We spoke with Anne Louyot, a diplomat specializing in international cultural relations. With degrees in Political Science, Art History, and Oriental Languages, she began her career at the French embassies in Brazil (1992-1995) and Moscow (1995-1998) before taking over the direction of the Cultural Diversity Support Fund at the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE). Anne also served as general commissioner for the Year of France in Brazil in 2009 and the France-Colombia Season in 2017.

Arte!Brasileiros Since May 2025, it has participated in the France-Brazil Season, an initiative of the governments of both countries through their ministries of culture and embassies, especially the Guimarães Rosa Institute on the Brazilian side, and the Institut Français, chaired by Eva Nguyen Binh, from France.

We understand that this initiative was of great importance to Brazilian culture as a whole, at a time of international political tensions and electoral disputes that only undermine the opportunity to strengthen existing cultural ties between countries and create new opportunities for young people to learn, from a cultural, economic and social point of view.

Below is a transcript of the conversation we had with Anne Louyot at the closing of part of the Season at the São Paulo Municipal Theater, where the opera-ballet Les Indes Galantes by Jean Philippe Rameau and Louis Fuzelier was performed, regarding her expectations and impressions.

Anne Louyot
Anne Louyot at the closing of the season in São Paulo, at the Municipal Theater, on the occasion of the presentation of the Opera-Ballet “Les Indes Galantes” by Jean-Philippe Rameau. Photo: Patricia Rousseaux

Art! ✱ – How did you feel about the participation of France and Brazil during your stay here, compared to the expectations you had in France?

Anne Louyot – I think that the response from our Brazilian partners sometimes exceeded our expectations, because there was a great deal of interest from them in the major priorities of the season. Of course, the issue of climate, the environment, the issue of democracy, human rights, the issue of cultural diversity and the relationship with Africa. I think these priorities are also the priorities of the young Brazilian generation and of Brazilians committed to reflecting on the future, not only of the Franco-Brazilian relationship, but also of the future of the planet, right?

I think it wasn't always easy, because intercultural dialogue isn't easy. Sometimes we had to come to an understanding on terms, on objectives. Sometimes there was a bit of a lack of trust, because we are a northern country. Of course, there are also tensions between the European Union and South America, but ultimately, despite the very tense geopolitical context, I think we have really managed to strengthen the relationship between the two civil societies, with regard to these three major polarities. And today I am very happy because I see that some of the most important projects will continue. For example, the Youth and Democracy Forum at the Convergências Festival, which opened the season in Brasília in August.

Art! ✱ – Has there been any proposal for a continuation?

Anne Louyot Specifically, the organizations that were part of this forum proposed that I continue. The Convergências association from France, the Mawê Collective, and the Afrolatinas University in Brasília, which organized the Youth and Democracy Forum, concluded, "Well, now the work has begun." It was a meeting between 40 young Brazilians selected by the Mawê Collective and the Afrolatinas University and 40 young French people selected by the NGO called Convergências, in France. They are young people, not students; they are people already engaged in civic actions, collectives, NGOs, and civil society initiatives. These young people met, worked online for six months, and met in August in Brasília. Now, they want to continue working together.

However, returning to the overall assessment, I am truly very satisfied with the result, and I think that the Brazilian partners, both institutional and especially from civil society, welcomed these priorities very well and took advantage of the opportunities we offered for partnerships with French organizations. I am very happy about that. It was very good from a cultural point of view, for example, for cultural institutions, universities, research centers, and also social organizations. We worked very well with CUFA, Central Única das Favelas (CUFA), so the overall assessment is very, very positive. Now we have to work to ensure that these initiatives can continue.

Art! ✱ – How can we think about continuing these meetings and the need to deepen our relationship?

