SPEAKERS
CHAIR
Sylvain Bellenger, France
Sylvain Bellenger is one of the few French curators with sponsorship experience both in France and the United States where he has implemented fundraising policies.
As Curator of European Sculpture and Paintings at the Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, Ohio), Sylvain secured funding for several exhibitions including the 2005 major international retrospective “Girodet (1767 - 1824): Romantic and Rebel” (Le Louvre - Paris; Metropolitain Museum - New York; Art Institute -Chicago; Musée des Beaux-Arts -Montréal). Very much involved with the local community, Sylvain created the “Painting and Drawing Society” of Cleveland, a group of local collectors and funders.
Thanks to his experience gained in regional French museums, namely as Director of “Château and Museums of Blois” (1992-1999) and Director of Museums of Montargis(1986-1992), Sylvain was one the very first French curators to implement a successful fundraising strategy for new acquisitions in partnership with local actors, individual membership associations and major sponsors such as “Caisse d'Epargne”.
Sylvain is currently Chief Curator of French heritage, and is a Fellow in the history of taste in the Department of Research at the Institut national d'Histoire de l'Art (INHA) in Paris. He recently was one of the three finalists in the selection of the next Director of the French Academy “Villa Medicis” in Rome.
