The “Fête de la Musique” (Music Day or Make Music Day) is an annual music celebration that takes place on June 21st. This festival originated in France in 1982 and has since spread to many countries around the world, including the Netherlands through the initiatives taken by the network of Alliances Françaises in the Netherlands. 

The Alliance Française network is a global organization that aims to promote the French language and francophone cultures worldwide. In the Netherlands, the Alliance Française actively participates in cultural events, including the Fête de la Musique, to share and celebrate French speaking cultures with the Dutch and International public and serves as a platform for cultural exchanges, allowing for a blending of French, International and Dutch musical traditions. 

Diplomat Affairs Magazine took this opportunity to interview Ms. Hélène Pichon, Director of the Alliance Française of the Hague and Coordinator of the 31 Alliances Françaises in the Netherlands since September 2022.

Ms. Hélène Pichon is a Franco-Swiss national who holds a DEA in Political Science in English from the Sorbonne Paris IV. Throughout her career, she has worked in various international roles, including positions in Lebanon, the UN in Geneva for the Republic of Korea, and the Kingdom of Bahrain. She has also directed the Alliance Française of Cork in Ireland and coordinated its French Film Festival.

In addition to her role at the Alliance Française of The Hague, she has been involved with the Centre d’Étude et de Prospective Stratégique, a think tank and INGO, from January 2011 to September 2022, as Director of Institutional Relations. She is a Colonel in the French Air Force Civilian Reserve since 2012.

Ms. Pichon is a strong advocate for gender equality and authored the manifesto “L’Éternel au Féminin – The Eternal through the Feminine » calling for parity in the spiritual leadership in the major monotheisms. She is a founding member of the French chapter of the International Women’s Forum and served on its global board from 2019 to 2021. Additionally, she is a goodwill ambassador for the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Foundation for Youth and a vice-president of the Robert Schuman Institute for Europe.

Did your former role and experience as Director of the Alliance Française in Cork, Ireland, influence your decision to accept the position of Director at the Alliance Française in The Hague?

It surely did, my experience as Director of Alliance Française in CORK was one of the most fascinating, enriching and rewarding professional time of my life. I enjoyed every minute of the 4 years and 2 months I spent in CORK, being the pilot of a linguistic and cultural institution, the privileged partner of the diplomatic network of France abroad; this assignment confirmed to me that there is no more joyful mission on earth than the one which consists in opening paths of dialogue and understanding between human beings of different cultures and languages. I fell in love with the Irish people, their magnificent heritage, and grew even fonder of the multifaceted dimension of the European identity. So, when just a decade later I was invited once more to join the network of Alliances Françaises abroad, this time in the Netherlands, I was thrilled to be called once more to invest all my energy in the extraordinary mission of building bridges of understanding and mutual enrichment between nations, and I felt very blessed to be given for the second time in my professional life such a privileged opportunity: the calling was all the more an honor as I was asked to coordinate the network composed of 31 Alliances Françaises of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, one of the most dense network of Alliances Françaises in the world. I felt very humbled by the task. It was also a very deep honor to be called to contribute to the strengthening and the spreading of the French language in all the International Organizations located in the Hague or in its vicinity : on the eve of the forthcoming summit of the heads of States belonging to the International Organization of Francophonie – OIF – to be held next October 2024 in Villers-Cotterêts, in France, the challenge to keep the French language as a valued and globally respected alternative language is a very dear one : Promoting the French Language in the world capital of Peace is a fascinating and obliging mission that I embrace every day as such.

How has the celebration of “Fête de la Musique” impacted cultural exchange between France and the Netherlands over the years?

As soon as you get to know the Dutch people you realize how much the nation is musical and very fond of music and singing all together. It comes thus as no surprise that the Fête de la Musique would quickly be adopted and spread throughout the Netherlands. The Federation of the Alliances Françaises in the Netherlands developed over the many years a singing contest, le concours de la chanson which became progressively very popular in the public and was converted recently into the format of the Fête de la Musique. Many Alliances Françaises across the Netherlands offered on the occasion various concerts of both professional and amateur musicians and singers in various cities, including Utrecht. Not to forget to mention the Padam Musical Festival initiated by the Alliance Française of Amsterdam which always encounters a great success with the public. The Alliance Française of the Hague was proud to host for this 2024 edition of the Fête de la Musique the French composer Thierry GEOFFROY, a song writer of the acclaimed French and Dutch singers RENAUD, Hélène SEGARA, and DAVE to name just a few. 

