Our mission is to promote knowledge and appreciation of the French language and Francophone culture, and to encourage understanding of and friendship with the French-speaking world.

Towards that mission we know that for more than a century, an ever-increasing number of French language students of all ages and origins choose to join and study at their local Alliance Française. Our Alliance Française de Sarasota is part of the world's largest network of French language schools and cultural centers with over 830 independently run chapters established in 133 countries that reach over 550,000 students. The Fondation des Alliances Françaises, based in Paris, is the moral and legal compass of all the Alliances Françaises chapters around the world. With this special collaboration, we are able to offer effective language courses as well as a wide range of Francophone educational and social activities such as our Club Littéraire (monthly book club), Casse-crôute (weekly conversation group), Salon Series (lectures, workshops, webinars, performances), and Apéros (monthly French Happy Hour). We know that learning and using French is most effective when it is reinforced by relevant French cultural activities.

The Alliance Française de Sarasota is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit Florida corporation and part of the Federation des Alliances Françaises USA which supports its members to fulfill their mission.

In the U.S. the Délégation Générale de la Fondation Alliance Française located in Washington, D.C, serves the entire network of U.S. Alliances Françaises.

Alliance Française chapters offer hundreds of cultural and social events per year, enabling them to establish global partnerships and to promote local Francophone talents or artists from France or Francophone regions (Québec, Francophone Africa, Haiti, the Caribbean, etc.).

As a result of the diversity of these partnerships, the Alliance Française offers a chance for speakers (lecturers, writers, artists, business owners, associations) to make contact with new audiences, including not only members and students of Alliance chapters but also students, professors and researchers from American universities (Departments of Romance Languages or French Studies, Political Science and European Studies, Law, Theatre Studies, etc.), students in French and French-American schools, international schools and art schools, members of foreign cultural centers, Francophone and Francophile communities associated with French companies, French-American Chambers of Commerce (FACC) and audiences of theaters, festivals, and museums.