Culture At Home

Created during the lockdown, this section still has plenty to offer! Find below a selection of some of our favourite online platforms and curated links for free exploring, reading, watching, listening, dreaming with the French culture!

Watch on Youtube all episodes of our monthly Facebook Live Series. These short live performances by one of our Irish or French collaborators and friends include reading, theatre, drawing, music, presentations, cooking and more!

This service is free

The revolutionary online platform Culturethèque developed by Institut Français is accessible 24/7, anywhere from any digital device, and offers over 150,000 online French titles including magazines, newspapers, books, audiobooks, comics & graphic novels, learning modules and so much more!

Our Selection: 

The French Library team has curated special collections for you:

Children’s Corner with:

and many other selections by theme, age, interests and level in the French Language.

This service is free for AF Members

France has many of the most significant art collections in the world with museums attracting millions every year. Nowadays you can very easily access these paintings and artefacts online!

Our Selection:

Immersive Virtual Tours of some of the greatest museums in the world:

and one of the oldest:

Online Collections at:

Many museums and cultural institutions are also organising live tours & activities on their social networks, check out the #CultureChezNous initiative and the POP platform created by the French Ministry of Culture for more information!

These services are free

Going to a show is certainly what we’ll miss the most during this confinement time. With Youtube you can immerse yourself in an infinity of live performances!

Our Selection:

The excellent Concerts à emporter organised by La Blogotheque.

Full concerts for all tastes:

and have you seen the Orchestre National de France performing Ravel’s Boléro through video conferencing?

Full plays like:

Stand-Up comedy by:

This service is free

Online globetrotting is the new tourism! There is no reason why this confinement should prevent you from exploring cities and landscapes. With Goggle tools such as Street View, Earth, and Arts & Culture, the world is at your fingertips!

Our Selection:

Visit French landmarks and get inside.

Go for a refreshing walk on the

Go on a casual stroll in one of France’s biggest cities and get lost in the streets of: 

Take a:

This service is free

Deezer is the French Spotify where you can find a much more diverse music from France and all the French-speaking areas around the world.

Our Selection:

60’s pop dubbed “yéyé”, inluding:

Electronic Music including:

19th Century Impressionist Classical music including:

Current sensations like:

This service is free for 3 months

The Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (INA), the repository of all French audiovisual archives, has created the streaming platform Madelen featuring +130,000 TV programmes, series, fiction, performances and documentaries!

Our Selection:

Cult TV Series:

Cult TV programmes:

Animated series:

Iconic Theatre adaptations:

This service is free for 1 month

France has such a huge culinary tradition that French cuisine has been declared a “World Heritage” by UNESCO. Escape the confinement by exploring and experiencing French gastronomic culture!

Our Selection:

Try timeless classic French dish recipes with leading French cooking website Marmiton to give a go at:

Boeuf Bourguignon, Quiche Lorraine, Soupe à l’Oignon, Ratatouille, Gratin Dauphinois, Salade Niçoise, Choucroute, Galettes Bretonnes, Coq- au-vin, Poulet Basquaise, Hachis Parmentier Pot-au-feu, Bouillabaisse

or, if you’re feeling adventurous, try traditional boulangerie and pâtisserie such as:

Baguette, Croissant, Tarte tatin, Crème brûlée, Île flottante and Macarons

Watch specialists at work with cooking shows such as: 

Les carnets de Julie, Tous en cuisine, Voyages & délices, and the cult tv program La Cuisine des mousquetaires!

These services are free

Cinema is the best way to escape! Watching French short films with French subtitles is also a great for learning the language!

Our Selection:

The free educational website Open Media offers lots of classics that have become public domain:

Award-winning French shorts can also be found Youtube: 

MyFrenchFilmFestival, the annual online French film festival, offers for the duration of the lockdown a special Stay Home edition featuring the best of the French shortfilms presented during the past 10 years!

These services are free

Widen your horizons with scientific documentaries, conferences, experiments, games for newbies and specialists alike!

Our Selection:

Documentaries & series Arte Tv has a huge collection of scientific series including the fascinating:

Science Podcasts:

Conferences:

Exoplanets-A’s:

Apps and VR created by the:

Scientitic games and tutorials for 9-14 years old on the Junior website of La Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie

Fun and easy experiments to recreate at home on Youtube channels Brico Sympa and Tout comment

These services are free