This year, we celebrated Valentine's Day early with delicious chocolates provided by Michel Cluizel Chocolat paired with a selection of Sud de France wines from Languedoc-Roussillon.

French-American Connection events are designed for young, dynamic New York professionals. This event was organized in partnership with the Michel Cluizel Chocolat and Sud de France Développement

French intellectual Guy Sorman, founder of Editions Sorman, and Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal discussed the prospects for democracy in the Arab world in the wake of the series of Revolutions throughout Northern Africa and the Middle East.

Above: photo of Guy Sorman by Mariusz Kubik.

The French-American Foundation partnered with Columbia University, the New York City Mayor's Office and the Regional Plan Association to host the Mayors’ Institute on City Design East 2011 Conference. Joining the conference in its 25th year, the French-American Foundation brought French and European leaders and experts in urban planning to this annual discussion. For a quarter century, the Mayors’ Institute on City Design has provided a forum for mayors to engage leading design experts to find solutions to critical urban design challenges facing their cities.

Céline Legros, founder of the online pastry shop, Les Canelés de Céline, joined us to discuss her work bringing these traditional French pastries from her native France to New York and her business endeavors creating a pastry-sales website. Céline's specialty, the canelé, is a centuries-old traditional pastry from the Bordeaux area in the southwest of France, made of crêpe batter cooked slowly at high temperatures to create a caramelized crust and a moist center.

In partnership with the French Ministry of Culture and with the support the Florence Gould Foundation, the French-American Foundation conducted the second portion of its study tour, sending American practitioners of urban development and sustainability to Paris and Lille, France.

Eric Garcetti – President of the Los Angeles City Council, 2013 candidate for mayor of Los Angeles, and French-American Foundation Young Leader – spoke to our guests about his work to promote a more sustainable city through initiatives that promote water conservation, green buildings, and responsible development.

The French-American Foundation celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Young Leaders program in Paris on November 18 and 19. More than half of our Young Leaders community in France, the United States, and further abroad joined the Foundation for a weekend of meetings, receptions and discussions.

In partnership with the French Ministry of Culture and with the support the Florence Gould Foundation, the French-American Foundation conducted a study tour to Washington D.C., Baltimore and Cleveland.

The French-American Foundation hosted a delegation of diversity directors from European broadcasting companies to discuss diversity in the media with a group of US journalists and diversity specialists. Members of the pan-European delegation included high-level executives representing ten countries, including Ireland’s national broadcaster RTÉ, French broadcaster TF1, and SNRT, the public broadcaster of Morocco. The event provided an excellent forum for a discussion of US and European strategies to promote greater diversity in the media and to share best practices.

Jean-François Serval discussed his book, "La monnaie virtuelle qui nous fait vivre," which explores the role of 'virtual currency' – money created through financial innovation not under the control of any central bank – in the creation of instability that led to the financial crisis.

Lasse Larsen and Jacquelyn Willard, co-founders of the eco-luxury private-sales site, Lux & Eco, talked to our guests about their work to build a website for luxury items that are both eco-friendly and humane. Find out more about their venture here.

The Annual Gala is the principal fundraising event of the French-American Foundation. Each year at the Gala, the Foundation presents its Benjamin Franklin Award to two individuals who have made significant contributions to the French-American relationship. This year, we honored Philippe Dauman, President and CEO of Viacom, Inc., and Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough.

Click below to watch the video that aired at the gala, presenting 2010-2011 highlights.

French intellectual Guy Sorman and Chinese dissident Yang Jianli tackled the issue of human rights in China, during this breakfast seminar.

This public event and reception celebrated the publication of “Transatlantic Divide–the USA Euroland Rift?” by John J. Metzler of St. John's University. Metzler discussed the book, exploring the impact of the US-led invasion of Iraq on US-European relations.

Marc Fumaroli, member of l’Académie Française and renowned scholar of 17ths-century rhetoric, gave a talk on his 2011 work, “When the World Spoke French” (Quand l’Europe parlait français), recently translated to English by French-American Foundation Translation Prize recipient and Pultizer Prize-winning poet Richard Howard.  Michael Shae, Senior Editor at The New York Review of Books, moderated the discussion of Fumaroli’s work, which explored the cultural predominance of the French language throughout Europe and America in the 18th century.

Energy and climate expert Jean-Marc Jancovici – consultant, engineer, professor, and author – spoke on carbon production in modern life and its effects on the environment. Jancovici, a French-American Foundation Young Leader in 2002, founded Carbone 4, a leading consulting firm that has worked for half of the principal mulitnationals in Europe and operated in 20 countries, and developed the system of carbon footprint assessment used in France and across Europe. The conference was hosted and co-sponsored by Roche Bobois, environmentally conscious designer of fine furnishings.

