Alliance Francaise De Philadelphie

Specialties

The Alliance Francaise is a non-​profit organization, a French language school, a library, a cultural center. We organize various events throughout the year, from cheese tasting to art lectures, fashions shows, french lunches or chocolate tours.

Our classes last 10 weeks and cover every level of language. We also provide day long immersion classes, where students and teachers focus on grammar, vocabulary and conversation around a topic.

History

Established in 1903.

The Alliance Française de Philadelphie was founded by Professor P. F. Giroud with the assistance of Mrs. Alexander J. Cassatt, Mrs. Robert Coleman Drayton, and Mrs. Sidney W. Keith, in February of 1903. This original group of four gathered together an organizing committee of forty, which included Mrs. Arthur Biddle, Mrs. George Biddle, Mr. Edwin Swift Balch, Mr. Thomas Willing Balch, and Mrs. John Cadwalader.

The first meeting of the Alliance Française de Philadelphie took place on March 9, 1903, at the Acorn Club. In the first year, over 120 members met regularly on Monday evenings from November (1903) to May (1904) for lectures, concerts and poetry readings.

In 1908 the Charter for the Alliance Française was signed and the goals of the Alliance Française de Philadelphie were formalized: to teach the French language and to explore French culture. The Alliance Française also dreamed of raising endowments in order to one day have its own conference rooms, classrooms and a library.

Meet the Manager

Martine C.

Manager

Executive Director of the Alliance Francaise