Vive la Midtown!

The Intown Academy and Alliance Française d’Atlanta hosted Grammy-nominated R&B duo, Les Nubians, on campus Thursday. The duo, composed of sisters Hélène and Célia Faussart from Paris, France, met with students from second to fifth grade and discussed their music.

Born to a French father and Cameroonian mother, the sisters grew up in Chad and France. They have become one of the most successful French-language musical groups in the United States, best known for their Billboard R&B single "Makeda" from their 1998 Grammy-nominated album Princesses Nubiennes.  

This is the second collaboration between Alliance Française d’Atlanta and The Intown Academy for French cultural outreach. Alliance Française brought French astronaut, Jean-François Clervoy, to the school last spring to meet middle school students and discuss space travel and working aboard the International Space Station.

The Intown Academy is a tuition-free, public charter school that opened August 2010 in the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood. It serves grades K-7 and will grow to K-8 in 2012-2013.

Located at Colony Square, Alliance Française d'Atlanta is an independent and non-profit organization, founded in 1912, serving the Atlanta community as the premier provider of French language and culture. The mission of Alliance Française d'Atlanta is to encourage the study of French language and cultures and to foster cultural, intellectual, and artistic exchanges between the French-speaking world and our local communities.

Keeping with the French theme, the Francophonie Festival will be held locally March 17-31. French is spoken by an estimated 200 million people in 56 countries and every March, francophones – as French-speakers call themselves – unite to celebrate the diverse cultures worldwide that share the same language. 

Atlanta’s Francophonie Festival 2012, now in its 13th year, offers free and ticketed cultural events in Midtown, Buckhead and downtown. Highlights include internationally known political cartoonist Plantu, French comedians, films from Belgium, Québec and Switzerland, a Cajun music concert and a gourmet brunch for families. For more information, see here.