LEWISTON — Rachel Desgrosseilliers, founding executive director of Museum L-A, was recently asked to be a speaker and to represent Lewiston-Auburn at the 2019 Conference of Francophonie and Francophile Cities Network held recently in Moncton, New Brunswick. Conference attendees came from all regions of Canada, Louisiana and the New England states.

The panel discussion in which Museum L-A participated was titled, “On the Way: Creating Tourism Routes.” Projects of developing tourism routes as well as discussions of issues and challenges related to their implementation and success were presented. Museum L-A was asked to specifically address the issue of community engagement, creating dialogue between organizations and municipalities.

The cities of Lewiston and Auburn became members of the network through the Gendron Franco Center with other Francophone organizations who became part of the network. In March 2019, Museum L-A worked with a Quebec intern to organize Franco Trail L-A — a walking tour and bus tour, a website and an app that would become a product to be offered as part of a larger New England Franco route being developed that included Woonsocket, Rhode Island, Manchester, New Hampshire, and Biddeford and Lewiston-Auburn, Maine.

Camden Martin, guest services coordinator for Museum L-A, was chosen out of 265 candidates to participate in a Youth Mobilization section of the conference. Mobilisation Jeunesse 2019, or Youth Mobilization 2019, was an intensive training of four days that comprised theoretical and hands-on workshops. The training was put together for participants ages 19 to 35 living in the Americas to weave durable links with other Francophones in the Americas and to contribute to the promotion of the Francophonie.