Leysen began her career in Antwerp, where she played a major role in transforming deSingel from a local conservatory into not only one of the main cultural centres of Flanders but an international arts centre, presenting work by locals Jan Fabre, Jos Van Immerseel and Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, but also world-class names like Pina Bausch, Yannis Xenakis and Peter Brook. Her success at deSingel was so profound, that the king ennobled Leysen as a baroness for her work there.

Leysen was then asked to lead the new Kunstenfestivaldesarts, which would give her an opportunity to put to the test her views on language and culture. “Frie Leysen wanted more than just a cultural cooperation between Dutch and French speakers,” said Professor Els Witte, honorary rector of the VUB, when the university awarded Leysen an honorary doctorate in 2007. “At the same time, Brussels had to deliver a cultural offering that one might expect from the capital of Europe. So, more international productions, a new cultural impetus and a place on the European map, next to the festivals of Paris, Vienna and Amsterdam.”

She achieved that with her 15 years at the helm of Kunstenfestivaldesarts, creating what is perhaps the hottest ticket on the annual arts festival calendar. Leysen has built up wide international experience, with jobs in Essen, Mülheim and Berlin in Germany, as well as the Meeting Points festival in nine Middle Eastern cities in 2007. Last March, she was appointed to lead the Asian Arts Theater in Gwangju, South Korean, starting in 2014.

“I think it is a wonderful, unique project for the region, Korea and Asia as a whole, she told The Korea Herald. “Gwangju will become a regional hub where Asian artists and arts will be the centre of attention.” The new appointment is unlikely to clash with that post. If any curator can hold down simultaneous top jobs at opposite sides of the world, it’s Leysen.