British Council and Institut Francais sign Memorandum of Understanding
12 April 2012
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed on today in London by Xavier Darcos, President of the Institut Francais, and Martin Davidson, Chief Executive of the British Council.
The objective of this agreement is to reinforce the links between the two institutions by making official a lasting commitment to collaboration.
The Directors of the two institutions met in London to discuss and work together on common strategies for:
- Artistic exchanges
- Cultural collaborations
- Languages and promotion of multilingualism
- Education
- Books, literature and debate on ideas
- Civil society and intercultural dialogue
- Digital and online strategies
- Shared communication on common projects
- Exchanges of key staff and skills sharing – notably on partnership working
The MoU also seeks new approaches to Franco-British partnerships to promote greater efficiency and impact in joint projects in Europe, notably via EUNIC (the network of European Union National Institutes of Culture).
Xavier Darcos said: “In the digital world, the main obstacles to sharing culture are much less the physical borders and much more different languages and limits to resources. The Institut Francais has the exciting role of presenting and curating culture in the in digital space, a new challenge for which I have a great passion and I am delighted to share with the British Council.”
Martin Davidson said: “The Institut Francais and the British Council are natural partners in culture. We share a passion for languages, the Arts and sharing the cultures of our great nations and learning from others. We have already identified specific collaborations on strategy, the Arts, human resources and more which will bring us even closer and make us even more effective in sharing the best of our different cultures.”
The Institut Francais is the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ official body for culture outside France. In particular it promotes France’s culture in Europe in partnership with other EU countries and via France’s network of 101 Instituts Francais including 125 subsidiaries and 450 Alliances Francaises around the world. Insitut Francais’ first major European partnership was signed with Germany’s Goethe Institut on 18th October 2011.
Notes to Editors
The British Council creates international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and builds trust between them worldwide. We are a Royal Charter charity, established as the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations.
Our 7000 staff in over 100 countries work with thousands of professionals and policy makers and millions of young people every year through English, arts, education and society programmes.
We earn over 75% of our annual turnover of nearly £700 million from services which customers pay for, education and development contracts we bid for and from partnerships. A UK Government grant provides the remaining 25%. We match every £1 of core public funding with over £3 earned in pursuit of our charitable purpose.
For more information, please visit: www.britishcouncil.org.
