Introducing: L’Alliance New York

We’re very excited to reveal the big news: French Institute Alliance Française is now L’Alliance New York. So…what’s in a new name? A whole lot, actually! A fresh visual identity, programming outlook, and website experience, to start—all made possible by many months of brainstorming, reviewing, and decision-making. We sat down with Suzanne Zudick, L’Alliance New York’s Vice President of Marketing and Communications, to delve into the fascinating and thoughtful details behind L’Alliance’s rebrand—and what it means for members, students, and guests.

Let’s go back in time a bit. How did FIAF’s name originate?

It came from two separate organizations. In 1898–more than 125 years ago!–the Alliance Française de New York was founded, becoming one of the earliest chapters of the Alliance Française network. There are now over 800 around the world. The Museum of French Art, French Institute was founded in 1911 by American francophiles. Those two institutions operated concurrently until 1971 when they merged, and that’s when we became the French Institute Alliance Française. The organization was founded—and for many years operated—on the mission of promoting French culture and French language. And while there’s a huge appetite for anything French-related here in New York, a driving force of our rebrand was to represent all French-speaking people and all French-speaking countries. The French language is more important than ever—it’s on track to be the second most-spoken language in the world by 2050—and the majority of that growth is coming from African countries.

How many names did the team look at before they landed on L’Alliance New York?

We looked at about fifty names. We wanted the name to feel a little bit modern while also being a nod to our values and history. We love the idea that we’re a home for francophone cultures, and so we tried a lot of different names that had something to do with a place of being, a place of connecting. The reason we’re the Alliance is also because we are at once proud of being a part of the network of Alliances Françaises around the world, but also wanted to acknowledge our unique history. We’re the home of francophone cultures and French language, a beacon from New York to the world.

Okay, quick pause. For those of us who are beginner French speakers, how do you say “L’Alliance?”

It’s pronounced “Lahl-yahnce.”

What made “L’Alliance New York” stand out from that long list of names?

Because it represents so many things. In French, an “alliance” is a wedding ring—so there’s this idea of infinity, of joining together. The other reason we love L’Alliance is because it has the same meaning in French and English—an alliance, a connection. To us, it represents an alliance between language and culture—language informs culture and culture informs language; you can’t separate the two. There’s the alliance that we have with our members, students, and guests. There’s the alliance of all francophone nations and French-speaking people around the world, and the vibrancy that they bring and share with all New Yorkers.

So much meaning in one little word! Even down to the apostrophe, right?

Yes! All French words are gendered—for example, La is a feminine gender and Le is masculine—but if a word starts with a vowel, the gender is not obvious. It’s written instead as L’. We liked this idea that it’s non-binary, it’s neutral. We’re also apolitical, so this one little L’ also represents that neutrality and inclusivity. We also love the idea of the apostrophe because diversity is one of our values—we have diverse language classes, we offer a huge diversity of cultural programming, our goal is to reach a more diverse audience, francophone cultures are very diverse; there are so many levels of diversity here. You can really show so much just with that one symbol. This has even extended to our new logo design and visual identity, in which the apostrophe is used as a mark with varying treatments to stand for our diversity.

Tell us more about L’Alliance New York’s fresh visual identity. What was the thought process behind the new logo?

The tricky piece was juggling how to respect our history and also reach the future. The visual tone we aimed for was “vibrant and inspirational.” We worked with a French type foundry to create the new wordmark, which further emphasizes that balance between classic and modern. It’s an art nouveau style, calling back to the font on an old French metro sign. We reviewed about six different options and loved this modernized version of the classic font. You’ll also see in some of our designs that there’s the word “all” set out in L’Alliance; that’s a visual element that further emphasizes inclusivity, welcoming, and creating a unification.

How will the rebrand affect L’Alliance students, members, and guests?

None of your core benefits will change—we’re not taking things away, but we are growing, and as we evolve so will our offerings. In 2022 we welcomed a new President, Tatyana Franck, and just this year our new Artistic Director, Violaine Huisman joined, as well as a new film curator, Jake Perlin. We’re about to offer our biggest Crossing The Line ever—it used to be a two-month-long festival and now it’s four months long. We still offer French films every Tuesday, and in January we’ll be refreshing our cinematic offerings. So we have a whole new approach to programming. Those are just a few of the things that the rebranding represents—it’s a container for everything we’re doing and how we’re approaching the future.

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This very blog is a key part of L’Alliance New York’s updated website, which has launched alongside the rebrand. We want to dive deeper into the best of what we do, and to make your experience of everything from finding French classes to buying event tickets easier and more fun. Click around, sign up for our email newsletter, and let us know what you think!