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Report
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| Adrenaline from Culture! The Admirable Cultural Policy of Nantes |
| Seminar on "une politique culturelle dynamisante au niveau regional, la cas de la ville de Nantes" |
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The city of Nantes, in the Loire valley in northwest France, had lost its urban vitality with the decline of its shipbuilding industry, but adopted a regionally led cultural policy to reverse the trend and has used culture to revive and develop the city. In particular a theater called Le Lieu Unique, housed in a restored biscuit factory, hosts a lively range of dramatic, musical and dance performances, literary readings, artistic exhibitions and other events, and has established itself as a cultural center well attended by people of all ages. In recent years the number of tourists visiting this charming area has grown and the city's population, including its resident artists, has risen as well.@
Attended by Jean-Louis BONNIN, director of cultural affairs in Nantes and architect of the cultural drive for revival of the city, the dramatist Oriza HIRATA and Isao KISO, director general of the Cultural Properties Department the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs, the roundtable discussed the concept of national development through culture and ways such a policy might be implemented, and we hope it provided an opportunity for major stimulus and sincere consideration of culture in Japan in the future.
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Date: 22 May 2003@@
Venue: Institut
franco-japonais de Tokyo, Espace Images
Lecturer and Panelists:
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| Jean-Louis BONNIN@ |
Born in Poitiers, France in 1947. Since 1995 has served as Nantes director general of cultural affairs. Oversees a staff of 550 and an annual budget of 40 million euros (c.5.5 billion yen) with overall responsibility for cultural projects, cultural heritage and tourism in Nantes. BONNIN provides original, multifaceted analysis of regional identity, the artistic qualities of cultural events, financial matters and many other areas, and has often made extended trips to Cameroon, Chile, Japan and Vietnam as thedecisionmaker on cultural affairs to make direct observation of artists and artistic works from around the world in music and the theater and reach project decisions. Not originally from the Nantes area, BONNIN 's background is as a cultural affairs specialist in all parts of France. As well as serving as managing director of the House of Culture in the city of Reims in the east and operating director of the House of Culture in the city of La Rochelle in the south, as director of cultural planning in the city of Brois in the center, he oversaw restoration in the Brois region and the establishment of the National Cultural Center under Minister of Culture Jack Lang. In 1983-86 he was responsible for lectures addressed to persons in charge of cultural policy sponsored by the Ministry of Culture. He is an accomplished specialist in cultural policy and experienced regional cultural policy administrator.
Nantes,
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Oriza HIRATA |
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Playwright; Stage Director; Associate Professor, Department
of Arts and Culture Studies, Obirin University
Born in Tokyo in 1962. While a student at International Christian
University, Prof. HIRATA set up his own theater company "Seinendan".
Since then he has been active as playwright and stage director
in Japan and abroad: a number of workshops and international
projects in collaboration with overseas counterparts in Korea,
France, USA, etc. His prize-winning Tokyo Note (1995), translated
into five languages, has toured worldwide. Also an acclaimed
critic on various topics including theater, education, literature,
cultural policy, etc. He is owner-manager of Komaba Agora
Theater.
Seinendan
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Isao KISO@ |
Director General, Cultural Properties Department, Agency for Cultural Affairs Born in Hiroshima in 1952. Joined the Ministry of Education after graduation from the University of Tokyo. Previouspostings include director of the Medical Education Division, Higher Education Bureau; chairman of the Hiroshima prefecture Board of Education; director of the Private Education Institution Administration Division, Higher Education Bureau; director of the International Affairs Division, Science and International Affairs Bureau; and director of international affairs in the minister's secretariat. KISO served four years in the Japanese embassy to France as first secretary from 1987 and is alsoknowledgeable about cultural policy in France.
Agency for Cultural Affairs
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Chobei NEMOTO |
Program Director, EU-Japan Fest Japan Committee
Born in Tokyo in 1932. Prof. NEMOTO completed the doctoral
course in French Literature at Waseda University. Formerly
the Paris and Rome correspondent for the Asahi Shimbun and
a member of the paper's editorial committee. Author of many
articles on cultural policy and art support systems in Japan,
he served as Executive Director of the Kigyo Mecenat Kyogikai
(Association for Corporate Support of the arts) from 1990
to 2000. As Program Director of the EU-Japan Fest Japan Committee,
he has been involved with the Euro-Japanese cultural exchange
programs. |
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