Virasamy will lead the 35-year-old organisation, one of SA's foremost dance training organisations with a premier professional contemporary African dance company, into the future with passion, dedication and a belief in the transformative power of dance.
Virasamy has a B.Soc.Sc degree with Honours from the University of Natal-Durban and a MA from Wits. Her MA thesis was on cultural branding and influence of culture-led urban regeneration and city branding on resident arts organisations in Newtown, Johannesburg. She completed a certificate in leadership through the ACT Master Class Programme and recently completed the Vantage Point Entrepreneurial Game through the Cultural Development Trust.
Formerly a university lecturer in sociology and industrial management, Virasamy joined MIDM in 2005 as education co-ordinator and in 2006 was promoted to director of education. Under her directorship the MIDM full-time Performing Arts Training Course received SAQA accreditation and has maintained this over the past nine years. Virasamy has not only run the training course, but also taught, mentored and empowered dozens of students, as well as fund-raised and helped students obtain jobs after graduation. She has also been the project manager for the past four years of MIDM's annual performance season.
Virasamy serves on the Newtown Improvement District Board and as well as the Board of Poetso Music Project, which uses music to rehabilitate prisoners. She has recently co-authored three arts and culture textbooks for Cambridge University Press and has also been invited to present a paper at an Arts Management Conference in Austria in December 2013.
Virasamy said of her appointment: "It is an honour to have grown within the ranks of MIDM over the past nine years; and standing now on the threshold of leading this life-changing, impact-driven organisation into a new era is both daunting in light of the current arts funding landscape, but also exciting in the realisation of new possibilities. I have some big shoes to fill, but also new paths to forge, and I fully embrace the challenge with support from the MIDM trustees and staff."
Craig Wing, acting chairman of the board of trustees said: "I am excited for the future with Nadia at the helm. MIDM has been a mainstay in this space for over three decades and now is the time to develop and enhance our impact in the community. I firmly believe that MIDM will continue to innovate and grow our influence as we impact thousands of more young people."
Sylvia Glasser, the founder of MIDM, who after 35 years retired as director at the end of March said: "Nadia is a very strong, intelligent woman who has the skills, experience, integrity and personal qualities needed for the role of CEO at MIDM. Nadia has demonstrated her deep commitment to MIDM and I wish her and MIDM all the best for a successful and bright future."
