Franco-Beninese Marie-Cécile Zinsou appointed to the presidency of the Villa Medici in Rome

The Franco-Beninese Marie-Cécile Zinsou was appointed Thursday, October 28, for a three-year term, president of the board of directors of the Villa Medici in Rome, announced the French Ministry of Culture.

Born in 1982, trained in art history in France and England, in 2005 she created in Cotonou a foundation for the promotion of contemporary art in Africa, the Zinsou Foundation.

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She is the daughter of Lionel Zinsou, Franco-Beninese economist and investment banker, former manager of the investment fund PAI Partners, then Prime Minister of Benin from June 2015 to April 2016. Since 2015, Marie-Cécile Zinsou has sat on the board of the Palace of Versailles and since 2019 on the board of directors of the Institut des cultures d'islam. She also chairs the board of directors of Maison Maria-Casarès, a cultural and theatrical center in a municipality of Charentes, Alloue.

She succeeds Thierry Tuot, who served three three-year terms, from 2011 to 2020. The director of the Villa Medicis, Sam Stourdzé, who comes from the world of photography and cinema, has been in office since September 2020. Created in 1666 , the Medici villa offers a privileged setting for artists, writers and researchers in residence, and is a cultural place of exhibitions, festivals, concerts or conferences.