Our Team

Jan Dixon Committee member	Coralie Yorke Committee  member	Catherine Sims Committee member

Bonjour à tous!

Let me begin by attending to the common misconception that the Alliance Française is an extension of the French embassy - and thus is fully-funded by - the French government: Au contraire! In fact, the Alliance Française Palmerston North is a local registered charity that relies primarily on grants, donations, and the membership and course fees that you, the locals, contribute. We are a Palmerston North-based charitable organization reaching outwards to the wider Manawatū. Understood from this perspective, our function is not the top-down dissemination of French language from the Parisian metropolis to the far corners of the globe, but rather a bottom-up, grass roots process of community engagement. We are Palmy people adding value, diversity and cohesion to our own community.

I will provide a little bit of my own personal history to demonstrate more precisely what we are about. I grew up in Congo-Brazzaville. I was fortunate enough to spend time  in both France and New Caledonia, I have always had a love of French language and culture.

I am a member of the Alliance Française Palmerston North because it allows me to feel at home in the Manawatū whilst contributing another perspective to the ever-burgeoning cultural richness of our community.

Our organization is made up of locals drawn from an immense variety of backgrounds and locations, cultures and traditions. Whether one hails from Africa, Whanganui, the Pacific, Auckland, Europe or Bunnythorpe, the one thing we share in common is our lives together in this place.

Join us! Rejoignez-nous!