A non-profit organization

Why not an agency?

A non-profit costs less to found and has tax advantages. It is, however, more complicated to run.

But we cannot open certain doors to an anonymous public...

and our main goal is genuinely to communicate a different vision of France (as the detail of most descriptions shows). "Non-profit" does not mean that we're indifferent to money. It does mean that it is secondary.

Here's how we began and what we do best.

: Many foreigners' image of France

This drawing illustrates the widespread belief that doors in France are resolutely shut. Yet many do open, through personal contact. They give a unique vision of France - we are happy to share it.

They openings began...

when a marquise welcomed our "Franco-American Cultural Club" into her salon with its 16th-century tapestries and invited her friends to our soirée. That springboard led to creating events with and for Parisians from varied backgrounds for more than 15 years, as these pages show.

We discovered a culture that is invisible and unsuspected. PEF is the result.

You'll find an emphasis on...

• History, because it brings order into chaos, is rarely what the "official version" announces and so must be decoded and reveals drama, tragedy and grandeur.

• Artists, musicians, specialists (...), who love their work and whom we know well.

As a visitor put it, "PEF is like a cabaret show. There is always another artist on stage."

- S. Montmoris, U.S. executive in Paris