Can you describe some of the challenges and successes you’ve experienced in organizing these events?

Promoting the French language and francophone cultures in The Hague is honestly a daily source of joy and enthusiasm: The Hague is a vibrant cosmopolitan city where the educated public is most eager to enrich itself culturally and linguistically on a permanent basis. The main success I achieved during the first two years of my assignment has been to consolidate the dynamic of the 31 Alliances Françaises of the Netherlands, pooling and sharing our pedagogical, human and cultural resources to strengthen the bonds between the civil society coming from French speaking countries and the Dutch and international members of the civil society living in the Netherlands.
Another success I am thrilled about is achieving an increase in the number of learners of the French Language for specific professional purposes – FOS[1] – mainly legal French, in International Organizations or institutions based in The Hague which include the OPCW, the ICC, the ICJ, the HCCH, the Hague Academy of International Law, the European Patent Office, and in various Embassies and Ministries based in The Hague. Enriching linguistically multilateral diplomacy is a fascinating and most rewarding endeavor.
My aspiration is to continue this development to all the international institutions based in The Hague, a perpetual work in progress: I know I can count on many Francophile diplomats to achieve this goal.

Are there any notable partnerships or projects that have come out of these collaborations?

We can underline that the Alliances Françaises of the Netherlands are very happy and proud to be part of the EUNIC[2] network of the Netherlands. Through this network we have been able amongst many other collaborations, to promote European languages on the European Day of Languages which takes place on September 26 with other European Cultural and Linguistic institutes, including the Institut Français NL, and other sister European organizations like the Goethe Institute, the Cervantes Institute, The Dante Alighieri society, the British Institute; the Irish, Belgian, Polish, Romanian, Croatian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Georgian, Austrian and Czech embassies, to name just a few. This yearly celebration allowed us to cultivate and reinforce bonds with the Romanian School of the Hague, which led us to welcome permanently its students and learners from September 2024 every Saturday in our premises. Alliance Française Rotterdam will also happily welcome the learners of Spanish of the Cervantes Institute in its premises from September 2024 onwards. This European dynamic is fostering stronger collaborations between the Members of EUNIC Netherlands, this is surely encouraging good news for Europe that we ought to praise.

^[1] FOS : Français sur objectif spécifique
^[2]EUNIC : European Union National Institutes for Culture
EUNIC – European Union National Institutes for Culture – is the European network of organisations engaging in cultural relations. Together with its partners, EUNIC brings to life European cultural collaboration in more than 100 countries worldwide with a network of 140 clusters, drawing on the broad experience of our members from all EU Member States and associate countries.
EUNIC advocates a prominent role of culture in international relations and is a strategic partner of the EU, actively involved in the further definition of European cultural policy. EUNIC is a platform for knowledge sharing and for capacity building amongst its members and partners.

Are there any new projects or initiatives that you are particularly excited about?

I am thrilled to organize in the coming months a conference on Women and Peace, in the footsteps of Bertha Von Suttner, the Austrian visionary who foresaw and fought for the existence of the Peace Palace of The Hague, the first woman ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. France and the Netherlands are very active in promoting gender equality and feminist diplomacy, this project chooses to reflect this perspective. In a time of growing tensions in the world, highlighting any initiative that can guide Humanity towards appeasement is of supreme interest. Bertha Von Suttner’s vision and contribution to world peace deserves more visibility and awareness on the international scene, and as all eyes are often on The Hague when it comes to conflict resolution, putting her and the many women from the 5 continents, who strive to foster peace in the world today in the limelight, ought to make a significant contribution to global peace. I am looking forward to meeting and introducing to the public so many women of so many countries, including from France and French speaking countries who are peace trailblazers that Humanity so much needs to listen to more attentively.