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Alliance Française De Washington
The Alliance Française of Washington is a non-profit, non governmental cultural and educational American association. Its mission is to promote the French language and Francophone cultures in the Capital Region, as well as intercultural exchanges, within the context of the international network of the Alliance FrançaiseMost of the information contained in this section has been taken from a brochure called "Alliance Française de Washington 1999, 50 years!", published on the occasion of AFDC's 50th anniversary. History In 1883, Jean Jules Jusserand, Jean-Jules Jusserand, the French ambassador to the United States and one of the founding fathers of the Alliance Française, Alliance Française de Paris, encouraged the capital's French-American to establish an Alliance Française in Washington. It was achieved in 1905. In 1910, the Alliance counted 93 members and a staff of eight volunteers. By 1945, however, the Alliance had met its demise due to the closing of the French Embas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Washington DC
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with Maryland to its north and east. It was named after George Washington, the first president of the United States. The district is named for Columbia (personification), Columbia, the female National personification, personification of the nation. The Constitution of the United States, U.S. Constitution in 1789 called for the creation of a federal district under District of Columbia home rule, exclusive jurisdiction of the United States Congress, U.S. Congress. As such, Washington, D.C., is not part of any U.S. state, state, and is not one itself. The Residence Act, adopted on July 16, 1790, approved the creation of the Capital districts and territories, capital district along the Potomac River. The city ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hillwood Museum & Gardens
Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens is a decorative arts museum in Washington, D.C., United States. The former residence of businesswoman, socialite, philanthropist, and collector Marjorie Merriweather Post, Hillwood is known for its large decorative arts collection that focuses heavily on the House of Romanov, including two Fabergé eggs. Other highlights are 18th- and 19th-century French art and one of the country's finest orchid collections. History After her divorce from her third husband, Joseph E. Davies, Post bought Arbremont, a Georgian Colonial estate in northwest Washington on the edge of Rock Creek Park, renaming it Hillwood, a name she had also used for her former property in Brookville, New York. Arbremont, with its 36 rooms, had been built in the 1920s by Daisy Peck Blodgett, wife of Delos A. Blodgett Jr, a Michigan lumber tycoon and daughter of Professor William Henry Peck of Atlanta, Georgia. Blodgett built Arbremont House for her daughter, Helen Blodgett Erwin. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Clottes
Jean Clottes is a prominent French prehistorian. He was born in the French Pyrenees in 1933"Jean Clottes," The Archeology Channel website, retrieved 2-12-08."Dr. Jean Clottes, Archaeologist," Bradshaw Foundation website, retrieved 2-12-08. and began to study in 1959, while teaching high school. He initially focused on |
District Of Columbia Public Schools
The District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) is the local public school system for Washington, D.C. It is distinct from the District of Columbia Public Charter Schools (DCPCS), which governs public charter schools in the city. Composition and enrollment DCPS is the sole public school district in the District of Columbia. As of 2013, DCPS consisted of 111 of the 238 public elementary and secondary schools and learning centers in Washington, D.C. These schools span prekindergarten to twelfth grade. As of 2000, kindergarten students entered at 5 years old. School is compulsory for DCPS students between the ages of 5 and 18. DCPS schools typically start the last Monday in August. The school day generally lasts for about six hours. The ethnic breakdown of students enrolled in 2014 was 67% Black, 17% Hispanic (of any race), 12% non-Hispanic White, and 4% of other races. As of 2014, the District itself has a population that is 44% White (includes White Hispanics), 49% Black ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacky Terrasson
Jacky Terrasson (born November 27, 1965) is a French jazz pianist and composer. Background Terrasson's mother is African-American from Georgia, and his father is French. From his parents he heard classical music as a child. He began piano lessons at an early age. He became interested in jazz when he heard his mother's albums of Miles Davis and Billie Holiday. Terrasson went to the Berklee College of Music in Boston for two semesters, then performed in clubs as a jazz pianist in Chicago and New York City. In 1993 he won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition. As the leader of a trio, Terrasson recorded his first solo album for Blue Note, then recorded with Jimmy Scott and Cassandra Wilson. He has worked with Stéphane Belmondo, Michael Brecker, Mino Cinélu, Ugonna Okegwo, Leon Parker, Michel Portal, Adam Rodgers, and Cécile McLorin Salvant. The Los Angeles Times heralds him as "a pianist with a shining improvisational imagination, Terrasson seems clea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angélique Kidjo
Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo (; born July 14, 1960) is a Beninese- French singer-songwriter, actress and activist noted for her diverse musical influences and creative music videos. Kidjo has won five Grammy Awards and is a 2023 Polar Music Prize laureate. She holds the Guinness World Record for the most global music album awards won at the Grammys. In 2007, ''Time'' magazine called Kidjo "Africa's premier diva." She performed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony on July 23, 2021. On September 15, 2021, ''Time'' included her in their list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Kidjo is fluent in five languages: Fon, French, Yorùbá, Gen (Mina) and English. She sings in all of them, and she also has her own personal language, which includes words that serve as song titles such as "Batonga". Kidjo often uses Benin's traditional Zilin vocal technique and vocalese. Angelique Kidjo has collaborated with many artist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Les Nubians
Les Nubians is a French musical duo, composed of sisters Hélène and Célia Faussart from Paris, France. In 1985, the sisters moved with their parents to Chad. Seven years later, they returned to Bordeaux, France, and began singing a cappella, producing poetry slams in Bordeaux and Paris, and singing background vocals for various artists worldwide. The duo's debut album '' Princesses Nubiennes'' was released by Virgin Records, France, in 1998. They have become one of the most successful French-language musical groups in the U.S., best known for their Billboard R&B Single "Makeda" from their Grammy nominated album ''Princesses Nubiennes''. Les Nubians were the 1999 Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards winners for Best New Artist, Group or Duo and received two NAACP Image Awards nominations in 2000. In May 2020, the sisters were featured in the Visual Collaborative Polaris catalog. In a series titled ''TwentyEightyFour'' released during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, their intervi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plantu
Jean Plantureux, collegially known as Plantu, is a French political cartoonist, journalist, caricaturist, and artist born in 1951 in Paris. Jean Plantureux, is a cartoonist specializing in political satire. His drawings regularly appeared in ''Le Monde'' for which he began drawing in 1972. Biography Early Life Jean Plantureux was born the son of an industrial draughtsman for France’s state-owned rail company - SNCF. He began his primary school education at the Patay school in Paris's 13th arrondissement. In school, Jean regularly received prizes for excellence and honors (''even being awarded a Camaraderie prize - voted upon by his peers''). Jean Plantureux, then went on to study at the prestigious Lycée Henri-IV secondary school (which, along with Lycée Louis-le-Grand is often considered the most prestigious and demanding secondary school in France). In 1969, Jean finished his secondary education - earning his Série D Baccalaureate degree (a secondary school diplom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bernard Werber
Bernard Werber (born 18 September 1961 in Toulouse) is a French science fiction writer, active since the 1990s. He is chiefly recognized for having written the trilogy '' Les Fourmis'', the only one of his novels to have been published in English. This series weaves together philosophy, spirituality, science fiction, thriller, science, mythology and consciousness. Writing style Werber's writing style mixes literary genres, including saga, science fiction and philosophical ideas. Most of his novels have the same format, alternating between prose and encyclopedic passages that expand upon the ideas in the former. Many of Werber's novels are also connected by common characters, story threads and themes. For example, the character Edmond Wells appears both in the trilogy '' Les Fourmis'' (''The Ants''), the novel '' L'Empire des anges'' (''The Empire of the Angels''), and the novel ''Nous Les Dieux'' (''We the Gods''). Literary themes Werber's books anthropomorphize animals inc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michel Houellebecq
Michel Houellebecq (; born Michel Thomas on 26 February 1956) is a French author of novels, poems, and essays, as well as an occasional actor, filmmaker, and singer. His first book was a biographical essay on the horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. Houellebecq published his first novel, ''Whatever (novel), Whatever'', in 1994. His next novel, ''Atomised'', published in 1998, brought him international fame as well as controversy. ''Platform (novel), Platform'' followed in 2001. He has published several books of poetry, including ''The Art of Struggle'' in 1996. An offhand remark about Islam during a publicity tour for his 2001 novel ''Platform'' led to Houellebecq being taken to court for incitement to ethnic or racial hatred, inciting racial hatred. He was eventually cleared of all charges. He subsequently moved to Ireland for several years, before moving back to France, where he currently resides. He was described in 2015 as "France’s biggest literary export and, some say, greatest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andreï Makine
Andreï Yaroslavovich Makine (; born 10 September 1957) is a French novelist. He also publishes under the pseudonym Gabriel Osmonde. Makine's novels include '' Dreams of My Russian Summers'' (1995) which won two top French awards, the Prix Goncourt and the Prix Médicis. He was elected to seat 5 of the Académie Française on 3 March 2016, succeeding Assia Djebar. Biography Andreï Makine was born in Krasnoyarsk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union on 10 September 1957 and grew up in the city of Penza about 700 kilometres (435 mi) south-east of Moscow. As a boy, having acquired familiarity with France and its language from his French-born grandmother, he wrote poems in both French and his native Russian. In 1987, he went to France as a member of a teacher's exchange program and decided to stay. He was granted political asylum and was determined to make a living as a writer in French. However, Makine had to present his first manuscripts as translations from Russian to overcome publish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
