Catherine Blondeau

Before taking on the role of General Manager of the Grand T in January 2011, Catherine Blondeau was Senior Lecturer in French Literature at the University of Rouen (1994-98) and cultural attaché in South Africa and Poland (1998-2006). Between 2006 and 2010, she conceived and animated at the University of Rouen a professional Master in cultural management while remaining Artistic Advisor for the festival Autumn in Normandy. Passionate about art and knowledge, addictive reader and curious observer of the diversity of the world around her, she likes to connect artists and authors, creators and viewers, decision-makers and dreamers.

The project of a "theatre of the relations", inspired by Edouard Glissant, is what structures today her way of thinking the institution that she manages. The idea is to put the relationship between the artistic work and the public at the heart of the artistic project, and to move from a quantitative approach of the audience participation and use of theatre to a qualitative one, starting from the assertion of a few values that the theatre team can freely translate into projects: hospitality, diversity, solidarity, education, reputation.

On a daily basis, she leads a team of 44 people who, together with her, seek new ways by which Le Grand T can "do its part" in the societal and environmental transition at work. She is convinced of the need to rely on collective intelligence and to take inspiration from models of governance implemented elsewhere (CSR, commons, etc.) to change the artistic and cultural institutions.

She is a member of the association Dirigeants responsables de l’Ouest (Corporate Social Responsibility), the Scientific Committee of the National Museum of Immigration chaired by Patrick Boucheron, and sits on the High Committee for Diversity of the Ministry of Culture.