Past Events

Thank you, John. You have put together an elegant gathering of interesting people and activities. –Dale Gaber

I wanted to let you know how much I’ve enjoyed participating in the PAC Mardi Apéro meetings these last few weeks. So very kind of you to include me among this dynamic, inspiring and caring group of people ~ I’ve learned so many new and interesting things and am grateful for this unique opportunity. Yesterday’s presentation and discussion with Bénédicte de Montlaur was absolutely fantastic.

–Mollie Hinckley

Past Events 2024

September 24, 2024, 7 pm | Dinner | National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South (East 20th St) New York, NY 10003

We were delighted to have PAC member David Doty as speaker at our kick-off of the fall season.

David talked about his personal journey on becoming a Francophile and Francophone, with which many of our American members could identify. He also discussed the French influences (sculpture, painiing, interior) found in the National Arts Club.

The following is adapted from an article in The Village Sun, June 1, 2022

National Arts Club said ‘oui’ to David Doty as president

[Doty served as president of the Board of Governors from 2022 to 2024.]

David Doty brings professional marketing and digital media experience, plus a wealth of cultural knowledge — specifically, deep expertise in French art and architecture — to the leadership role. He has been a member of the historic Gramercy Park South club since 2006, serving on its board of governors since 2018. He was elected the board’s president on May 19.

Doty is an expert on the arts, architecture and culture of France. He taught the “History of Paris” course for seven years at The New School. He has been a featured lecturer in English and in French at the Florence Gould Hall at the Alliance Française, where he presented to sold-out audiences his theories and observations about Vincent Van Gogh, as well as the art and architecture of Paris, Brittany and Provence, among other French locales.

Doty is the recipient of the Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite, conferred by former President Jacques Chirac of France. He holds a Master of Art from the University of Michigan and lives in the Flatiron District and in Wainscott, in the Hamptons.

Doty is also a leader in digital marketing and a featured speaker at media conferences around the globe. Using his experience to serve the N.A.C., he has chaired the club’s Branding & Marketing Committee and has worked to raise the club’s public profile. He has leveraged his professional relationships to bring in corporate donations, including from Google and Amazon, to the N.A.C., which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

As for his writing, Doty’s articles have been featured in Forbes, Departures, GQ, Wired, Gourmet, Travel & Leisure, Zagat Guides and “Frommer’s Guide to New York City.” He was also a research assistant for Tom Wolfe on his seminal book on modern architecture, “From Bauhaus to Our House.”

In 2018, Doty launched his own advisory firm, DD Digital Perspectives, after 11 years as executive vice president and chief marketing officer of IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau), which he helped transform into the leading trade body in digital media. Previously, he was director of marketing for Booz Allen Hamilton, a global consulting firm.

Founded in 1898, the National Arts Club is a nonprofit with a mission to stimulate, foster and promote public interest in the arts and to educate the American people in the fine arts. Annually, the club offers more than 150 free programs to the public, including exhibitions, theatrical and musical performances, lectures and readings, attracting an audience of more than 25,000 members and guests. Feature programs focus on all disciplines of the arts.

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July 9, 2024 | 7:00 pm | Pre-Bastille Sail | Classic Harbor Line | 62 Chelsea Piers, New York, NY 10011

Members and friends joined for a jazz cruise around New York harbor to celebrate Bastille Day, with a rousing rendition of La Marseillaise led by Francis Dubois. We thank Hilary J. James for all her efforts in organizing this very successful event. We were lucky once again as the slight rain stopped after casting off from the pier.

Dear John and Hilary,

Many thanks for having once again organized a lovely cruise on a Voilier around the important July 14 date. I had a lot of fun. It was nice reconnecting with good friends and meeting new ones.

Warm regards,
Franck Litzler

Lucy Komisar kindly included us in her newsletter, The Komisar Scoop, with a video of our group singing La Marseillaise. Merci Lucy!

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Fabrizio Dimino – Master’s degree in financial technology and analytics at the Stevens Institute of Technology

Inwoo Kim – Dual Degree Program between Columbia University and Sciences Po in economics, politics, and government

Elena Muglia – Dual Degree Program between Columbia University and Sciences Po in political science

Aditya Reddy – Master’s degree in finance at the Stevens Institute of Technology

Alex Heng Hao Zhang – Dual Degree Program between Columbia University and Sciences Po in economics and political scienceFor those unable to attend, please consider a donation to the Jérôme Lohez 9/11 Scholarship Foundation.

