Jorge Barreto Xavier

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Jorge Barreto Xavier, born on 6 November 1965 in Goa, India, is a Portuguese cultural manager, university professor and politician from the Social Democratic Party. He moved to Portugal as a child, studied law in Lisbon, and built a long career in the arts. In 1986 he founded the Portuguese Club of Arts and Ideas and in 1987 launched the first Portuguese Arts and Ideas Show, pioneering contemporary art programs across architecture, cinema, theatre and more. He helped create the Portuguese Association of Arts Managers in 1991 and the Paideia program, which brought arts to schools from 1992 to 1997. He directed the 7th Lisbon Biennial in 1994 and established the Common Place – Experimentation Arts Centre in 1997, and he founded the Biennial of Young Creators of Lusophone Countries.

In public service, he was Deputy Mayor of Oeiras from 2003 to 2008, overseeing culture, youth and consumer protection, and he led initiatives to develop the Palácio Anjos as a major art venue. He chaired an inter-ministerial Education/Culture commission and worked with the Gulbenkian Foundation from 2006 to 2008 on arts reintegration projects. In 2008 he became General Director for the Arts, reforming state support for the arts and launching Inov-Art, a large EU program of professional internships in culture. He left that post in 2010 and began teaching at ISCTE in 2011. From 26 October 2012 to 30 October 2015 he served as Secretary of State for Culture in Portugal under Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho.