The onset of heat is traditionally associated with festivals and cultural activities in Montreal. After a forced respite last year, as the powers of the pandemic unfold, it will be back on strength for the summer season.
“Summer will be under the sign of recovery, and it will be worthy of our cultural city. It will allow Montreal residents and visitors to rediscover the festive Montreal they love,” Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Cultural activities are being revived as the city has just entered the Orange Zone, after it has long been one of the hardest hit by COVID-19 in the country.
Among the festivals to be held, we can note Just for Laughs, Native Presence, Montreal Pride and Mode + Design, which have just announced a partnership with Osheaga. The Francois and Montreal International Jazz Festival will be postponed until September.
“They will come up with a way to celebrate the start of the school year. Until then, I encourage Montreal residents and tourists to take back downtown,” Plante said.
In addition, the city announced that 29 cultural projects will be deployed in the city center and adjacent neighborhoods. These will affect all technical areas, each of which will be distributed over a period of at least three days. These cultural events, as well as major festivals, will receive a total funding of $4.5 million.
About thirty vacant commercial spaces will also be occupied by artist studios that will complement the cultural programme. This is a proposed project by Art Souterrain. A million dollar envelope will make that possible.
These new venues will provide the public with an opportunity to discover Montreal’s wealth of visual arts. Added to this is the installation of ten glass cubes on St. Catherine Street, which will host exceptional contemporary works of art,” said Frederic Lowry, General Manager of Underground Art.
La TOHU will present circus arts performances for six weeks during the second part of the summer season, thanks to a funding of $1 million.
“Circus arts were growing rapidly all over the world. We stopped the epidemic completely. What triggered this was the call-up of artists in Montreal. Since then, there have not been such a large number of circus performers in the city,” recalls Stéphane Lavoie, general manager and Director of Programming at TOHU.
He explains that the programming will also allow the artists to rehearse and prepare for the cover.
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