We are a non-profit organization...

not an agency. Why?

A non-profit costs less to found and has tax advantages. It is, however, more complicated to run. "Non-profit" does not mean that we are indifferent to money, but that it is secondary. More important is to communicate a different vision of France.

And that kind of organization is in our DNA.

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

There's a widespread belief that in France doors are resolutely shut ...

•Barcelona with sails

: Many foreigners' image of France

...but in fact they do open through personal contact. We experienced this through our parent organization, the "Club culturel Franco-Américain ("Franco-American Cultural Club). For many years it created all kinds of events, thanks to local people of extremely diverse origins. These events and the contaccts they brought are at the base of the openings suggested here.

They began when a marquise welcomed us...

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 nearly 20 years, as these pages show.

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