Dear PAC Board Members and dear Ellie,

Thank you for your renewed $1,000 contribution to our foundation, which was presented to me on May 7th during the scholarship awards reception at Cafe Un, Deux, Trois. Please be assured that each penny in the Lohez 9/11 Scholarship Foundation’s coffers is used for the well-being of our students.

We will continue our mission and our strategic plan is driven by the following aspirations: student centric, excellence in all we do, impact through collaboration, and strengthened reputation and prestige. The white rose presented to each scholarship recipient on the May 7 event added a romantic note to the event. It was in exquisite taste.Thank you Paris American Club, thank you, John, Cathleen, Beth, and Ellie for being there with our students that evening.

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Wednesday, April 24, 2024 | 7:00 – 9:00 pm | April in Paris Soirée | Boucherie Union Square | 225 Park Avenue South (between E 18th & 19th Streets), New York, NY 10003

Members and their guests attended our festive spring event: “April in Paris,” where a selection of French wines, une planche de charcuterie et de fromage, tartare de thon, tartelettes au chèvre, shrimp cocktail, and beef sliders were served.

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April 9, 2024 | 6:00 – 7:30 pm | Après-work Apéro | Café Un, Deux, Trois | 123 West 44th Street, New York, NY

Members and friends got together for a casual apéro and hors d’ouvres. This was also an opportunity to practice one’s possibly fractured français.

Registration includes hors d’oeuvres and wine. As usual, Manager Pablo Manzo and his staff were very generous.

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Tuesday, March 12, 2024 | 7:00 pm |Dinner | National Arts Club | 15 Gramercy Park South (East 20th St)

Clémence Boulouque

Clémence’s topic was Audrey Hepburn and the Mystery of Grace.

A graduate from the Paris Institute of Political Studies and the ESSEC Business School, Boulouque spent some time in a recruiting firm before moving to New York City for the first time, where she won a Fulbright scholarship and studied for a master’s degree in international relations at the School of International and Public Affairs of Columbia University (2001–2002).

After returning to France, Boulouque devoted herself to writing, journalism, and literary criticism from 2002 to 2007. In 2003, she wrote her first novel, Mort d’un silence, in which she tells the long ordeal that she and her family lived when her father committed suicide. The book was awarded with the Prix Fénéon in the same year. She wrote in particular for the French magazines Le Figaro littéraire, Transfuge, and Lire. She regularly intervened as a chronicler in the program Tout arrive [fr] by Arnaud Laporte on France Culture. She was the producer of the series of programs such as À voix nue with Toni Morrison or Amos Oz, as well as a summer series about Marguerite Yourcenar. In 2005, William Karel directed the film adaptation of her first novel, titled La Fille du juge.

Boulouque returned to the United States in 2008 and was awarded a Ph.D. in Jewish Studies and History from New York University in 2014. Afterwards, Boulouque completed her postdoctoral training at the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies of the University of Pennsylvania, where she joined the New Perspectives on the Origins, Context and Diffusion of the Academic Study of Judaism fellowship (2014–2015). She currently teaches as the Carl and Bernice Witten Associate Professor of Jewish and Israel Studies in the Department of Religion at Columbia. Her courses of instruction include religion and the movies as well as Masterpieces of Western Literature and Philosophy.

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Tuesday, February 13, 2024 | 7:00 pm|Raclette Dinner

Léna Wine Bar |10 Morton Street (btw Bleecker & Seventh Ave) | New York, NY 10014

Our intrepid members braved the weather, after all, what’s un peu de neige! After a plate of escargots, foie gras and roasted brie, we made raclette (a dish consisting of cheese melted over a fire and then scraped onto boiled potatoes) in this casual, intimate West Village wine bar.

Léna’s owner Pierre and his staff actually did all the work!

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Tuesday, January 9, 2024 | 7:00 pm | Dinner and Annual Meeting | National Arts Club | 15 Gramercy Park South (East 20th St), New York, NY 10003

We took a look at what has been happening with our club over the past year and met some of our new board members for the 2024-26 term. See report on the homepage of this website.