Serendipty is an Art

Serendipty is an Art

04/2022

La Maison Valmont New York Welcomes the New President of FIAF, Tatyana Franck

By Valérie Garot (Valmont) and JC Agid (www.thirtyseveneast.com)

 

Marie-Monique Steckel, Tatyana Franck and Diana Littman

 

March 31st, 2022 - As soon as Alexander Von Prefall, a vice-president at Royalty Pharma and one of the special evening guests recently celebrating women’s leadership arrived at La Maison Valmont at the Carlyle in New York, he asked where Tatyana Franck was. “She is one of my brother’s best friends in Switzerland; I need to greet her,” he added. Tatyana was on her way from the Florence Gould Hall at the French Institute-Alliance Française on 59th Street. She was introducing a program on stage and greeting the audience as she has done so often since she officially became President of one of New York's prime cultural institutions on March 1st.

 

Alexander von Perfall and Tatyana Franck

 

A Molière’s festival to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin’s birth, a.k.a. Molière, a cine salon movie screening, a talk with author and essayist Adam Gopnik and Broadway director Erica Schmidt, or the upcoming New York Premiere of the movie Aline, a biopic inspired by Céline Dion’s life, Tatyana could spend all her evenings at work.

 

Alexander was not the only one eager to meet with her. Maggie Bult, who leads the American Friends of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, was also looking forward to meeting with Tatyana. “I know her father very well,” she said. And sure enough, many of the guests of La Maison Valmont could have found a friend, a city, or an experience in common with Tatyana.

 

The new President of FIAF had moved from Lausanne, Switzerland, with her three-year-old son just a few weeks before. This expert in art and business, but also a ski champion and a world traveller, left behind friends, family, and successful tenure at the helm of the Musée de L’Elysée, which became the most essential photography museum in the world under her leadership.

 

Andrew Eil, Hannah Seligson and Keith Yazmir

 

“At the time when so many New Yorkers have yet to come back to live in the city, we were honoured to welcome to the city a new and exceptional woman leader,” explained Valmont North America CEO Cédric Roget.

 

In our conversation with Tatyana, we asked her why serendipity played a central role in her decisions.

 

“In all of my previous work, I had the opportunity to spend time in New York curating exhibitions, attending art auctions, and art fairs,” Tatyana said. “I also attended Columbia Business School’s Executive MBA Program, which took me to New York, Asia, and London. So, although I am new to this position at FIAF, I have been navigating the art world and francophone community in New York and around the world for many years. I find serendipity in the fact that all of these experiences I have had and the relationships that I have built throughout my career have brought me to this moment of becoming the President of FIAF.”

 

The choice of La Maison Valmont for this informal exchange between Tatyana and New York entrepreneurs, artists, journalists, corporate leaders, interior designers, singers, and philanthropists was itself serendipitous. Both organizations blend art and lifestyle.

 

Cédric Roget and Valérie Garot

 

As La Maison Valmont opened at the Carlyle in New York last December, Valmont’s artistic director Didier Guillon—previously President of Valmont—decided to exhibit the works by Sol Lewitt, Marc Tobey, and Woodrow Nash as a tribute to the contemporary diversity of American art scene. “Art has been La Maison Valmont’s DNA since its creation 25 years ago,” explained Cedric Roget, the CEO of Valmont North America. “We were therefore pleased to welcome among our guests: art curator and author Barbara Stehle, art consultant Aurélie Cauchy, Sheida Ellini, and Olga Rozé, artist Inma Barrero, and Gagosian’s artist in residence across from the Carlyle, the Iranian Mehdi Ghadyanloo,” he added. “Our Foundation is raising funds to support and promote emerging and local artists.”

 

Valmont is of course a lifestyle destination to empower and celebrate women. “When she researches and creates cosmetics based on performance, the CEO of Valmont Group Sophie Vann Guillon also has women’s strength and self-esteem in mind, two elements of confidence and success,” explained Valérie Garot, Marketing Director of Valmont.

 

Valmont stands at the interconnection of art, beauty, and women empowerment. 

 

The same goes for FIAF. Although it is known as a major francophone educational and cultural anchor in New York, it has always dedicated its spaces and programs to the conversation on well-being and leadership.

 

Diana Littman and Contessa Brewer

 

As the new CEO of the Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society Audrey Tcherkoff wrote in a note read during the event and announcing the launch of the Women’s Forum in the United States, “FIAF is clearly at the global crossroads of art, lifestyle, and education. It is the destination in New York to be an agent of change. “

 

But making the jump from Europe to America was not all about serendipity. As Tatyana explained, it was also about moving forward with new challenges and horizons.

 

“I had the opportunity to lead the creation of the new Photo Elysée museum from A to Z. I could have stayed for a few more years, but I am someone who likes to build, create, and drive projects.” Seven years after joining the museum, she had attained her objectives. “In life, one must seize opportunities offered, or the train can pass you by,” she explained. “This was an opportunity that I knew I had to grasp, lest it disappears. To manage an institution for which the mission is both education and the promotion of culture in the broad sense is really close to my heart.”

 

Maggie Bult

 

Tatyana arrived in New York with a renewed ambition for FIAF, especially after two years blurred by the Covid pandemic. “I greatly admire the work of Marie-Monique Steckel as President of FIAF—she succeeded in making FIAF a remarkable, internationally recognized institution,” she told the audience at La Maison Valmont. “I would like to build on her work and further my ambition for this institution. I am looking forward to working with the team to create an innovative new strategic vision that grows and reimagines the reach of FIAF’s position as the top French school and cultural center in New York. I am excited to bring acclaimed new artists and meaningful partnerships to FIAF from my extensive network worldwide.”

 

Life as a woman leader and a mother at the same time still comes with many challenges, including childcare issues. As a mother of a three-year-old child, Tatyana faces a simultaneous demanding situation. However, she found the solution at FIAF itself. “One amazing opportunity at FIAF is its preschool!” she explained. “My son is now attending the FIAF preschool, so it’s wonderful to see in such a personal way the positive impact that this school can have on our community. We will be an integral part of the FIAF community!”

 

A feeling possibly shared with many of the women leaders who greeted Tatyana in New York that evening, including MSL Group’s CEO Diana Littman, Malta Ambassador to the United Nations Vanessa Frazier, Bernstein Vice President Rudi Dubois, Bonpoint VP for Americas Isabelle Cadieux-Fabian, editor of Oprah Daily Shirley Velazquez, President of the Pershing Square Foundation Olivia Tournay Flatto, former New York City Commissioner for international affairs Penny Abeywardena, and freelance author—also a Women’s Forum Rising Talent—Hannah Seligson.

 

 

As soon as she arrived in New York, Tatyana used all her free time to visit art galleries, studios, and museums, to attend La Paulée wine tasting and to taste the local fares, and to push the Metropolitan Opera’s doors. She has been the town by storm.

 

“New York offers so many opportunities, and I love that in New York, people are ambitious and dream big. It is an exciting challenge to bring something new, and I look forward to finding new and exciting ways to share the richness and diversity of francophone language and cultures,” she said.

 

Did we mention that Tatyana is Swiss, Belgium, and French?

 

More information on FIAF: http://www.fiaf.org/

 

Discover our latest news

Join our newsletter to get the latest news !