Louisiana’s application to join the International Organization of La Francophonie (IOF) was accepted on October 11. But in Paris and in Baton Rouge the "battle" of La Francophonie in Louisiana is only just beginning. Louisiana is now a part of the institution of La Francophonie. The American State’s population comprises more than 5% of Francophones with 5,000 students enrolled in...
It's official! The American state has joined the International Organization of La Francophonie (IOF) as an observer member. Its application was accepted on Thursday, October 11, by the organization’s member states at a summit in Erevan, Armenia. The 54 full member states and governments of the IOF made a unanimous decision at the 17th summit of La Francophonie. According to...
Two French representatives recommend to follow the American model and arm municipal police officers in France. Only 44% of the 21,000 officers in this local police force currently carry a pistol while on duty. Between October 2013 and March 2018, there were 78 attempted acts of terrorism recorded in France. This figure “affects the way national security is approached,” according to...
French writer Philippe Besson was appointed Consul General of France in Los Angeles. A close acquaintance of Emmanuel Macron's, his accession to such a coveted position is raising questions. The author of 18 books, including Un personnage de roman — an account of Emmanuel Macron’s 2017 campaign and an intimate portrait of the presidential couple — Philippe Besson will soon be...
In the last step of a process which started more than a year ago, the Louisiana Board of Regents met in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, August 22, and allocated the funding required to create a Master’s degree in elementary French immersion education. A first class of ten students will begin the course at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in...
After he canceled his plan for a "big parade" in Washington, Donald Trump has announced that he will be joining Emmanuel Macron in Paris to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. The U.S. president, impressed by the Bastille Day military parade he witnessed on the Champs-Elysées on July 14, 2017, was forced to cancel his...
Will Louisiana join the International Organization of La Francophonie (IOF)? The answer will be given in October at the 17th summit of La Francophonie held in Yerevan, Armenia. “Louisiana’s application is valid,” says Bertin Leblanc, the spokesperson for the IOF. The American state is home to almost 250,000 Francophones and 5,000 students enrolled in dual-language immersion programs, and submitted its application...
Kentucky Governor Matthew Bevin (Republican) reaffirmed his distaste for the humanities, aiming his criticism at the instruction of French literature and language, as one example. “The purpose of public education and of public dollars going into education,” he said after a roundtable on July 26, “is to ensure that people who need to hire people to do work actually have the...
On Wednesday, July 25, Marie Laguerre posted footage online of a man assaulting her and revived the conversation about everyday sexism. Sexual violence against women in France are increasingly concerning, report American news outlets. On YouTube, the assault of Marie Laguerre has already been seen by more than 4 million viewers. “Clearly, it’s struck a chord with the many people...
"Africa won the World Cup!" exclaimed Trevor Noah, the host of the satirical nightly news series, The Daily Show, on Tuesday. The joke shocked the French Ambassador, Gerard Araud, who responded to the comedian in a letter. "A great majority of the players (all but two out of 23) were born in France", wrote the Ambassador. "They were educated in...
Riding on the success of his Neflix special, American Dream, French comedian Gad Elmaleh will embark in the fall on a 12-date tour of the U.S. and Canada. Gad Elmaleh has been living the "American Dream" for the past three years. The Moroccan-born actor and comedian, who left France where he was a sensation to rediscover himself in New York City,...
Ten million bottles of Spanish rosé were sold as French wine over the last three years, reported an official investigation quoted by Le Parisien this Monday. “Rosé amateurs beware,” notified the French daily. “You can face a nasty surprise at happy hour.” The DGCCRF, the French agency in charge of fraud control which led the investigation in 2016-2017, claimed that...
French journalist and film director Claude Lanzmann, famous for his nine-and-a-half-hour documentary about the Holocaust, Shoah, passed away this Thursday. He was 92. "The people in the Jewish community that I meet are not ordinary deportees," explained Claude Lanzmann to France-Amérique in December 2010 as his film Shoah was being screened in New York. "They are people who have gone to...
On July 14, the French commemorate the storming of the Bastille of 1789 and the Fête de la Fédération of 1790. In the U.S., the event is know as Bastille Day, a celebration of France through wine, accordion, and pétanque! Over 150 Bastille Day events will take place in the United States this year. In New York, the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) will...
Ten French restaurants will be participating in Chicago’s French Restaurant Week from July 9 to 22. Each location will offer set prix-fixe menus: $17.89 for the bar, $25 for lunch, $38 for dinner, and $178.90 for dinner for two. Taking from Chicago’s most prestigious restaurants, French Restaurant Week will pay homage to the diversity of French cuisine in the Windy...
Starting on July 2, French Restaurant Week returns to New York City for its 8th year with 22 locations ranging from Parisian bistros to brunch places and farm-to-table eateries. These New York restaurants will show off their authentic French cuisine from July 2-15, where prices will be fixed for their lunch and dinner menus. This year, the set price is...
On the first day of Summer, 750 cities in 120 countries will participate in Make Music Day, or "Fête de la Musique." Originating in France, this festival was created by French Minister of Culture Jack Lang in 1982 to be an annual celebration of music in its most welcoming form. Free for the public and open to musicians of any...
American stardom reaches France’s doors once again as Beyoncé and Jay-Z drop a surprise album and shoot the music video for one of their songs, "Apes**t," at the Louvre Museum in Paris. The power couple took over the French museum. They posed in front of the Mona Lisa, and stood on the Daru staircase. Part of the video is filmed in...
Coucou French Classes opens new headquarters in Manhattan, moving from Williamsburg’s backyard soirées to Nolita’s boho apartment aperitifs. These French language classes began in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 2013. "There was a niche in the market," remember Marianne and Léa Perret, French expats, cousins, and founders of the project. "We wanted to create a linguistic and cultural center that stood out...
The competition created to champion the best French-American businesses and entrepreneurs in the San Francisco Bay Area has awarded 20 new winners this year. The victors include Facebook’s Fidji Simo, medical imaging company InkSpace Imaging, and Front, a cross-channel communications management app. Eve Chaurand, president of the French-American Chamber of Commerce in San Francisco which organizes the annual event, sees...
