La Maison Français

Through its rich and varied program in the areas of French culture and civilization, La Maison Française has played a major role in the flow of intellectual currents and ideas between France and the United States
Director Francine Goldenhar
Just north of Washington Square, at the entrance to historic, cobblestoned Washington Mews, stands a New York landmark, La Maison Française. Since its founding in 1957, the "French House" has become the most active center of French-American cultural and intellectual exchange to be found on any American campus.
La Maison Française occupies a nineteenth-century red-brick carriage house. Inside, the ample yet intimate space of the ground-floor salon has been carefully adapted to uses ranging from art exhibits and receptions to lectures and film screenings, with a seating capacity of one hundred.
The program of activities of La Maison Française covers a broad spectrum of subjects and opinion and includes lectures, symposia, conferences, panel discussions, film and video screenings, art exhibits, concerts, theater productions, and special presentations. These events, nearly all of which are free and open to the public, focus on diverse aspects of French and Francophone civilization and culture in historical as well as contemporary perspectives. Beyond the New York University audience, La Maison Française also serves the business, government and professional communities, as well as the general public in the New York metropolitan area. Distinguished speakers from French intellectual life, politics, literature, journalism, and the arts have included Robert Badinter, Elisabeth Badinter, Jean-Louis Barrault, Raymond Barre, Roland Barthes, Pierre Boulez, Jacques Chirac, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Jean Genet, Françoise Gilot, Françoise Giroud, Eugène Ionesco, Pierre Mendès-France, François Mitterrand, Francis Poulenc, Michel Rocard, and Nathalie Sarraute. Recent evenings have included lectures, readings, and discussions with Chantal Akerman, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Patrick Chamoiseau, Annie Ernaux, Julia Kristeva, Andrei Makine, Josyane Savigneau, Philippe Sollers, and Guy Sorman.
Tahar Ben Jelloun
A series of colloquia over the past several years has brought together a distinguished group of international specialists. These events included a major overview of French Theory in America as well as an introduction to New French Thought , and discussions of métissage, of hyper-realism in the theater, of Surrealism in Exile, of the work of Sartre, and of the life and work of Antonin Artaud. Contemporary American novelists and translators presented seven of their colleagues from abroad in a two-day event : A New Generation of French Women Writers, while the autumn 1997 season began with a French Book Festival which included lectures, readings, panels, and a major exhibition of recent French books . For a complete list of these events, click here for a listing of these colloquia and special events. While the program of La Maison Française complements and enriches the programs of the Department of French and the Institute of French Studies, its mission extends as well to interdepartmental interests within the Faculty of Arts and Science and between the various schools of the university. Recent collaborations have included a weekend of screenings and discussions with filmmaker Chantal Akerman and a conference which explored Legacies of the Dreyfus Affair. Collaborations with organizations outside the university community include the recent International Cyberlaw and Business Conference. La Maison Française plays a role in the day-to-day life of NYU students interested in France, French culture, and the francophone world. It is the meeting place of the undergraduate Cercle Français and the French Graduate Students Association, and its salle de conférence is an informal meeting place for students to practice their French and catch up on French newspapers and periodicals. For support of its activities, La Maison Française seeks gifts and grants from individuals, foundations, and corporations which value its leadership contributions to French-American relations.