Over the past four decades, Laurie has curated contemporary dance and performance, both at the presenting organizations she led in the US and abroad, as well as for festivals and arts centers. Recently named Executive Artistic Director of Firkin Crane in Cork, Ireland, she previously served as Director & Curator of Performing Arts at the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, and was Director of the Dublin Dance Festival. Prior to that, she was Executive Director of Danspace Project in New York City. She founded and curated the Travelogues Series at Abrons Arts Center, and guest-curated programs at New York’s Irish Arts Center, The Joyce Theater, and La MaMa, as well as at Paris’ Centre Culturel Irlandais.
She brings three decades of experience to her consultations with arts organizations and artists. She has consulted with Annex Dance Company, Asian Cultural Council, the Bessies, the City of Charleston, SC, Dance Films Association, and The Joyce Theater as well as Wesleyan University’s Institute for Curatorial Practice Curatorial Practice in Performance (ICPP). She has also worked with choreographers Jean Butler, Douglas Dunn, and Emmanuelle Huynh, as well as Meredith Monk/The House Foundation for the Arts.
Throughout her career, Laurie has worked with artists in a range of capacities to fund, produce, and tour their work. She served as Executive Director of Stephen Petronio Company, Producing Consultant for Tere O’Connor Dance, Producing Director of Urban Bush Women, and Associate Producer at Quaternaire, an international production and tour management agency based in Paris, France. She also worked with Dance Theater Workshop and the New York State Council on the Arts. She has served on the boards of Danspace Project, Dance/USA, and Movement Research. She is a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters in the French Ministry of Culture, was honored as the 2019 Bessie Angel, and received a 2008 Bessie Award for her service to the field.
Laurie holds advanced degrees as well as a background as a performer. She received an M.B.A. with a concentration in Marketing from The American University and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Miami. A former dancer, Laurie performed with Kei Takei's Moving Earth, as well as with Irene Feigenheimer, Barbara Roan, and Wendy Woodson.
