Est-Nord-Est was founded in 1992 by a group of artists.

In the 1940s, Saint-Jean-Port-Joli was known for its large community of crasftsmen and sculptors in wood-carving as well its École de sculpture. In 1987, artists Roberto Pellegrinuzzi, Michel Saulnier, and Pierre Bourgault formed the Studios d’été in the old École de sculpture premises.

In 1992, Studios d’été became the Est-Nord-Est artist-run centre, offering research residencies to national and international artists, with the main objective of encouraging experimentation and exchange in the field of contemporary art.

Est-Nord-Est is situated in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli where there are only 3,500 inhabitants, on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, in a region characterized by agriculture, forests, and the waterway. The origin of the center’s name comes from this geographic situation, east-northeast of airports and city life (115 km from Quebec City and 350 km from Montreal).

As an organization dedicated to art production, their activities consist of encouraging research and reflection on contemporary art and its processes through group residencies of artists, curators, and writers in contemporary art.