ENCORE NADIA VIRASAMY is the CEO/Director of Education at Moving Into Dance (MID). She has co-authored three arts and culture textbooks for Cambridge University Press. In 2015, Virasamy was named among the five finalists in the Standard Bank Rising Star Awards, she was in the top three for the Business Women’s Association’s Regional Awards and, in 2016, she was named one of the Top 100 Difference Makers in South Africa.
Name three artworks that you love and why.
the arts in South Africa do not have enough exposure and
‘Funeral Blues’ by WH Auden – Just beautifully written and
reach. Also longer term funding contracts so that projects
exhibits such a profound depth of emotion.
are sustainable.
To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee – Such an insightful depiction of society through the eyes of an 8-year-old
What is your most treasured possession?
girl-child who is still learning the ways of the world she
A white sari that was given to me by my gran before she died.
resides in. Dead Poets Society – Still relevant in the continued human
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
struggle to appease and yet be liberated.
A world without creativity and critical thinking.
Name one artist you would love to meet.
What is it that makes you happy?
JRR Tolkien – It fascinates me that one person could have
My crazy niece, Autumn Liv-Hannon. Swimming and reading
such an incredible imagination.
(I know – clichéd).
What are you reading at the moment?
Describe a defining moment in your life.
Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian.
The day I realised that a lot of the worries and anxieties we carry, we consciously decide to bear those burdens
What is in your car’s CD player?
and can just as easily let them go. This realisation
Darkside by Alan Walker.
came from something my career coach said to me at the end of each session: ‘Be kind to yourself’. I needed
If you could change one thing about yourself, what
to consciously do that, which took learning, and still
would it be?
needs practice.
I would have paid more attention in my accounting classes in school.
What projects will you be busy with during 2018 and into 2019?
How have the arts industries in South Africa changed
We have a three-province series of three weeks of
over the last ten years?
workshops with a production that will culminate in
The industry is more inclined to collaboration and
Johannesburg. We have our Enable Through Dance
partnership in recent times than it has been in the past.
project. We will have a 40th-anniversary exhibition of MID
I think arts entities have realised that they need to find
that will tour, and we will close out our 40th anniversary
means to survive in times of decreased funding, and that
with a production season in August 2019.
collaboration and partnership is the way to go. Name one goal you would like to achieve in the next Name one thing you think would improve the arts and
twelve months.
culture industry in South Africa.
Building financial reserves for MID through more income-
Strategic marketing and targeted audience development –
generating work. CF
90 / Creative Feel / November 2018
