Partners

Villa Albertine is an institution of the French Embassy in the United States, supported by the French government and Albertine Foundation. Villa Albertine’s mission is to strengthen ties between the United States, France and the French- speaking world through culture and education. In the arts and culture sphere, we encourage collaboration among French and US-based organizations and provide creators, thought leaders, and professionals with customized residencies, immersive networking experiences, grants, and connections to audiences so they can explore and share new insights into society’s pressing issues.

In the field of education, we craft projects and programs aimed at making French language and culture accessible to young US-based audiences, expand opportunities for students to study and complete internships in France, and support partnerships between French and American higher education and research institutions. Villa Albertine is present in 10 major US cities: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. It is headquartered in New York’s historic Payne Whitney mansion, home to Albertine, our bookshop and nexus for French- American intellectual exchange. Follow Villa Albertine on Instagram, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn. villa-albertine.org

Follow Villa Albertine on Instagram, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn.    

The Chicago Architecture Center (CAC) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1966, dedicated to inspiring people to discover why design matters. A national leader in architecture and design education, the CAC offers tours, programs, exhibitions, and more that are part of a dynamic journey of lifelong learning.

Opened to the public in 2018, its riverfront location is in the heart of the city, where Michigan Avenue meets the Chicago River, featuring nearly 10,000 square feet of exhibition space with views of a century of iconic skyscrapers.

Through partnerships with schools and youth-serving organizations, the CAC reaches approximately 5,000 K-12 students annually, while teacher workshops provide educators with tools and resources they need to advance STEM curricula in their classrooms. Committed to serving under-represented communities in construction, engineering, and design professions, the CAC offers many of its education programs and all its programs for teens— at no cost to participants. CAC programs for adults and members include talks with acclaimed authors and practicing architects, in-depth presentations on issues and trends in urbanism, and classes unlocking subjects related to the built environment.

Proceeds from programs, tours, and the CAC Design Store, as well as from grants, sponsorships, and donations, support its educational mission. Visit architecture.org to learn more and follow @chiarchitecture and #chiarchitecture on social media.

Albertine Foundation (formerly known as FACE Foundation) is an American nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting French-American relations through innovative cultural and educational projects. In partnership with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States and under Villa Albertine, Albertine Foundation promotes artistic, literary and educational exchange and collaboration between creative professionals from both countries.

The Institut français is responsible for France’s international cultural program. Supervised by both the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and by the Ministry of Culture, it promotes French culture abroad through cultural exchange initiatives. Operating in a space where the arts, intellectual exchange, cultural and social innovation, and linguistic partnerships interact and intersect, it is also responsible for promoting the French language and the sharing of works, artists, and ideas all over the world. The Institut français is one of Villa Albertine’s main French partners.

The Alliance Française de Chicago is over 120 years old and is part of an international network of over 1,100 Alliances and affiliated cultural centers worldwide. It is the second oldest Alliance Française in the US and second largest after the Alliance Française in New York City. Classes are offered for all ages and levels of French, leading to certifications in French for professional purposes or simply for experiencing another language and its various cultures. It also hosts an impressive array of events, bringing notable lecturers to Chicago: authors, filmmakers and directors, winemakers, chefs, designers, historians, actors and performing artists.

The France Chicago Center is a University of Chicago-based interdisciplinary organization that facilitates, promotes, and fosters stronger ties between University of Chicago students and researchers and their colleagues in France, while increasing awareness within the University of Chicago community of French culture, art, and thought.

The AAU Laboratory is one of the CNRS’ UMRs, associating the National Schools of Architecture of Grenoble and Nantes, Université Grenoble Alpes and Centrale Nantes. The Centre for research on sound space and urban environment (CRESSON) is the AAU Laboratory team in Grenoble for architectural and urban research. Originally focused on sound space, CRESSON has based its research culture on a sensitive, situated approach to inhabited spaces. This research is based on original multidisciplinary methods, at the crossroads of architecture, human and social sciences and engineering sciences.

For over twenty years, the LIAT laboratory has been pursuing a scientific program that questions the relationship between architecture and infrastructure. It focuses on the analysis of contexts (cities, territories, landscapes) marked by the development of infrastructure and major facilities, through a specific approach based on historical research, critical analysis of projects, case studies and the creation of a history of ideas.

The Consulate General of France in Chicago protects the interests of French residents and tourists in the 13 States of of jurisdiction (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Ohio, Wisconsin). This office performs a number of administrative services on behalf of the local French community. The French Consulate also offers notary and limited legal services. As a relay for the French Embassy on Washington, the French Consulate also contributes to developing ties and advancing partnerships between France (national and local institutions, companies, civil society…) and the Midwestern United States.

The Foundation’s work has included the underwriting of public spaces. This includes being the largest supporter of Washington’s Franklin  Delano Roosevelt Memorial, the principal donor for the Emmett Till Exhibit at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, a major donor to New York’s Statue of Liberty Museum and to Washington’s  United States Holocaust Memorial  Museum and an early donor to Chicago’s Obama Presidential Center, its latest effort after decades of assistance on Chicago’s south side. 

In connection to French culture and history, it has long been helping Notre Dame restoration and has only accelerated this work since  the 2019 fire; the Louvre Endowment; and to education on Holocaust and Deportation scholarship including the 1988 Academy Award winning documentary., Hotel Terminus, the Life and Times of Klaus Barbie. 

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive. Learn more at mellon.org. 

Carnegie Corporation of New York is one of America’s oldest grantmaking foundations, established in 1911 by Andrew Carnegie to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding. In keeping with this mandate, the Corporation’s work focuses on the issues that Andrew Carnegie considered of paramount importance: international peace, the advancement of education and knowledge, and the strength of our democracy.