This past Sunday, November 30th, with the combined efforts of the town of Vésinet, the Fondation pour le Vésinet, the Société d’Histoire du Vésinet, Brian Scott Bagley of the Musée Joséphine Baker et des Afro-Descendants de Paris, and John Lander of the Opéra de Paris and Opéra de Lyon, the Joséphine Baker Commemorative Site team organized the first-ever ceremony in Le Vésinet to celebrate Baker’s Pantheon induction at her former residence, the villa Beau-Chêne, in Le Vésinet, France.

This week, project founder Alice Fennelly and Collaborator Brian Scott Bagley attended Harvard Hutchins Center for African & African American Research’s “Reason, Rhythm and Reflection: The Paradoxes of Exile” - a conference in Paris on Josephine Baker & James Baldwin. Grateful for the wonderful day with wonderful French and American minds united in admiration for Joséphine Baker.

To honor Joséphine’s 4th Pantheon induction anniversary, our team is hosting a free public event at her former Vésinet residence, the Villa Beau-Chêne. Join us for a guided tour of the gardens, live music from a Paris Opera pianist, and an illumination ceremony organized in her honor.

CPR reporter Ryan Warner stops by Jane DeDecker’s Loveland, Colorado studio to learn about American-born Joséphine Baker and our public arts initiative to honor her legacy outside of her former home in Le Vésinet, France.

The Joséphine Baker commemorative site initiative is featured on the front page of the Loveland, Colorado newspaper, The Reporter Herald. Learn more about the origins of the project and its current status as renowned sculpture Jane DeDecker begins the full-scale clay figures of Joséphine and Chiquita.

Today, the Mayor of Le Vésinet, the town’s Urbanism Department, and Les Architectes de Bâtiment de France granted building permissions to install the Joséphine Baker Commemorative Site in the protected public parklands just outside of her former Greater Paris demeure, the villa Beau-Chêne.

For this year’s edition of European Heritage Days, Joséphine’s former Le Vésinet residence, the villa Beau-Chêne, was once again open to the public to celebrate Joséphine’s legacy.

This summer, Loveland + South Lifestyle Magazine sat down with our sculptor Jane DeDecker to talk about her mission as an artist and the work she’s doing for Joséphine Baker. Read the article here.

On Monday May 26th, the Joséphine Baker Commemorative Site’s principal partner and sponsor, the Fondation pour le Vésinet, hosted their annual concert at the Vésinet’s Alain Jonemann Theater. At the fundraising event, the orchestral group “Le Trio Hélios” and French actor François Berléand performed “The Manteau,” accompanied by the music of Anton Arensky.

Opening the evening, one of Joséphine’s children of her famed “Rainbow Tribe,” Jean-Claude Bouillon Baker, gave a moving speech about his mother’s history, impact, and contributions in the town of Le Vésinet while she lived at the villa Beau-Chêne.