NYC Arts: The Complete Guide to Art and Culture

The Cultural Services of the French Embassy are headquartered in the former Payne Whitney residence on Fifth Avenue in New York City and at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Under the direction of the French Ambassador to the United States, its mandate is to prompt and sustain a high-spirited cultural exchange between the most promising French and American artists, writers, thinkers, students, and educators, and to continually enhance the number and caliber of opportunities available to them.

The Cultural Services regularly conceives, organizes, and supports large-scale initiatives to draw attention to exciting developments in French culture. In recent years, these initiatives have included in New York: France Moves, a contemporary dance festival (2001); Sounds French, a contemporary music festival (2003); Act French, a season of new French theater (2005); and regionally, Playing French focused on contemporary playwrights in Chicago (2004); Lyon via Houston (2005), and a jazz festival French Quarter (2007).

• Directions: Subway: 4, 5, 6 to 86th Street