MARCH 2016
FRENCH CULTURES FESTIVAL
REPORT
TEXAS, OKLAHOMA & ARKANSAS FRENCH CULTURES 2016 FESTIVAL ONE 3 STATES LANGUAGE TX OK AR 1mONTH 40+ UN mOIS EVENTS
ONE kICk-OFF CONCERT 2 FRENCH BANDS | 1 LOCAL BAND
GENEROUS THIRTY-THREE 9 SPONSORS PARTNERS
1 fcf2016
The French Cultures Festival (FCF), and cultures from France and the coordinated by the Cultural Service francophone world through an of the French Embassy in Houston, eclectic program of events : is a month-long celebration of the lectures and talks, film diversity of French culture. screenings, performances, concerts, encounters with artists The FCF’s goal is to generate and writers, exhibits, training A free kick-off concert was interest in creative expressions sessions for teachers and many organized on March 11th at from France and beyond while other educational activities. Discovery Green in Downtown strengthening partnerships with Houston. American institutions in Texas, In 2016, the FCF partnered with For more information: Oklahoma and Arkansas. diplomatic representations, museums, universities, schools, www.frenchculture.org/ It provides opportunity to the and other cultural institutions to frenchculturesfestival2016 public to experience the language present over 40 events.
SCARECROW | ©Katya Horner
WHO WE ARE
The Cultural Service of the French Embassy in Houston develops and supports cultural and educational projects in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
It promotes and sustains exchanges between the most promising French and American artists, writers, thinkers and educators.
The Cultural Service develops the cultural economy by focusing on six principal fields of action: arts, literature, cinema, the digital sphere, French language and higher education. 2 CAlEndAR
The Cultural Service of the French Embassy in Houston published a listing of all events organized by partner institutions and taking place throughout the month of March across Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
The full calendar of events is available at: www.frenchculture.org/frenchculturesfestival2016 highlights
EduCATiOn visual arts
La Fête française What Shall We Do Next March 19 | Dallas, TX Until March 19 | Houston, TX A French competition for high school A group exhibition and performance featuring French artist Julien students organized by the American Prévieux organized by DiverseWorks with the support of the Institut Association of Teachers of French Français and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy. It examines (AATF) North Texas in partnership with how technology and advertising have shifted our relationships to our Dallas International School. physical bodies, our shaping of subjectivity, and notions of the real. http://bit.ly/fetefrancaise http://bit.ly/wswdn16
Music performing arts
FCF Kick-off event What the Day Owes to the Night March 11 | Houston, TX March 18, 25 & 26 | Houston & Dallas, TX A free concert on the outdoor stage of A dance performance by La Compagnie Hervé Koubi presented with Discovery Green in Downtown the support of the French-US Exchange in Dance (FUSED), a program of Houston, organized by the Cultural the FACE Foundation, in partnership with the Cultural Services of the Service of the French Embassy in French Embassy. This show combines capoeira, martial arts, urban and Houston featuring The Blind Suns contemporary dance with powerful imagery. (Angers, France), Wild Moccasins http://bit.ly/spakoubi - http://bit.ly/titaskoubi (Houston, TX) & Scarecrow (Toulouse, France). http://bit.ly/fcfkickoff2016
liTERATuRE lectures CINEMA Slam Poetry Roundtable on Irène Tournées Film Festival at March 2 | Lubbock, TX Némirovsky University of St. Thomas An introduction to Slam Poetry, as part March 29 | College Station, TX March 3, 4, 10, 17, 31 | Houston, TX of the Representation of the Loser A discussion on the author of La Suite Screenings of five films as part Française with Susan Suleiman, C. symposium, on the theme of of the Tournées Film Festival, Succeeding/Failing by the Texas Tech Douglas Dillon Professor of the Civilization of France and Professor of a program of the FACE University French Club, 2015 France on Foundation in partnership with nd Comparative Literature at Harvard Campus Award 2 Prize recipient. University; Olivier Philiponnat, French the Cultural Services of the http://bit.ly/ttuconferences author and Nathan Bracher, professor French Embassy. of French at Texas A&M University. http://bit.ly/tourneesust http://bit.ly/tamufr
3 kick-off concert
The kick-off celebration of the Festival took place at Discovery Green in Downtown Houston, on Friday, March 11th 2016 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. in a family-friendly and convivial atmosphere. Two French bands, Scarecrow and The Blind Suns, along with Houston-based Wild Moccasins were invited to perform on the outdoor stage. With bands of different musical styles, singing both in French and English, the kick-off concert, organized by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in Houston was one of the highlights of the month.
