March has come in like a lion (in British Columbia, anyway). There is lots of snow on the ground in the pretty mountain town that I live in.
Of course, March is also the month of the Francophonie and the RVF; a month for all of us to celebrate Francophone culture with music, films, activities, and more.
This year’s theme is Launch into Discovery, and this year’s RVF celebrates youth as crucial agents of change and cultural transmission within the Francophonie. Here are some of this year’s key events and activities:
- RVF 2024 co-spokespersons Micheline Marchildon and LeFLOFRANCO will travel on cross-Canada comedy and music tours throughout March. FLO will be bringing his messages of perseverance, pride in identity, love and tolerance to schools in Ontario, PEI, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, Nunavut, and British Columbia, and Micheline will be wowing audiences with Juste pour rire to Manitoba, British Columbia, Nunavut, Alberta, the Northwest Territories, and Yukon.
- RVF is hosting several contests (with thousands of dollars in prizes!) on travel and discovery to showcase the French language, Francophone, and Acadian culture. These include contests for students (Mots en couleurs and Danser avec les mots) and contests for everyone (Explore the Francosphere, the Franco-tour Contest, and the Activity that is Going Places Contest.)
- The Francophonie Podcasts are produced by my colleague Vanessa Lisabelle (French) and myself (English.) They feature Francophones, Acadians and Francophiles from a variety of cultural, community and entrepreneurial backgrounds
- A Francophone playlist, which features artists from all over Canada, created by the Association des Professionnels de la Chanson et de la Musique in collaboration with the Dialogue Foundation.
- Free National Film Board movies (of course!)
- The Mini-Rendez-vous, with many activities for children under 12 years old.
- Dozens of local RVF events, hosted in communities all over Canada.
Please check out the RVF website to discover even more!
I’ll focus in detail on some of these events and activities in the coming weeks, so, as they say on the radio, “Don’t touch that dial!”
Image: Adi Goldstein – Unsplash
Catherine Fisher, blogger
