An annual symposium at Pasadena City College that explores the French-speaking world turns its focus Friday to the intersection of Francophonie and sports, bringing together a Pasadena cultural institution founded more than a century ago with French diplomatic partners for a day of programming on the college campus.
The Francophonie Symposium 2026, co-organized by Alliance Française de Pasadena, the PCC French department, and the college’s French & Francophone Club, with support from Villa Albertine and the Consulate of France in Los Angeles, is part of a tradition that has drawn national recognition. In 2022, the PCC French & Francophone Club won first place in the France on Campus Awards — a competition established by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy — for its symposium exploring cultural diversity in the French-speaking world, according to Villa Albertine.
The event listing describes this year’s symposium as “dedicated to the intersection of Francophonie and sports.” French has served as an official language of the International Olympic Committee since Pierre de Coubertin founded the IOC in 1894, under the organization’s charter, and the relationship between the French language and international athletics drew renewed attention during the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Alliance Française de Pasadena, founded May 5, 1924, is one of the oldest Alliance Française chapters in the United States, according to the organization’s website. The nonprofit promotes knowledge and appreciation of the French language and Francophone cultures. Its partnership with PCC’s French department on the annual symposium brings guest speakers from across the country and internationally, according to the college’s French program website. Previous editions have focused on Vietnam in 2023 and the Caribbean in 2022.
Villa Albertine, the French government’s cultural services arm, operates out of the French Consulate in Los Angeles and works to strengthen ties between France, Los Angeles, and the greater Southwest, according to the Albertine Foundation. The Consulate of France in Los Angeles oversees French interests in Southern California, Southern Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico.
March is recognized internationally as the Month of Francophonie, with International Francophonie Day observed on March 20. The day commemorates the signing of the 1970 Niamey Convention, which established the precursor to the International Organization of La Francophonie.
The symposium begins at 8:30 a.m. Friday at Pasadena City College, 1570 E. Colorado Blvd. Admission is $10 for Alliance Française members and $20 for non-members. For information, contact Alliance Française de Pasadena at (833) 386-3911 or afdepasadena@gmail.com, or PCC French department advisors Emilie Garrigou-Kempton at egarrigoukempton@pasadena.edu or Emmanuelle Remy at exremy@pasadena.edu.
The symposium is the latest in a series that has each year turned its lens on a different dimension of the French-speaking world — from Caribbean arts to Vietnamese culture — now landing on the global stage where language and sport meet.
