mobility of choreographic artists in Africa.

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She regularly teaches cultural management and production in DRCongo, Ivory Coast, Tunisia and beyond.