The French President’s schedule includes a meeting with the Governor, a speech on Louisiana’s French language, and strolls around the French Quarter and Frenchmen Street.
© Rémi Jouan, CC-BY-SA, GNU Free Documentation License, Wikimedia Commons
Will McGrew, CEO, Télé-LouisianeYesterday evening, the French Consulate in Louisiana announced the first official details on President Emmanuel Macron’s agenda for his historic daylong visit to New Orleans—the first by a French President in nearly 50 years.
After arriving from Washington, President Macron will kick off his visit in the heart of the French Quarter— Jackson Square—where he will be welcomed by Mayor Latoya Cantrell and other officials before taking a walking tour of the Vieux Carré.
Next, he will meet with Governor John Bel Edwards at the Historic New Orleans Collection to discuss climate issues. At the HNOC, Governor Edwards will sign an agreement with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna in the presence of President Macron that will, among other things, create a role on the Governor’s Climate Initiatives Taskforce for a French technical expert in the energy transition.
Turning to Louisiana’s world-renowned language and culture, President Macron will then give a speech at the New Orleans Museum of Art on the persistence of the French language in Louisiana and the central role it has played historically and contemporaneously in Louisiana’s unique culture and identity. The audience will include cultural and political leaders in the State’s Cajun, Creole, Bayou Indian, and other French-speaking communities.
In the evening, President Macron will be joined for dinner by members of the music and film industries. And finally, the President will close out the night in the City’s historic district, walking down Frenchmen street to listen to the city’s famous jazz bands, before returning to the airport to fly back home to Paris.
The final stop on his visit, Frenchmen Street, is not only festive but also symbolic. The street was named for the French-speaking Louisiana Creoles who were executed for revolting against Spanish rule in defense of self-determination for the people of Louisiana. Often forgotten, this Louisiana Revolution of 1768 was the first popular upheaval inspired by the ideals of the Enlightenment—8 years before the American Revolution and 21 years before the French Revolution.
Macron’s day trip to the Bayou State comes after several years of intense political and cultural efforts to maintain Louisiana’s cherished yet endangered linguistic identity. In the past two years, Télé-Louisiane has worked with partners across the State to negotiate the largest State budgets in history for French language initiatives—$800,000 in FY 21-22 and $4 million in FY 22-23. The latter number includes $264,000 in funding for Télé-Louisiane’s programming partnership with Louisiana Public Broadcasting, and $3 million for École Pointe-au-Chien. Since 2018, Louisiana is the only US State to be a member of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie although this status has not yet facilitated additional support for Louisiana’s endangered French language.