France-Atlanta 2019: A Recap

France-Atlanta is a yearly event series put on by the Consulate of France in Atlanta and the Georgia Institute of Technology since 2010.

France-Atlanta 2019 featured over two dozen events across the realms of culture, science, humanitarian affairs and business. This year’s program included great variation in subject matter, including a workshop-lecture held by award-winning architects from Toulouse, a film screening on the humanitarian’s dilemma, and a day-long symposium on biodiversity. Nevertheless, all of this year’s events were tied together by a shared push for innovation as well as the promotion of transatlantic ties between the U.S. Southeast and France.

Let’s take a look back at the events of the 10th edition:

Science

Scientific research and collaboration was at the heart of the 10th edition of France-Atlanta, with the organisation of these three events :

• Biodiversity Symposium: This symposium, which was co-organized by the Office of Science and Technology of the Embassy of France in the United States and Emory University, brought together French and American experts on the subject of biodiversity, as it relates to health and pathologies. This event, which was a great success, encouraged the creation of collaborations and joint projects between the scientists present.
• Workshop of the UMIs of North America, Planet A Initiative: Co-organized by Georgia Tech and France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), this workshop provided an opportunity for all the North American International Joint Units (UMIs) to meet and combine their research networks in order to meet the challenges of climate change and sustainable development.
• Georgia Tech – CNRS Joint Research Laboratory: As part of the celebration of the 80th anniversary of CNRS, this event was dedicated to UMI 2958 – the international research partnership between Georgia Tech and CNRS. It was also an occasion to mark the inauguration of the UMI-Atlanta office and the signing of an agreement between CNRS and the Lafayette Institute, an optoelectronics innovation institute located in Metz, France.

Business

The Crystal Peach Awards Luncheon, which celebrated its 15th anniversary this year, recognizes businesses for their commitment to economic growth, innovation and the expansion of commercial relations between France and the Southeast United States. This year’s honorees were Orange Business Service for their investments in Georgia, Georgia Tech-Lorraine for their international campus in Metz, France, and Groupe PSA for their innovation.

Humanitarian Affairs

This year’s humanitarian program consisted of three events:

A forum, organized in partnership with Emory University’s Center for Humanitariann Emergencies, focused on logistics and supply chain management in emergencies. Our panelists, which included representatives from the UPS Foundation, the Georgia Department of Health, the Consulate General of Belgium, and the United Nations Population Fund, discussed the fundamentals of aid delivery from both global and local perspectives. The forum was followed two days later by a special documentary screening of “Triage: Dr James Orbinski’s humanitarian dilemma” took place at Georgia Tech and provided the opportunity to learn more about the experiences of the former head of Doctors Without Borders.

Through presentations organized at local high schools and universities through the Education Series, nearly 300 students learned about the Carter Center’s and Childspring International’s missions in French-speaking countries as well as the benefits of French language proficiency in professional settings.

Culture

The 10th anniversary of France-Atlanta provided an opportunity to see things big with the organization of nearly 30 cultural events. With the participation of 2,000 people, the cultural events were a huge public success. More than 200 people also participated in the various workshops proposed by the inivted artists.

The support of the online magazine Burnaway which covers contemporary art news in the southern United States and that of Radio Wrek helped to further develop our audience, reaching 20,000 people. We would like to thank them for their involvement.

The 2019 edition also marks a new milestone for our cultural partnership with Georgia Tech, through the mobilization of numerous university departments: Atlanta Global Studies Center, Drama Tech Theater, Office of the Arts, School of Architecture, School of Literature, Media and Communication, School of Modern Languages, and the School of Music.

The interuniversity partnership between Georgia State University’s World Languages & Cultures Department and Georgia Tech and the involvement of the Center for French and Francophone Studies of Duke University in North Carolina extended this dynamic of partnership even more broadly.

French and American partners at the Ecole Polytechnique, the Arts & Sciences Chair, the Clark Atlanta University Art Museum, the Breman Museum, the Atlanta Film Festival, the Alliance Française and the network The Fence, to name just a few, have helped us build this program. We would like to thank them for their support of the realization of these beautiful projects.

The cultural program focused on the presentation of unique artists, the vibrant heart of our action. Their stimulating exchanges and perspectives accompanied us throughout this edition. With them, we imagined new avenues for reflection and reflected on how to develop exchange networks to promote new dynamics of intellectual and artistic cooperation.

During this edition, we had immersive musical experiences together with Labofactory, Diemo Schwarz and Grace Leslie and apprehended the impact of digital technologies on Africa’s urban cultures with Oulimata Gueye. With Gwenola Wagon and Pierre Cassou-Noguès, we explored the new fictions that are developing through the Internet. During their research residency, Duncan Evennou and Clémence Hallé surveyed with the HKW of Berlin regarding the impact of human activities along the Mississippi River. With Bast, winner of the European Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award, students at the Georgia Tech School of Architecture explore another approach to architecture and design. Guy Gabon, with the company Quai des Arts, has unearthed a whole range of reflections on identity issues. We explored different notions of borders with the films of Eleanor Weber and Patricia Allio , and discovered post-war America with Henri Dauman.

This diversity of approaches made it possible to explore the many facets of this rich region of the southeastern United States and to multiply cooperation relations.

Thank you for being a part of the 10th edition of France-Atlanta. We look forward to seeing you next year!