About Us

Our mission: promote French language and culture

The Alliance Française was founded in Paris in 1883. It is a worldwide network of non-profit, welfare, cultural and educational centres.

Today, it is the largest cultural network in the world, with more than 800 centres in 136 countries on all five continents. Each year, 550,000 people attend Alliances Françaises to learn French and over 6 million people participate in their cultural activities. The network is coordinated by the Alliance Française Foundation (Fondation Alliance Française).

The Alliance Française has been present in New Zealand for more than 115 years. The New Zealand network comprises 9 Alliances Françaises (Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Nelson, Palmerston North, Timaru, Wangarei and Wellington) which provide language courses and cultural activities to over 25,000 people every year.

In Palmerston North, the Alliance Française Palmerston North and its predecessor the “Cercle Français” have been actively promoting interest in the French language and culture since 1949. The Alliance Française Palmerston North is an incorporated society and a registered charitable entity governed by a committee elected by its members.

The mission of the Alliance Française Palmerston North is to encourage the study of the French language, to raise the awareness of French and French-speaking world cultures in all their dimensions, to foster cultural, intellectual, artistic and friendly exchanges between the French-speaking world and the local community, and to promote cultural diversity by highlighting all cultures.

The Alliance Française offers and supports continued learning both in and out of the classroom.

• French courses: We teach French to students of all ages and levels with different varieties of classes (workshops, private classes, teen conversation classes, etc).

The Alliance Française makes learning French convenient by offering daytime, evening and weekend classes. All classes are taught by experienced native French-speaking teachers. Assistance, such as literacy, numeracy and English classes, are provided to refugees and migrants.

• Cultural events: Currently, Alliance Française offers a range of community and cultural events to its members, as well as to the general public. Events throughout the year include: lectures, art exhibitions, film screenings, concerts, wine tastings and traditional celebrations.

• French community library: Supplementary resources are also available, as the Alliance Française is home to over 2,000 books, films and audio materials to help in the learning process both linguistically and culturally.

• DELF/DALF diplomas: Alliance Française Palmerston North is also a certified examination centre for official French proficiency diplomas.