Jean Blaise

Jean Blaise was born in Algiers in 1951. After studying literature at the University of Bordeaux, he became the director of the Cultural Centre of Saint Médard-en-Jalles (1976) then of the Centre of Cultural Action in Chelles (1977-79). Later he was in charge of Guadeloupe’s National Stage (1980-82), then founding Director of the Nantes Maison de la Culture (Culture Centre), from 1982-83; and since 1984, he has been Director of Research for the Centre of Cultural Development and Founder-Director of the Lieu Unique (a Nantes cultural centre), Director of the SPL (Local Public Society) Le Voyage à Nantes (Travelling to Nantes – a cultural Project for promoting the town of Nantes) and President of the National Mission for Art and Culture in the Public Sphere (MNACEP) at the Ministry of Culture (2014). Blaise has also been the creator of numerous cultural events: the Festival des Allumées (an all night festival in Nantes), the Festival of Hué in Vietnam, the Nuit Blanche in Paris (a sleepless night of culture in Paris) (2002 and 2005), and in 2007, the Biennial Estuary Festival, a contemporary art exhibition that takes place between Nantes and Saint-Nazaire.