After thirty-five years under the aegis of Bruno Monflier, the Fleurance International Sky and Space Festival is changing direction.
For thirty-five years, the Fleurance Astronomy Festival has illuminated the Gers sky and the minds of thousands of curious people every summer. The first event of this type in Europe, it has brought together more than 500 scientists since its creation in 1991, under the sponsorship of Hubert Reeves, whose essential support for the festival was provided thanks to the involvement of its co-founder, Michel Cassé.
Bruno Monflier carried this extraordinary human and scientific adventure, defended it and developed it for more than three decades as president, with an unshakeable conviction: that science must be accessible to all, that it must amaze as much as it must enlighten. The festival owes him a lot.
In September 2025, a new office took over, with the same passion and the same commitment. It is made up of well-known personalities whose backgrounds are guarantees for the future of the festival (secretary, Brigitte Zanda; vice-president, Sylvain Bouley; treasurer, Olivier Stenuit). At their head, Jean-Baptiste Desbois, new president, whose name is inseparable from the Cité de l’espace of Toulouse, which he directed and helped to promote.
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The Fleurance Astronomy Festival makes a new start for its 36th edition
“It’s rare. It’s precious”
Jean-Baptiste Desbois, president of the festival, explains: “The Fleurance International Sky and Space Festival is 35 editions of shared passion, scientific rigor and wonder. A precious heritage, which the new office and I are proud of and determined to maintain. develop and promote. After years spent at the Cité de l’espace in Toulouse, I have the deep conviction that science belongs to no one and that it belongs to everyone. Here, the renowned astrophysicist and the curious young man share the same. Emotion facing the sky. It’s precious. It’s irreplaceable. With the new team (new office, new administrators, new employee), we want to amplify this breath, even more accessible to all, regardless of age. the universe, our future on this Earth, our ability to think freely in a world saturated with information… Fleurance is not just a festival. It’s a way of inhabiting the world intelligently.
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INTERVIEW. From the Cité de l’Espace to Fleurance, Jean-Baptiste Desbois takes charge of the astronomy festival
See you this year for a new edition from Friday July 31 to Friday August 7.
