The Institut français and the CMN in partnership for the Cité internationale de la langue française

The Institut français (IF) and the Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN) have agreed a partnership to promote the French language and multilingualism in connection with the activities of the Cité internationale de la langue française at the Château de Villers-Cotterêts, which will open its doors in autumn 2023.

A letter of intent defining the various aspects of this partnership was signed on 17 April 2023 in Paris by Eva Nguyen Binh, President of the Institut français and Delphine Samsœn, Director General and Acting President of the Centre des monuments nationaux.

Updated on 21/04/2023

2 min

Fully dedicated to creation, research, innovation and dissemination in and around the French language, the future Cité aims to be a living laboratory for the French language and the French-speaking world and to become an international crossroads for all audiences and professionals working in these fields.

The partnership agreed between the Institut français and the CMN aims to promote the Cité's international influence by:

contributing to the promotion of the Cité's scientific and cultural resources at an international level,
developing innovative educational programmes for language learning, and
jointly organising events in relation to the French-speaking world and the French language.

As of 2023, the Institut français will support the creation and distribution of a touring version of the Cité's permanent exhibition within the French cultural network abroad and among its partners.

It will relay the Cité's calls for projects and applications and facilitate access to the Cité's projects for stakeholders in the field of artistic creation, training and entrepreneurship, supporting the development of a network of exchange and cultural and scientific collaboration with villas and artistic residency programmes in the French cultural network abroad.

The IF and the CMN also plan to develop ambitious educational programmes. The partners will therefore organise the hosting and provision of the "Digital Multilingualism Factory", a programme for the incubation of innovative applications in the field of language learning implemented by the IF, with a view to developing and testing solutions within the Cité's spaces and in relation to its audience.

The Institut français will also contribute to the development of research-action and training programmes in the field of French language teaching and learning.

Finally, the IF and the CMN agree to jointly organise events relating to the French-speaking world and the French language, including, but not limited to, cultural events (exhibitions, live shows, conferences, etc).