Political initiatives to revitalize the Village have multiplied in recent years, but the neighbourhood still struggles with many issues related to homelessness and drug addiction, and some LGBTQ+ communities no longer feel as safe there as they once did. That’s why young cultural organizations now want to do their part to make the neighbourhood more attractive.
“So many people don’t feel welcome in the area,” laments Vicky B. Ouellette, founder of Ctrl+Alt, a new festival dedicated to nightlife culture underground which begins Friday on the Village Square. “I hear fine speeches about the will of the political class and I welcome the label “Inclusive Village” that we wanted to give to the neighborhood, but for the moment, it seems to mainly welcome white cisgender people. We therefore design our cultural programming as a vector of reappropriation, to break the isolation of communities.”
A member of the MTL 24/24 Night Council and founder of the event production company Studio ZX, Vicky B. Ouellette wanted to mobilize her contacts from the local nightlife culture to offer a completely free and diverse event. She gave carte blanche to six collectives active on the local scene, who in turn invited DJs, dancers and drag artists to perform on stage during a given time slot.
“In culture mainstreamwe often project a very rigid and white vision of electronic music. For Ctrl+Alt, I wanted the collectives and guest artists to be like Montreal nights, in a format block party. And in the current context where evening events can be very expensive, because the collectives that organize them do not have public support, I like to design the festival as a free showcase of what is happening in Montreal, which will then help the public to make paying choices.
Need for public funding
However, if Ctrl+Alt can offer completely free programming, it is thanks in part to the help of the City of Montreal, as part of the Agreement on the Cultural Development of Montreal concluded between the Government of Quebec and the City. Thus, in order for the benefits of cultural organizations to percolate in the neighborhood, they are demanding more government assistance.
This is the case of Espace LGBTQ+, a partner of Ctrl+Alt, a new LGBTQ+ community and cultural centre that is set to open in 2025 on Sainte-Catherine Street. The centre will house a dozen organizations, including Fierté Montréal, and will organize its own occasional cultural programming, in order to build connections between neighbourhood residents and visitors.
“It’s a very ambitious project, on three floors,” summarizes Désirée Nore Duchesne, vice-president of Espace LGBTQ+. “We have already received public assistance, but we estimate the investments we are missing at around $5 million. We are therefore counting heavily on the federal Green and Inclusive Community Buildings program, but also on provincial assistance and philanthropy.”
Whether it benefits from the program or not, Espace LGBTQ+ will see the light of day, assures M.me Duschesne. “We already own the building,” she said. “We especially need additional funds for all sorts of work, such as building an elevator, or to equip the rooms we want to allocate to cultural events.”
And Désirée Nore Duchesne places particular importance on the centre’s artistic activities. “Currently, the Village’s spaces mainly favour cisgender homosexual men. We are more in a perspective of inclusion. Through the events that we will host and the cultural organisations that will be members of our organisation, we want to promote artistic creation to energise the neighbourhood and the community. Culture is the best bond we have to live together.”