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France's cultural action in the United States typically takes the form of high-profile artistic events (fine arts, theater and dance, music, cinema), the promotion of French writers, and various programs in cooperation with American universities and schools.

Visual Arts
The masterpieces of French painting, both classical and modern, are prominently featured in the permanent collections and retrospective exhibitions of major American museums. Some of the principal exhibitions in 2002 include Gauguin (Metropolitan Museum of Arts, New York City), French sculptors Xavier Veilhan and Thomas Hirschorn (Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art, Lake Worth, FL), Bonnard (Philips Collection, Washington D.C.)

There are also several major thematic exhibitions : “ David to Cézanne : Nineteenth-Century French Drawings ” (Morgan Library, New York City), Modigliani and the artists of Montparnasse (Albright Know Museum, Buffalo, N.Y.), France and the portrait (Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University), and a travelling exhibition of consumer items representative of French design (CA, NY, LA, YX, IL).

Works by over 200 contemporary artists are presented in various museums, art centers and galleries in 2002 -–a reflection of the sustained interest of American professionals in the French art scene. Among the artists exhibiting, are Christian Milovanoff (Frick Art and Historical Center, Pittsburgh, PA), Vincent Barré (Studio School of Painting, Drwing and Sculpture in New York. ” At the Mobile Museum, AL “ A century of French Style ” includes works by Gotscho, Matthieu Manche, Marie-Ange Guilleminot, Jean-Michel Othoniel. An exhibition at the Bronx Museum in New York features artists such as Yves Klein, Louise Bourgeois, Claude Closky, Matthieu Lorette.

American interest in French art also extends to architecture. A one-day seminar on the major French architectural undertakings known as the “ Grands Projets ” will be held at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City in collaboration with the Architectural Research Institute and the French Cultural Services.

Classical/Contemporary Theater and Circus
A large number of of classical plays (Molière, Racine, Beaumarchais) receive regular performances in theaters for an American public still attached to the French Classics.

French contemporary theater still proves successful with the productions in New York of Marguerite Duras (Savannah Day) Jean Genet (Elle), Bernard-Marie Koltès (in the solitude of the cotton fields). French playwright Nathalie Sarraute’s “ Just for Nothing ” receives its U.S. premiere at Hollywood’s Tamaring Theatre.

The new circus has generated increasing interest among American program-planners. French circus troupe “ Compagnie du Hanneton ”, founded by Charlie Chaplin’s grandson James Thiérée, presents the surreal “ Junebug Symphony (New York City and Los Angeles). France’s equestrian troupe Zingaro performs its latest show “ Triptik ” at the Eclectic Orange Festival, Costa Mesa, CA.

Dance

French contemporary dance is celebrated by several companies which tour the USA. Ballet Biarritz performs “ Hommage aux Ballets russes ” in NY, FL, TX, PA, Ballet Preljocaj returns to BAM with Helikopter and Rite of Spring. In another genre, the hip-hop dance group Käfig was invited to the 2002 Spoletto Festival.

Eclectic Music

As it is every year, the French repertoire was honored in the United States with the grand operas of Bizet, Messiaen, Poulenc, Gounod and the works of Ravel, Saint-Saëns, Debussy and Berlioz

Performers of the American stage in 2002 includes sopranos Véronique Gens and Sandrine Piau, violonist Laurent Korcia, pianists Pascal Rogé, Pierre-Laurant Aimard, Katia and Marielle Labèque.

In the sphere of contemporary music, French composers regularly appear in the major American concert halls. World known composer-conductor Pierre Boulez leads concerts in several cities of the United States and an homage is paid to him at Carnegie Hall.

The vitality of new works is equally apparent in the “ modern music genre ”. New York premieres composer Michel Legrand’s musical “ Amour ”. The Paris Combo, which plays a retro-cabaret celebration of France, performs in several states.

Movies, TV, Radio

French movies continue to be most popular and most widely distributed of all foreign movies shown in the United States. Recent box-office successes include : Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulin (Jean-Pierre Jeunet), Laissez-passer (Bernard Tavernier), Ma femmes est une actrice (Yvan Attal) A ma sœur (Catherine Breillat), Huit femmes (François Ozon). American moviegoers can attend French Film Festivals in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco.

In the sphere of television, France is represented by TV5-USA, the only French channel available nationally in the United States . The television programs are broadcast 24 hours a day by Dish Network (EchoStar satellite) and shown on certain cable networks. Daily news broadcasts from France 2 can be viewed in many U.S. cities. Several dozen French films are shown each month on American movie channels, such as Bravo, the independent Film Channel and Sundance. A list of these films is available on the Internet site www.frenchculture.org

Radio France Internationale (RFI) is available round the clock like TV5-USA via Dish Network. Thanks to agreements with certain local American radio stations, which broadcast its programs at certain times of the day, RFI is available in French on FM in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Boston and Louisiana ; in Vietnamese in Los Angeles and Houston, and in Polish in Chicago. It is also possible to listen to RFI all day long on the Internet just like the major national radio stations.

