The New Orleans Foundation for Francophone Cultures

Invest in our culture(s). Invest in our future.

Bonjour—we are the New Orleans Foundation for Francophone Cultures. We are dedicated to the study, preservation, and public presentation of Louisiana’s Francophone cultures, with particular attention to Cajun, Creole, and Indigenous traditions.

In just five years, we have grown into a vibrant cultural institution, raising $1.2 million to reinvest directly in our city. We have built partnerships with leading institutions, including the Library of Congress, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Mellon Foundation.

This year, in collaboration with The Historic New Orleans Collection, we opened a new gallery space to present original exhibitions—including Becoming Louisiana: Borders in Motion (opening May 6)—and to house the only French-language bookstore west of the Mississippi (one of just three in the United States). This year also marked the launch of the Homer J. Dupuy Grant Program, designed to support innovative cultural projects across Louisiana, with awards of up to $5,000. We were also invited to the United Nations in New York City and to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., to present our Musique(s) album—a contemporary anthology of Louisiana music in French and Creole featuring six artists. 

We are only five years old—and just getting started. Thank you for helping us build what comes next. Que l’aventure continue.

Learn more: www.nous-foundation.org

Nous in the News

Biz New Orleans (April 2026) —  "The New Orleans Foundation for Francophone Cultures has opened the first cultural center in New Orleans dedicated specifically to celebrating Cajun and Creole heritage cultures. Not just the newest member of the French Quarter Museum Association, Nous is home to only the third French bookstore in the nation, along with a publishing house, a record label that has already produced an album that was up for a GRAMMY, and an independent film studio whose short films have resulted in a trip to the Cannes Film Festival. Since Nous’ founding, it has racked up approximately $1.1 million in grants. It’s an impressive list of accomplishments for a nonprofit that was founded just five years ago." 

NOLA.com (October 2025) — "Over and over, [The New Orleans Foundation for Francophone Cultures] has shown the diversity of that Francophone heritage, in both their programs and their grantmaking. When, last year, they recorded an album titled “Musique(s),” a project backed by the Library of Congress, they included not only French folk music but also reached out to the Baby Dolls. The Baby Dolls, a stalwart of Black Mardi Gras celebrations, resurrected and recorded old Creole songs, now preserved on the album.