In Lamballe, Elisabeth Renault takes the reins of the Mathurin Méheut museum

Since September 30, Elisabeth Renault has held the position of administrative and scientific director of the Mathurin Méheut museum. After 14 years spent at the head of the Saint-Brieuc art and history museum, this native of Saint-Aaron is back home. A graduate of the University of 2 in exhibition trades and heritage promotion, Elisabeth gained experience at the Musée de Bretagne, the City of Cesson-Sévigné and even at the Liu Kaigu Chinese Institute in Beijing. , as exhibition curator.

We are entering a new phase.

The new Mathurin Méheut museum opened in June 2022 on the site of the Lamballe stud farm. (Le Télégramme/Benoît Tréhorel)

The calm after the storm

After the departure of the director in January 2023 and the ouster of the curator a few months later, the museum went through “a period of crisis and transition”, says Geoffroy de Longuemar, president of the Friends of Mathurin Méheut. He and Thierry Gauvrit, culture assistant at Lamballe-Armor, acted as interim manager for the team for 18 months. “We are entering a new phase,” rejoices the second. “The choice of Elisabeth was made quite easily,” confides Geoffroy de Longuemar. She has great knowledge of the network, and this ability to manage equipment and teams. We now have the means to plan ahead.”

The Mathurin Méheut museum, in Lamballe, is made up of a permanent exhibition of works and another temporary one. (Le Télégramme/Benoît Tréhorel)

The issue of accessibility

“I want to be part of the continuity of a project,” executive Elisabeth Renault. The museum is more than an agora open to all, it has a social role. Accessibility and inclusion are fundamental to me. My wish is to work, not only for all audiences, but with audiences. » President of the Bretagne Musées association since 2020 and member of the Cultural Council, the director brings her know-how in the quest for funding and the development of partnerships. The only Costa Rican exhibition structure to meet the four types of disability of the Tourism and Disability label, the Lamballais museum now relies on a team of seven employees.

Originally from Saint-Aaron, Elisabeth Renault, 51, is the new administrative and scientific director of the Mathurin Méheut museum.
Originally from Saint-Aaron, Elisabeth Renault, 51, is the new administrative and scientific director of the Mathurin Méheut museum. (Le Télégramme/Benoît Tréhorel)

A place of interactions

Open on the stud site since June 2022, the museum is gaining new momentum. Among the avenues mentioned by Elisabeth Renault: making it a place open to artistic practices (artist residencies, in particular), promoting artistic and cultural education at all ages (not only towards the youngest), creating a link with the scientific research (cooperation with the academic world), or even preparing the opening of data in the coming years (Méheut's works will enter the public domain in 2029). The one who has “a weakness for ceramics” by Mathurin, only aspires to “invent a future collectively. »

Geoffroy de Longuemar, Elisabeth Renault, Thierry Andrieux and Thierry Gauvrit, here at the Mathurin Méheut museum, in Lamballe.
Geoffroy de Longuemar, Elisabeth Renault, Thierry Andrieux and Thierry Gauvrit, here at the Mathurin Méheut museum, in Lamballe. (Le Télégramme/Benoît Tréhorel)

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