Travel virtually to cultural centers across the United States, beginning with a performance by iconic author and musician Patti Smith, broadcast from New York City. In Washington D.C., Ambassador of France to the U.S. Philippe Étienne reflects on the power of memorials to foster national unity. Architect Jeanne Gang shows off some of her favorite urban design projects in Chicago, sound healer Jared Bistrong leads a beach-side meditation in Miami, and New Orleans artist and activist Brandan "Bmike" Odums opens the doors to his project Studio BE. Watch from the warmth of your own home as Harvard professors Sylvaine Guyot and Nicolas Prevelakis discuss democracy as they stroll Boston's Freedom Trail, and then head to Atlanta for a series of events touching upon the beauty of birdsong, ritual, proximity, dance. In Houston, astronaut Thomas Pesquet invites you to ponder the cosmos while on the West Coast, Mayor London Breed discusses recovery and the path forward for her city of San Francisco. In Los Angeles, journalist Patt Morrison meets with directors of vibrant cultural venues to analyze the challenges of the past year. These are just a few highlights from the expansive Americas segment.

See the full program and Tune in at nightofideas.org.

FUSED: French U.S. Exchange in Dance fosters dialogue, strengthens professional relationships, and sparks creative artistry through cultural exchanges by introducing choreographers and performers whose works has never or rarely been seen in the partner country.

Since 2017, the program has expanded beyond artists based in France and the United States to include projects by artists from Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East performing in the United States, as long as their work is co-produced by French cultural institutions. In this age of global mobility, the goal is to support artists with varied backgrounds and influences, in order to promote a multiplicity of voices and foster a rich intercultural dialogue.

Étant donnés Contemporary Art aims to strengthen ties between France and the U.S. in the field of contemporary art by fostering active collaboration and encouraging long-lasting partnerships between French visual artists, curators, and collectives and American curators and cultural institutions. The fund supports the discovery of emerging talents, while also sustaining interest in established artists. Furthermore, it has been instrumental in creating a network of curators from France and the U.S. Since its inception, Étant donnés has developed an international reputation by allocating over $3 million to fund more than 300 projects and 19 curators.

Application deadline: February 28, 2021

The Frist Art Museum will kick off its 20th anniversary with Picasso. Figures, an exhibition from the incomparable collection of the Musée national Picasso-Paris. The exhibition offers an in-depth look at Pablo Picasso’s career-long fascination with the human figure as a means of expressing a range of subjects and emotions. Featuring approximately 75 paintings, works on paper, and sculptures, Picasso. Figures will make its sole U.S. appearance in Nashville in the Frist’s Ingram Gallery from February 5 through May 2, 2021. Information about advance timed tickets will be available at FristArtMuseum.org on January 18, 2021.
Highlights of the exhibition include masterpieces from Picasso’s various styles and periods, as well as more intimate works that provide fresh insights into his innovative practice. “Viewers will see how, as Picasso continuously deconstructed and then remade the body, he was also recasting the history of figuration as a combination of his own psychological view of humanity and observations about the disruptive nature of life in the 20th century,” says Frist Art Museum chief curator Mark Scala.

Picasso. Figures is organized in collaboration with the Musée national Picasso-Paris. It was conceived and organized by Emilia Philippot, curator, and François Dareau, associate curator, Musée national Picasso-Paris.

This month, immerse yourself in French culture with the TV5MONDE programming. In addition to offering premium films, including several heartwarming comedies, the program presents a chance to discover new series, fun-filled variety shows, and engaging documentaries.

Gloria Mundi | 2018 - Robert Guédiguian | January 3 at 8:30 pm ET/5:30 pm PT

Sophia Antipolis | 2018 - Virgil Vernier | January 24 at 8:30 pm ET/5:30 pm PT

Le grand bal | 2018 - Laetitia Carton | January 31 at 8:30 pm ET/5:30 pm PT

TV SERIES

Temps de chien | 2019 - Édouard Deluc | January 1 at 5:30 pm ET/2:30 pm PT

Écrivain public season 3 | 2019 - Éric Piccoli | January 6 at 11:30 pm ET/8:30 pm PT

DOCUMENTARIES

Voix d'or | 2019 - Carole Grigy | January 25 at 3:00 pm ET/12:00 pm PT

Tandems | 2018 - Cyril Delachaux | January 15 at 3:00 pm ET/12:00 pm PT

All movies are in French with English subtitles.

Les Services Culturels de l’Ambassade de France lancent What’s Next?, une série d’interviews de personnalités du secteur des industries culturelles et créatives basées aux Etats-Unis.  

Selon les mots de Gaëtan Bruel, Conseilleur Culturel : “What’s Next ? n’est pas une newsletter, mais une fenêtre ouverte sur le meilleur de l’Amérique de la culture et des idées, celle qui réfléchit sur notre situation présente et imagine un futur qui donne encore quelques raisons d’espérer et de rêver”.

N'hésitez pas à vous inscrire pour recevoir les prochains numéros !

The Cultural Services are a division of the French Embassy in the United States. The Cultural Services were first imagined in the 1930's by Paul Claudel. In 1945 General de Gaulle appointed Claude Lévi-Strauss as the first Cultural Counselor, with the mission of providing Americans (individuals and organizations) with access and resources to engage with French culture and promote it in their own communities.

Today, under the leadership of Gaëtan Bruel, Cultural Counselor of the French Embassy and Permanent Representative of French Universities in the United States, Cultural Services of the French Embassy promote the best of French arts, literature, cinema, language, and higher education across the US. Based in New York City, Washington D.C and eight other cities (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Nouvelle-Orléans, San Francisco), across the country, the French Cultural Services brings artists, authors, educational and university programs to cities nationwide. It also builds partnerships between French and American artists, institutions, and universities on both sides of the Atlantic. In New York, through its bookshop, Albertine, it fosters French American exchange around literature and the arts.