THE BLIND SUNS WILD MOCCASINS SCARECROW Angers, France Houston, Texas Toulouse, France French dream pop trio, drawing Behind the infectious rhythms and Dark, explosive and unique, the band sounds from musicians like Mazzy pulsating beats of Houston Wild has generated its own style, called Star, JAMC, and The Primitives, The Moccasins, it’s a combustion of blues-HipHop, a protest music for Blind Suns’ guitar sound, in a frenetic sounds that expands like an the 21st century. The quartet plays ‘Duane Eddy meets Link Wray’ style, exploding star on dance floors, as with the musical codes, bringing sits so well alongside Dorota the eclectic quintet sweats it on back the blues to its roots. Kuszewska's captivating vocals. stage and on their wide-ranging album, 88 92. 4 viP AREA
The VIP area was generously sponsored this year by Kronenbourg, the Lake House Waterside Café, Phoenicia Specialty Foods, and Bite Macarons.
VIP area| © Katya Horner
FOOD VENDORS
In addition to the live music performances, attendees had the opportunity to taste an exclusive selection of delicacies and gourmet dishes from France and francophone countries. Featured vendors offered maracons by Bite Macarons, crêpes by Maison Crêpes, cassoulet, croque-monsieur, pissaladière and chocolate baguette by Central Market, chouquettes and pâtisseries by the Culinary Institute LeNôtre, quiches and charcuterie by Phoenicia Foods.
Food vendors | © Katya Horner
5 sponsors
The 2016 French Cultures Festival would not have been possible without the financial support of our generous sponsors.
PlATinuM
golD
silver
bROnZE
6 Partners
The French Cultures Festival gathered over 30 institutional partners from diplomatic representations, museums, universities, schools, associations of teachers of French and other cultural organizations.
Alliance Française USA Society for the Performing Arts American Association of Teachers of French Swiss Confederation Austin Public Library Texan-French Alliance for the Arts Bureau Export Texas A&M University Café Brussels Texas International Theatrical Arts Society Culinary Institute LeNôtre Texas State University Dance Salad Festival Texas Tech University Discovery Green The Awty International School DiverseWorks The Menil Collection Education Française Greater Houston The University of Texas at El Paso Et Voilà Théâtre The Village School Fotofest Tournées Film Festival Houston Jewish Film Festival Uber Luciole International Theater Company UniFrance Films Museum of Fine Arts, Houston University of St. Thomas, Houston Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie Young French Cinema San Antonio Museum of Art
7 COMMuniCATiOn
3,030 1,578 ORGANIC 5,000 FACEBOOK LIKES FLYERS POST REACH
8,677 NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS 59% OPEN RATE
2,581 frenchculture.org/ WEBPAGE frenchculturesfestival2016 VIEWS
MEdiA “Festival has French flavor” Houston Chronicle
“The perfect ingredients for March’s tri-state celebration of French culture” Houston Press “Party with the French” Houston On The Cheap
8 Sylvie Christophe Cultural Attaché FRENCH [email protected] Jessica Fertinel Deputy Cultural Attaché CULTURES [email protected]
FESTIVAL Emmanuelle Hamilton Cultural Service Coordinator [email protected]
frenchculture.org