March 20th is the International Francophonie Day, but in Louisiana one day is not enough to celebrate the francophone culture! Starting March 1st till 29th there is more than 20 events honouring French.

March 21st and 22nd, La Cité, the convention center of Nantes, through a partnership with the City of Nantes and the Société Nationale de l’Acadie, will host the symposium “Rencontres France-Acadie”. This event follows on from the “Grand Réveil Acadien” of Oct. 2011 in Louisiana. A delegation of Louisiana, including a group of students of the project “Escadrille Louisiane”, will go to Nantes for the occasion. This symposium, that is part of the program of “Nantes en Francophonie 2013”, also includes the International Francophonie Organisation and represents the involvement of France and Nantes in the preparation of the “Grand Congrés Mondial Acadien” of 2014 at Grand Pré in New Brunswick.

Sunday, March 10, Michel Bouvard, the world-renowned organist of the Royal Chapel of Versailles will perform at St Louis Cathedral for a free concert featuring classics of Bach, Mendelssohn, Boely, Vierne and himself. The concert will be starting at 6:00 pm.

Grants for educational internship in France

Martin Christian and Marie-Claude Belanger, both French immersion teachers at Lafayette, have been selected, in partnership with the Education Department and the Immersion Consortium, to be awarded a grant for an educational internship in France from the French cultural and university mission in the United States.
Martin CHRISTIAN will go to Besançon and Marie-Claude BELANGER to Vichy.

Language study holiday in France

Morgan Sell, French student at Haynes Academy for Advanced Studies in Metairie was selected, in partnership with the Louisiana Association of French clubs of secondary education and the CODOFIL to be awarded of a language study holiday in France from the French Cultural and University Mission in the United States.
Morgan will go to the International Center of French Studies at Angers in July.

After his remarks with Dominik Knoll CEO of the World Trade Center about « The Future of Euro », organized in collaboration with Tulane University and the World Affairs Council, the Consul General of France will speak again March 11th on the subject : “Think Europe – Choose France” to students of Tulane’s Business School. This conference will give students the opportunity to receive first hand information about France’s economic assets, and to exchange with the Consul.

Likewise, Mr. Brunet will speak March 8th at St Tammany Parish Chamber Public Policy meeting, with the political and economic officials of the very economically dynamic North Shore.

March: Festival de la Francophonie
April 23-27: Semaine Française d’Arnaudville (Cultural economy)
April 24-28 : Festival International de Louisiane