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The Atlanta business community will have expanded access to European cultural programs through the new Franco-German Cultural Center, which will celebrate its grand opening on Thursday, Sept. 15.
The event marks a milestone in the ongoing cooperation of the Alliance Française d’Atlanta and Goethe-Zentrum Atlanta. The two organizations, which promote French and German arts, history and language, have been cohabitating since 2010. But the directors say the new shared space at Peachtree Center downtown is an opportunity to be an even more integrated resource for anyone interested in European culture.
“This new location indicates our intention to be a center for everyone in the community. It is a place where thoughts come together among civil society,” said co-director Oliver Gorf, executive director of the Goethe-Zentrum Atlanta. “We are strategically integrating more than we ever have before, starting with our name.”
The so-named Franco-German Cultural Center will further the groups’ mission to extend French and German culture to Atlantans and visitors through more combined programming, thanks in part to a grant from the Franco-German Cultural Fund, Mr. Gorf said.
The Atlanta center is one of only a few to receive the funding that supports French and German cultural events and programs.
“It’s important for Atlanta that we’re one of only nine Franco-German cultural centers in the entire world,” added Richard Keatley, executive director of the Alliance Française and co-director of the new center.
Dr. Keatley explained the Franco-German center as a collaborative workspace, where German and French classrooms and programs are intermingled together. “It’s clear by the structure that it’s the Franco-German center now,” he said. “We resided together before. Now we’re partnering together to take it to another level.”
Programming support
With help from the Franco-German Cultural Fund grant, the new Atlanta center kicked off its 2021 joint programming with an emphasis on French and German artists. It included a year-long series of presentations called “Climate Crisis and Contemporary Culture” that addressed climate change through a lens of theater, ecology, film and other arts.
This year’s programming celebrates “European Identities.” Its landmark event was the inauguration of the Atlanta European Film Festival, held on May 8 to celebrate Europe Day.
Eleven consuls general from 11 European countries attended the sold-out festival, which featured 11 films, one focused on each country, plus a twelfth Ukrainian documentary that demonstrated solidarity with Ukraine in its ongoing conflict with Russia, Mr. Gorf explained.
Dr. Keatley added that the in-person event, which was even attended by celebrities like actor Louis Gossett Jr., was an especially sweet success following the past two challenging years. The center had to postpone 2020 events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2021 climate conversations were held virtually.
“The energy was great, the quality of films was great. The festival will come back every year from now on,” Mr. Gorf said.
These types of programming are the purpose of grants like that from the Franco-German Cultural Fund, which accepts applications each year, Dr. Keatley said. Fund administrators were flexible with the Atlanta center during its first two years, “while we were getting our feet wet and through COVID,” he said. “They really want us to succeed in this center.”
He added that fund administrators “like to see sustainable projects, something that will continue to grow.” The Atlanta joint center will call together German and French academics, artists and other leaders of the city’s Franco-German community to come up with a proposal for next year’s application, which is due in October, he added.
A portion of the grant is being used to install new video conferencing equipment that allows the center to host hybrid virtual and in-person courses, plus an event space projection system to broadcast French, German and European films, educational events and even concerts.
More than a language school
A large part of the Franco-German Cultural Center’s mission is to teach the French and German languages. Both co-directors are excited that classes are back to being held in person, rather than via distance learning.
“Our online classes are doing well, but we also have a lovely center with 10 classrooms that we want to fill with people interested in learning about the world,” Dr. Keatley said.
The Franco-German Cultural Center is much more than a language school, Mr. Gorf cautioned. Yes, the center has relationships with the French and German education systems, and its teachers are concerned with advancing students’ language abilities. But it also is a place to become immersed in German and French culture, he said.
“Language has transformative power. Learning another language is not just learning a code to translate thoughts; it’s learning a different way of thinking,” Dr. Keatley explained.
“It’s always about cross-cultural interconnection,” Mr. Gorf added, noting that businesses and associations are interested in holding events at the center because it adds a cultural aspect. “Our priorities are language, culture, heritage and lifestyle. But there is a natural feedback loop into the business world. Our culture makes it interesting.”
The Alliance Française and the Goethe-Zentrum both have a long history in Atlanta – 100 years and 50 years, respectively – of contributing to “building the diversity and complexity of the city,” Dr. Keatley pointed out.
The organizations have traditionally held a joint celebration each year in Atlanta to commemorate the Élysée Treaty, or Treaty of Franco-German Cooperation, signed by French President Charles de Gaulle and German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer in 1963 as a symbol of the two countries’ friendship and cooperation.
The new Franco-German Cultural Center continues and expands that tradition. Dr. Keatley and Mr. Gorf are working toward creating an “open center where people come in” to learn, mingle or borrow books from the center’s lending library. With a terrace that looks over the skyscape of downtown, they envision patrons hosting networking events or just enjoying French and German wine, beer and cuisine.
“It’s a good addition to the scene for people who work and live downtown. It’s part of the evolving character of downtown,” Dr. Keatley said.
Mr. Gorf welcomed anyone visiting the city to come to the center. “Have a coffee, have a chat, use a computer – and, at the same time, learn more about European culture.”
Register for the Franco-German Cultural Center’s grand opening event on Thursday, Sept. 15, at 4:30. Attendees will tour the center and hear performances by soprano Maria Valdes, Atlanta Opera and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra musicians and the Bonaventure Quartet.
After the opening, attendees are encouraged to walk to Georgia State University’s Rialto Center for the Arts for a French language theatrical performance supported by the Consulate General of France, Alliance Française Atlanta and Goethe-Zentrum Atlanta.
Fall 2022 German classes at the Franco-German Cultural Center begin Sept. 28, with an early-bird discount until Sept. 5. Register here.
French classes begin in October. Learn more here.
Contact Dr. Keatley at director@afatl.com or Mr. Gorf at oliver.gorf@goetheatlanta.org.
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