Pulitzer Prize-winning financial columnist Gretchen Morgenson of The New York Times and the Rev. J. Douglas Ousley of the Church of the Incarnation spoke on the challenges of establishing and following ethical standards in the financial industry in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008. Morgenson shared insights about the moral lapses that contributed to the financial crisis from her recent book, “Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon," co-authored by Joshua Rosner.

French-American Connection events are social gatherings centered around lively discussion with one featured guest and shaped for New York City's young professionnals.

For this second event in the ongoing series, guests enjoyed sunset views of the Hudson in company of guest Brian Schechter, co-CEO of HowAboutWe.com.

The French-American Foundation and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the U.S. hosted a discussion with French author Edouard Valdman. Mr. Valdman presented his book "Idéalisme français, pragmatisme américain: une nécessaire union" ("French Idealism, American Pragmatism: A Necessary Union").

This event was part of the Tuck Speaker Series, an ongoing series that provides a forum for French and American policy-makers, experts, business leaders, and journalists to discuss issues of transatlantic concern.

Criminal defense lawyer Stanley S. Arkin, French political scientist Denis Lacorne and international lawyer Daniel Schimmel shed light on the French and American judicial mechanisms and helped clarify the political and cultural contexts in the two countries.

This event was part of the Tuck Speaker Series, an ongoing series that provides a forum for French and American policy-makers, experts, business leaders, and journalists to discuss issues of transatlantic concern.

Departing from midtown at Pier 78, the French-American Foundation's first-ever sunset cruise on the Hudson River offered fabulous views of the Statue of Liberty. Guest of honor Adam Gopnik's remarks were followed by an evening of live jazz and champagne.

The French-American Foundation and the Center for Transatlantic Relations organized a luncheon with His Excellency François Delattre, Ambassador to France in the United States, in order to discuss the relationship and partnership between France and the United States.

The “INFRASTRUCTURE NEXUS” gathered high-level U.S. and French participants – policymakers, corporate senior management, leading experts and noted reporters – to enrich the national infrastructure debate with an international perspective at this crucial juncture for the United States. 

This series of select, closed-door seminars is designed to promote best practices, discuss policy priorities and market conditions, and foster business opportunities in the energy, transportation and water industries. 

Since 1986, the French-American Foundation, with the long-standing support of the Florence Gould Foundation, awards annual Translation Prizes for the best translation from French to English in fiction and non-fiction. 

Nicolas Tenzer delivered a talk about the global trends and challenges awaiting the world in the 2030s.

Moderated by Jean-Luc Marret, Senior Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations, this talk by Nicolas Tenzer addressed the role France will take in 2030 and beyond.

Organized in partnership with the French-American School of Music, this event was open to the public.

Guests at the first-ever French-American Connection event, organized in partnership with the Jérôme Lohez Foundation, enjoyed an evening of lively discussion with Yancey Strickler, co-founder of Kickstarter.

French-American Connection events are social gatherings centered around lively discussion with one featured guest and shaped for New York City's young professionnals.

Romain Huret, French historian and specialist on the United States, delivered a talk entitled "Katrina, 2005: the hurricane, the State, and the poor in the United States." The discussion was Part One of Catastrophe, a two-part event series organized in partnership with the Villa Gillet. Click here for Part Two.

This talk was part of the French-American Foundation Breakfast Series, a program of exclusive, invite-only seminars designed to promote understanding and cooperation on issues of common concern for France and the United States.

Hosted by French-American Foundation Board Member John Heimann.

Jean-Francois Serval, President of Serval & Associés, and Yves-Andre Istel, Senior Advisor at Rothschild Inc., were invited to discuss the book “La monnaie virtuelle qui nous fait vivre” ("Virtual Currency"), a unique synthesis of contemporary monetary issues written by Mr. Serval and Jean-Pascal Tranié.

Young Leaders alumni got together for an evening at the Knickerbocker Club with Tom Rielly, TED Conferences Community Director.

Bruno Vinciguerra, Executive Vice President and CEO of Sotheby's, delivered a presentation on the impact of the global financial crisis on the international art market, and shared his thoughts on the current state of the art market.

This event was part of the Tuck Speaker Series, an ongoing series that provides a forum for French and American policy-makers, experts, business leaders, and journalists to discuss issues of transatlantic concern.

Peter Goldmark, former director of the Climate and Air program for Environmental Defense Fund, shared his insights and expertise on global warming and U.S. and European policies during a presentation entitled "The Race to Avoid Frying the Planet”.

This talk was part of the French-American Foundation Breakfast Series, a program of exclusive, invite-only seminars designed to promote understanding and cooperation on issues of common concern for France and the United States.

In 2009 and 2011, the French-American Foundation invited publishing professionals from France and the United States to explore the future of the book market and how new technology is reshaping business practices in both countries.

The French-American Foundation celebrated the new year in the Maison de la Région Languedoc-Roussillon's beautiful event space. Two lucky guests went home with a roundtrip Air France ticket to Paris, and another with a dinner for four at French restaurant Benoit in midtown Manhattan.