Books

TThe French literary presence is not just limited to the classics. Americans are also receptive to contemporary movements, as can be seen from the success of author Dai Sijie who wrote his first novel in French : Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise, Claude Simon and his latest novel “ le tramway ”. French authors on tours are Hélène Cixous, Marc Cholodenko, Serge Fauchereau.. In the disciplines of philosophy and social sciences, there is still much interest in French critical thought (Foucault, Derrida, Bourdieu).

In order to sustain this interest, the French Embassy Cultural Service organizes tours of the United States every year for French intellectuals and authors who present their works at American universities and literary institutions.

Similarly, the publication assistance program helps with translation costs and the publication in the U.S. of books written by French authors. These “ Hemingway grants ” provide essential support for independent editors with a long Francophile tradition.

Academic Cooperation

A French presence in American universities is a priority for promoting French language and culture. Several complementary actions meet this objective.

Endowment funds, equally matched by France and its American partners, are used to fund exchange and research programs with France. The University of Chicago was the first to have such a program in 2000 (see box below), followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2001.

The France-Chicago Center at the University of Chicago

France took the initiative of establishing such a fund at the University of Chicago in 2000 as a way to enhance and broaden cooperation with American universities. With a million dollar endowment fund and the financial support of businesses and Francophone sponsors, the university raised enough capital to ensure that the new center could be maintained and be financially viable. The center will fund important research programs, faculty-student exchanges and numerous cultural and scientific events.

The France-Chicago Center has been operational since spring semester 2001 and replaces the interdisciplinary center founded several years ago at the University of Chicago. A similar project was launched in 2001 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) which will lead to the France@MIT Center. The policy is to be continued with offers being made to other interdisciplinary centers.

There are 15 interdisciplinary centers at major American universities where French studies are particularly prominent. The purpose of these centers is to give greater visibility on campus to the French and Francophone world and to attract students from all backgrounds, regardless of their major (humanities, social sciences, physical sciences). Each year, the centers organize colloquia and conferences on issues related to current political, social, economic and cultural news in France. French cinema is honored through annual festivals, introductory courses and regular film screenings. The centers also sponsor trips to France for their most talented students and help to train high-school French teachers.

Prestigious university scholarships for doctoral research are awarded to the best American students specializing in French studies. In 2001, 24 « Chateaubriand scholarships » were awarded by an independent jury. The recipients are entitled to study in France for one year to do research on their theses.

The "language assistants" program offers 1,000 teaching positions in French primary and secondary schools for American students specializing in French studies. This program makes it possible for students to finish their education with professional experience in the French educational system. Additionally, internships with French businesses and regional bodies are offered to American students by the Cultural Service in partnership with the French-American Chamber of Commerce.

With the support of the Embassy, American universities and the French grandes écoles have made plans to promote student and teacher exchanges and establish joint curricula.

Promoting French

Approximately 1,300,000 students are learning French in primary and secondary schools, making it the second most commonly studied foreign language in the United States after Spanish. In an effort to promote French in American schools, agreements have been reached with educational authorities in some states that are interested in developing foreign-language programs. Such agreements have long existed in Louisiana, and new agreements were signed with New Jersey in 2000 and Florida in 2001

Early instruction is particularly encouraged in the United States. In fact, French was chosen as the target language for immersion programs in about a hundred American public schools involving 12,000 students and 600 teachers. Many education projects involving cooperation between American and French schools have been established in recent years. There are over a hundred Franco-American exchange programs at this time.

In recent years, the French Cultural Service has developed special programs with American French teachers’ associations. Each year, short-term courses are offered in France to help teachers in certain areas, such as business French, early French instruction and new technologies. Starting in fall 2000, French teachers have been able to access an instructional website on the Internet ("Internef"), created by a team from Northwestern University with the support of the Embassy. To complete this effort, teaching methods, audiovisual supports, various multimedia (videos, CD-ROMs), and French information-kits are distributed. A newspaper called Keys to France Junior and a CD-ROM, "Mobiclic," were given out at meetings of the FIPF (Féderation Internationale des Professeurs de Français) and the AATF (American Association of Teachers of French).

The Embassy Cultural Service participates in the major conferences organized by teachers' associations in the United States (ACTFL, AATF, Northeast Conference, NAFSA) by involving Francophone exhibitors, public institutions and commercial partners, and also by leading numerous workshops for teachers.

In 2001 some 40 or so "youth and sport" scholarships (sponsored by the Embassy, American universities and the AATF) were awarded to students selected on the basis of oral and written tests. The winners have the opportunity to participate in international youth meetings in Arles, Avignon, La Rochelle and Paris, and to discover the regions of France in their historical and cultural diversity.

Alliances Françaises: Celebrating their Centennial in the United States

The French Embassy Cultural Service maintains privileged relations with the network of Alliances Françaises (www.afusa.org) in the United States which have 138 chapters with about 35,000 members. Nearly 60 Alliances Françaises offer French teaching programs which are staffed by 400 teachers (three-quarters of whom speak French as their first language). In 2001 these sessions were attended by more than 15,000 students. The Alliances Françaises also put on about a thousand cultural events a year (conferences, exhibitions, concerts, movie screenings, etc.). In 2002 the Alliances Françaises celebrate their centennial in the United States.