Anne Louyot "For me, the season was never just about adding more events. That wasn't my intention, it wasn't the spirit or the logic of this season. The goal was to diversify the Brazilian public's knowledge of France and French culture, and to open new opportunities for partnership and cooperation between France and Brazil. For example, regarding music, there were, of course, concerts, but above all there were partnerships between festivals. One example I really like is the Psica 2025 Festival, which developed a very beautiful partnership with a cultural center and theater called Tropiques Atrium in Fort-de-France, Martinique, to present great names in Martinican music in Brazil, and which will take place from December 12th to 14th in Belém. This partnership will continue. They were very happy with this partnership and will continue it. Tropiques Atrium wants to welcome musical proposals from northern Brazil and continue sending artists from Martinique to Brazil, as is the case with Borispercus, who is a great Martinican percussionist. So, that's pretty much it." A proposal that sought to enrich the experiences of each side.

The opening forum, the Youth and Democracy Forum, will continue. The objective of this forum is to continue structuring joint proposals from French and Brazilian youth to strengthen democracy. We would like to hold the next edition in France around September 2026, but we need Brazil to consider and build support in order to participate. I can speak on behalf of France, but I cannot speak on behalf of the Brazilian side.

I know that Minister Margareth Menezes was very happy when she opened the Democracy and Youth Forum and that she was very interested in this initiative.

Art! ✱ – Next year we will have elections in Brazil. I don't know if the new government will have the same vision of building solid cultural ties with other countries, but, in any case, a good objective has already been created in Brazilian society and youth.

Anne Louyot – Yes. Funarte too. I had an excellent relationship with Maria Marighella (president of Funarte), so I think there is interest on the part of the Brazilian government. I know that, of course, the follow-up will be organized on the French and Brazilian sides, the Ministry of Culture and the Institut Français, of course, in Paris, and especially the French Embassy and the French consulates here in Brazil, with whom we organized this season, will follow up on these projects. So, I think we can certainly expect a new edition of the forum. It also needs support from the Brazilian side. For example, it's obvious that the France-Brazil Convergences Forum, which met in Brasília with the support of the French Institute, the Mawê collective, and the Afrolatinas University, which brought together more than 80 young people debating in working groups on topics such as gender equality, combating disinformation, democracy and culture, social and solidarity entrepreneurship, will continue.

Another event that will continue is the Amazon Connections Forum, which was organized at the end of August in Belém and was a meeting between French and Brazilians about biodiversity in the Amazon. Scientists from French Guiana participated in particular. So it is a Franco-Brazilian cooperation on Amazonian soil, and it was also organized on the French and Brazilian side by the Amazon Biodiversity Center, CFBBA.

Art! ✱ – Did the Goeldi Museum have any involvement?

Anne Louyot – Of course, a very important participation. The Goeldi Museum hosted this Forum, Amazonian Connections, and I already know that the Franco-Brazilian Center for Amazonian Biodiversity and the Goeldi Museum want to continue; there will be a second edition of this Amazonian Connections Forum in 2026. That's just from the scientific side.

Another very important event is the Dialogue with Africa that took place in Salvador, which was opened by President Emmanuel Macron and Minister Margareth Menezes. This forum was very important because it was the first time that a structured initiative had taken place to connect African, Brazilian, and French youth, with significant participation from the state of Bahia and the Salvador City Hall, and, on our side, the French Institute and several African partners. There is also great interest in continuing this meeting. An independent curatorial team was assembled, with Zara Fournier from the Institut Français on the French side, Lylly Houngnihin from Benin on the African side, and Glória dos Santos from the University of Salvador on the Brazilian side.

So, I mentioned the Democracy and Youth Forum and the Amazon Connections Forum, which are two initiatives that will continue, and with regard to the Our Future Forum, which was opened by President Macron, there is also a good chance that it will continue and extend to new meetings.

The Beninese curator, Lylly Houngnihin, for example, is very interested in organizing a meeting, perhaps a smaller one, because in this case in Salvador it was a very large event, there in Cotonou, in Benin, to continue these exchanges that took place there in Salvador.

