The MUTEK festival, a true Montreal institution for 25 years, shines all over the world: each year, versions of this electronic music event are held in Mexico, Barcelona, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Santiago and Dubai. In all these cities — and in 52 other destinations in 23 countries where MUTEK has held festivals — concerts continue until the early hours. But not in Montreal.
Here, in the mother city of this extremely popular festival, organizers are up against a bureaucracy described as “Kafkaesque”. Each year they must submit to an administrative maze for the sole purpose of continuing the party one or two evenings after 3 a.m. If they ask to serve alcohol, the procedure becomes even more tedious.
“Our festival celebrates digital creativity and electronic music, but we have the impression of being associated with something illicit,” laments Alain Mongeau, director of MUTEK.
He is impatiently awaiting the nightlife policy prepared by the City of Montreal. After years of waiting, Mayor Valérie Plante and her team are preparing to unveil a series of recommendations aimed at encouraging night activities in the metropolis.
Creation of “nocturnal vitality zones”, development of noise standards, measures to encourage the coexistence of bars and performance halls with residents: this policy offers mediation for neighbors’ disputes and support for establishments to avoid closure of key places, such as the Divan orange, the Bobards or the Katacombes, in recent years.
The cultural and business circles deplore the fact that nighttime in Montreal is still considered a factor of transgression and crime – as at the time when the “morality squad” fought to preserve “good morals”, in the 1940s and 1950s. In its memorandum submitted to the municipal commission responsible for developing nightlife policy, MUTEK describes the “obstacle course” to obtain the simple extension of shows after 3 a.m.
“Often, our files dragged on, and the response did not reach us until the same week or the week before the event was held. Sometimes, we had to go to the Liquor Authority to plead our case to the police who opposed our request. One of the years, an intense search protocol was imposed on us — the type that applies to raves — and, on the evening of the event, even dignitaries, including the mayor at the time, Mr. Coderre, had to be subjected to this humiliating procedure,” write the MUTEK representatives.
An industry in crisis
This festival is not the only one that has to struggle to offer shows to night owls. Montreal may have been recognized for more than a century for its “festive” nights, but the nightlife is weakened in the metropolis, according to the speakers interviewed by The duty. The expectations of economic and cultural stakeholders are enormous regarding Montreal’s future nightlife policy.
“Regular night users are tired of always fighting to be open. They have endless obstacles! The cultural sector is experiencing a financial crisis. The night is one of the keys to helping promoters ensure their sustainability,” says Emmanuelle Hébert, general director of Culture Montréal.
Lockdowns due to the pandemic, the increase in the cost of living and the stagnation of public funding have hurt the cultural industries. In 2022, Montreal had 271 venues for broadcasting, music and nightlife. These organizations have a sword of Damocles hanging over their heads: a single neighbor who complains about noise can close a performance hall. It happened at Le Divan orange in 2018.
A neighbor who recently moved next to La Tulipe, on Plateau-Mont-Royal, also forced this almost century-old venue to lower the volume of its shows. There is no acquired right to cause sound nuances, the Superior Court ruled in 2023.
The solution to this type of conflict is however simple, argue several opinions submitted during the consultation on nightlife: adopt the principle of “agent of change”, which obliges the latest arrival in a sector to adapt to its environment.
Are you coming to live next to a performance hall? You should expect to hear some shows. Conversely, owners of bars and performance halls cannot do anything: they must take the neighborhood into account before installing a more powerful sound system or offering louder concerts — for example by improving soundproofing the building.
Noise
For this notion of agent of change to be effective, it must apply to a peripheral zone around the place of diffusion, and not only to homes with a common wall, argues Culture Montréal. “It’s essential, otherwise it’s a dead end,” says Emmanuelle Hébert.
Nightlife policy is expected to draw inspiration from cities like London, New York, Toronto and many others, which have taken great measures to regulate cohabitation between residents and nightlife players.
In San Francisco, a regulation requires sellers of a residence located in a nightlife area to inform buyers in writing that their sleep may be disturbed by noise. Real estate developers are also required to provide noise-reducing windows to housing located in a nightlife zone.
“Why were we allowed to build 12,000 housing units without triple windows in the Quartier des spectacles? » asks Mathieu Grondin, from the MTL 24/24 organization.
No right to silence
He and many other cultural actors invite the City of Montreal to “change the paradigm and embrace the night.” “We need an ambitious policy. We can ensure a certain tranquility, but we cannot guarantee silence,” says Emmanuelle Hébert.
She recalls that a form of “right to the night” is emerging in major cities around the world. Yes, we must control the noise, yes, citizens have the right to sleep in peace, but “shows in the city are also a quality of life,” recalls the representative of Culture Montréal.
She says she would like noise standards to vary from one environment to another. So that the acceptable noise level is not the same in the Quartier des spectacles as in a residential area.