Alliance Francaise
Posted on June 3, 2010 – 7:34 AM | by OldManFoster
by Michele Hébert photos by Scott Duncan
As an enthusiastic Francophile, I’ve always been intrigued by the Alliance Francaise — is it a school? Some sort of diplomatic organization? It turns out to be a little bit of both. In the late nineteenth century, France was seen internationally as a brutish colonial power, and in 1883 a group of French intellectuals (including Jules Verne and Louis Pasteur) founded the Alliance Francaise in Paris in order to change that image. Furthering understanding about French culture and language abroad was then – and is currently – the mission of the organization. Headquartered in Paris with a few locations throughout France, the organization primarily caters to non-French people and there are over a thousand outposts throughout the world.
I recently sat down with the executive director of the Alliance Francaise de Sacramento, Beatrice Hillebrand, and their media liason, Lisa Dane, to find out what their organization provides to Sacramentans in the here and now. Hillebrand, an elegant Francophone from Brussels, readily acknowledges that English has replaced French as the language of commerce, but maintains the importance of French as a language of food, art, and culture. Dane, a lifelong Francophile from the east coast, points out that many people see France as an enduring symbol of the good life and want to learn about the language and culture as a way to connect with that. To that end, the Alliance offers French language courses, houses a French language multi-media library, stages French cultural events, screens French movies, presents lectures on French cultural topics, and offers a French language book club.
Beatrice Hillebrand
This year marks the local group’s tenth anniversary and during the past decade they’ve increased their membership from 50 to 600 members and quadrupled the number of classes offered. Hillebrand, a founding member, cites the increasing reduction of French language classes offered at local colleges as the inspiration for starting an Alliance Francaise in Sacramento. It is a non-profit organization that falls under the umbrella of the Alliance Francaises in Paris and Washington, D.C., but receives little financial support from those offices (two small grants in ten years). Hillebrand and an assistant are the only full time staff members, and they employ ten teachers part-time. During the Fall or Spring semesters, they offer ten-week sessions at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels (the Alliance Francaise USA website offers a placement test to gauge your skill level) and five to ten week sessions that focus on specific topics like literature, travel, conversation, or current affairs. Children’s classes are offered for “les petits” (ages 3 1/2 to 5), “les grands” (5 1/2 to 8), and “les plus grands” (8 to 12) — the younger students learn to speak and understand spoken French, and older students learn to read and write. The summer session for adults begins on June 28th, and an immersion summer camp for 6- to 9-year-olds begins July 5th. Although the majority of Alliance members are not French (Hillebrand points out that French people are wary of joining clubs), most of the teachers are native speakers.
In addition to language classes, the Alliance hosts two major events a year – the Fete de la Francophonie and the Fete du Beaujolais Nouveau. Interested in protecting and propogating the French language, 1980s-era French president Francois Mitterand designated March the official month of La Fete de la Francophonie – a monthlong festival celebrating the many French-speaking communities throughout the world from Haiti to Cambodia.
This year the Alliance in Sacramento chose to celebrate the the French culture of Louisiana and French Canada specifically, with an all-day party open to the public. The Fete du Beaujolais Nouveau is part of a larger trend to celebrate the release of recently fermented wine from the Beaujolais wine region. What was once a charming regional custom has turned into an internationally celebrated symbol of French joie de vivre; and the Alliance, like most of the wine bars in town, uses it as an opportunity to throw a party. Last November, they had food by William Rolle and wine from Kermit Lynch. Both events serve as fundraisers for the organization’s building fund. The Alliance is currently housed in the arts complex at 25th and R; and though they enjoy their neighbors, they find the offices and classrooms lacking. They are in the midst of a fundraising effort to purchase, renovate, and relocate to a large Victorian house in Midtown which they will call the “Maison de la France.”
The Alliance offers an interesting variety of lectures from the practical – “How to Find a Great Vacation Rental Apartment in Paris” – to the academic – “French Heroines: Women of the WWII Resistance”. The library is stocked with books, magazines, and films; the book club, Le Cercle du Lecture, is actively meeting and discussing classic and contemporary French literature; and the Soirée du Cinema screens French films new and old. The Alliance partners with the Sacramento French Film Festival (see sidebar) and California Stage to bring even more French culture to our fair town. Their website is easily browsable and current information about events and classes can be found there. To take classes and participate in the lectures, screenings, and book club, membership is mandatory (there is an annual membership fee of $20), but the big events are open to the public. At the Beaujolais party last fall, I met two Indian expats who were taking French for different reasons. One of them said he had taken a job in Paris and needed to brush up on the language; the other said he planned to travel in France for pleasure and needed to pick up some useful phrases. They excitedly introduced me to their teacher, a charming young woman with a Ph.D in French from UC Davis. Another member proudly told me that his ten-year old daughter had been taking classes at the Alliance for seven years and was able to speak fluently when they traveled with her to France. It seemed that night that the Alliance has been successful in its mission.
Alliance Francaise de Sacramento
1721 25th Street, Sacramento, CA 95811
Office hours: 12pm to 6pm Monday to Thursday
Tags: Alliance Francaise, Beatrice Hillebrand, Lisa Dane, Sacramento