Art! ✱ – She has incredible strength. I interviewed her and found her approach to the future exceptional.

Anne Louyot Yes, exactly, she has a very strong stance because she is very clear-sighted about the obstacles, the very painful legacy of slavery, colonization, and exploitation. But she believes that we must act together and not focus solely on accusations and recriminations from the past.

Art! ✱ – These initiatives and encounters are fundamental because they show how erasure was an initiative in several countries. In the last ten years, there has been a clear emergence of Black writers, publishers publishing, and artists positioning themselves to call on society to move forward together, because the reckoning with this past, which is something latent, has to be addressed.

Anne Louyot – Yes, we have to confront the past, we have to acknowledge it, we have to take responsibility for it, that's certainly a foundation, but once that's happened, we have to move forward and Lylly wants to do that, she believes we can't limit ourselves, because otherwise it reduces the protagonism, especially of African countries. She believes we have to work together, the African countries, Brazil and France.

Art! ✱ – So she's thinking about organizing the sequel to the Our Future Festival in Benin?

Anne Louyot – From the Our Future Festival, Brazil-France Dialogues with Africa, in Benin. She has at least that idea. We hope it can happen, but she certainly has the proposal, and I'm sure she will have the support of the Institut Français from France, and it would be wonderful to have the support of Brazil so that some Brazilian group can join this idea.

So, these are examples that are already more or less structured, but there are also other proposals since many young people have come together. I spoke with young people from Martinique who wanted to invite Brazilians to go to Martinique, and with young people from Saint-Ouen who wanted to invite Brazilians to the suburbs of Paris.

There are several possibilities for new meetings. For example, Christiane Taubira-Delannon, the former French Minister of Justice and one of the leading figures in the Forum, could very well encourage the continuation of these meetings. There are many possibilities, not just one, but several.

Regarding the Our Future Festival, I could mention other events, for example, the exhibition about the Édouard Glissant collection.

Art! ✱ – A very interesting seminar is currently taking place at the Tomie Ohtake Institute to follow up on the exhibition “Earth, Fire, Water and Winds, Towards a Museum of Wandering with Edouard Glissant,” about the collection which, as its call for papers states, proposes a debate on “a museum in motion, not founded on the fixation of an origin but on the relationships between histories, geographies and languages ​​that exchange and transform themselves.” Let's also follow this seminar to hear what we support here at [website/organization name]. arte!brasileiros As a media outlet, we have been working intensively on debates about contemporary culture for fifteen years, and we are a place focused on disseminating these ideas. Every year we hold an international seminar in conjunction with the magazine. The last one was a broad national and international debate on the movements of anti-hegemonic struggles in spaces of knowledge construction. So, something that interests us is how this season opened an international debate, hence the importance for Brazil of maintaining this relationship.

Anne Louyot I think our goals are very similar, and both seasons share this objective of fighting against hegemonic forces.

Art! ✱ – Yes, against hegemony, and there are many movements trying to go back, there are many setbacks.

Anne Louyot – Yes, that's exactly why, from a political standpoint, this season also has to do with the desire expressed by President Lula when he went to Paris to reactivate the principles of multilateralism, because multilateralism suffers greatly today; the UN is prevented from acting because the major powers block the UN's decision-making capacity.

So, it's very complicated, and we need to mobilize civil societies so that they can encourage this resumption of international dialogue.

We need to at least create some new space for discussion, and I think that's the responsibility of civil society. That's why the debate of ideas is so important. And that's why, during the season, as is the case with... arte!brasileiros...with the exact same objective of creating spaces and opportunities for debate to share our positions and goals. We have different objectives between Brazil and France, and we must recognize that. We have different histories, different economies, and different geostrategic positions. But we are countries that want to remain independent from the great powers; we are peaceful and democratic. We fight against discrimination and want to promote the possibility of a diverse culture. So we share many objectives between Brazil and France. France also has a cultural and population diversity very similar to Brazil's. So I think we have to work together.


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