Cirque Éloize’s Jeannot Painchaud wins the 2011 Samuel de Champlain award

Montréal, Monday, October 10,  2011 – At a ceremony held earlier today in Paris, in the presence of His Excellency Marc Lortie, Ambassador of Canada in France and Mr. Michel Robitaille, Quebec’s Delegate General, two 2011 Samuel de Champlain awards were presented, one to Quebec citizen Jeannot Painchaud, President, General Manager and Artistic Director of Cirque Éloize and one to French citizen Alain PACHERIE, President and Founder of Cirque Phénix, President of the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain and President of the Académie Fratellini.

“In more than 15 years of touring, in 64 cities throughout France, French audiences saw Cirque Éloize evolve and have remained loyal to this day and I want to thank them. On this day, I feel a very strong connection with France and am thrilled to accept this award” said Jeannot Painchaud.

About Jeannot Painchaud
Jeannot Painchaud, President, General Manager and Artistic Director of Cirque Éloize is originally from Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec. A graduate of Montréal’s National Circus School, an acrobat, juggler and performer, he specializes in artistic cycling, for which he won a bronze medal at Paris’ prestigious Festival Mondial du Cirque de demain in 1992.

Also an entrepreneur, Jeannot co-founded Cirque Éloize in 1993. As the artistic and creative director for all the company’s shows, he prides himself on bringing together creators from various backgrounds and incorporating different art forms (music, theatre, dance) into the acrobatic acts.

In 2009, Jeannot directed iD, Cirque Éloize’s seventh original creation. A stunning combination of urban dance and circus arts, the show won the Conseil des Arts de Montréal’s Grand Prix award in 2010.

Involved in the future of circus arts and the circus community, he has been chairman of the board of the Circus Arts National Network in Quebec, En Piste.

About the Institut France-Canada and the Samuel de Champlain Award
Founded in 1955, the Institut France-Canada is one segment of the Association France-Amériques, whose mission, as its name indicates, is to strengthen ties between France and the Americas.

Created in 1997 by the Institut France-Canada—the Canadian branch of the Association France-Amériques—with support from the Macdonald-Stewart Foundation, the two Samuel de Champlain awards are given in recognition of a Canadian and a French citizen who helped disseminate their respective culture to Canadian and French audiences.

To date, television hosts, a singer, a novelist, producers, an internationally-acclaimed director, librarians and historians were presented with the prize. Past recipients include Louis-Bernard Robitaille and Jean-Michel Demetz (2010), Robert Carsen and the two co-directors of the Festival d’Avignon, Hortense Archambault and Vincent Baudriller (2009), Jacques Lacoursière and two book stores La Librairie canadienne de Paris and La Librairie du Québec (2007), Denys Arcand and Patrice Leconte (2008), Robert Lepage and Jean-Pierre Pichart (2005), Marie-Hélène Fraïssé and Michael Snow (2006), Charles Aznavour (2004), Françoise Lepeltier and Hubert Reeves (2002), Bernard Pivot and Claudette Hould (2003).