Moving culture to the highest level

The Budapest French Institute is here to promote French language and culture, and to encourage cross-cultural exchange. The institution serves as a French hub and a second home for those 2-3,000 French living in Hungary. It offers a library with a significantly huge collection of 40,000 books, widely used by the French community.

Institute Francais is the destination for French culture (and more) in Budapest. Francois Laquieze, Director of Budapest’s French Institute and Counselor in charge of cooperation and cultural affairs at the French Embassy, spoke to Diplomacy and Trade at length on ‘more’, talking about urban architecture, sustainable future, tourism, diversity, gastronomy, political and social issues. When taking over the institution in 2009, the director gave Diplomacy and Trade an insight to his already well formed and direct plans on how to develop new ways to introduce more cultural programs in Hungary. Some of them sounded far-fetched at the time, but those initiative plans all came true in the last few years.

The French Institute in Budapest took a key role of supporting Hungary, with the help of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF), while preparing for the EU presidency with different administration and language courses, targeting some 750 civil servants who are now representing Hungary in the EU. According to Laquieze, OIF has decided to extend this project while Hungary has become an observer member of OIF. “Of the myriads of programs and conferences we carried out, I’m especially proud of last year’s Trianon conference,” the director says. “The idea was to encourage interaction and conversation among Hungarian, Romanian, Slovak, Austrian and French historians, to overcome past conflicts and strengthen a European consciousness,” he explains. “Another great achievement is the Kosztolanyi Program and that this EUR 15,000 project, initiated by the French Foreign Ministry, has now grown to a handsome EUR 70,000 project, supporting those Hungarian publishers who publish French literary pieces in Hungarian.” He also notes that a series of programs, focusing on architecture, building-protection and energy effectiveness, proved to be a huge success as well. “These are still on monthly, offering exchange opportunities for both students of architecture and top architects as lecturers, such as Rudy Ricciotti or Edouard Francois.

Twin-city agreements

Our current exhibition and conference series entitled ‘Grand Pari(s)’ involves disputes on different strategies of the ‘French way of urban design’ and delivering know-how on sustainable architecture. I hope Hungarians will adopt these ideas, which should involve agreement of the state and the private sectors and long-term thinking.” The director says he is willing to open towards the countryside, mentioning that in 2013, Marseilles will become the Cultural Capital of Europe. “Accordingly, there will be a Marseilles Festival in Hungary, next year. France is not just about Paris, and the same appeals for Hungary and Budapest, too.” He says that the city of Vichy is seeking for co-operations with Hungarian spa cities within some twin-city framework. An already existing twin-city agreement links the city of Pecs with Aix-en-Provence, via Hungarian-French artist Victor Vasarely.
In the last few years, the French Institute has established affiliation with a number of universities, including the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Corvinus University and the Faculty of Law at the University of Szeged. “Despite the economic crisis, we have managed to maintain the number of scholarships featuring integrated European studies with the cooperation of the University of Lyon, for a double university degree,” Laquieze adds.

Francophone Film Days

With the mission to promote and enhance the knowledge and appreciation of French and Francophone culture, the institute organizes a Francophone Festival every year. “This spring, we have introduced the Francophone Film Days, as well, bringing the best pieces of current French language filmmaking,” Laquieze remarks, adding that upcoming programs include a joint project with Budapest’s Art Hall to organize the solo exhibition of a French artist, Xavier Veilhan, starting in June, and a number of concerts to mark the Liszt Year 2011 Program. “In 2012, we’ll be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the institution’s current location in Fo utca. I’m now preparing for inviting previous directors, and those ministers and politicians who have assisted the institute’s programs in the last two decades.”