Long live the art cities of Quebec!

Last Saturday, I headed to the charming town of Mont-Saint-Hilaire to attend one of the four public readings marking the 75^e anniversary of the manifesto Overall refusal. I expected to experience some emotions. Let’s just say I got my money’s worth.

I discovered that this town of 18,000 inhabitants has its own museum of fine arts. Yes sir ! This is also where the readings took place, in the rooms where an exhibition by the painter Marcel Barbeau, another on the Automatists and a third devoted to Riopelle are currently presented. If you want to see them, hurry up!

But that’s not all, this museum (whose collection value totals 10 million dollars) is connected to three other cultural places which form the Muséales de Mont-Saint-Hilaire, an “absolutely unique concept”, I explained Geneviève Létourneau, the general director of the institution.

Thus, during the same visit, you can discover the Paul-Émile-Borduas house (with the furniture that the painter acquired from the Furniture School), the Ozias-Leduc Estate (where I spent a fascinating hour in the company of host Josée Séguin before buying a crumble absolutely crazy apples at the neighboring apple grower) and the Maison des Peuples Autochtones.

What vitality, what effervescence and what passion I was able to observe! You will tell me that not all the cities of Quebec were lucky enough to have as citizens Paul-Émile Borduas (where the young Automatists met), Ozias Leduc and Jordi Bonet, it’s true. But what we managed to do in Mont-Saint-Hilaire begins with a real desire to make things happen.

The person behind this project is André Michel. This artist, capable of moving mountains, left his native France to settle in Quebec in 1970.

At the beginning of the 1990s, he created the Musée des beaux-arts de Mont-Saint-Hilaire (MBAMSH) which operates on the principle of an NPO. He is also at the origin of three museum institutions in Sept-Îles.

I also found this extraordinary energy in Patrick Caux who organized the four public readings last weekend. This actor, who personifies Borduas in a very beautiful film that can be seen at the painter’s house (the director Michael Cutler invested $50,000 from his own pocket in this project because he wanted to do it so much), moved heaven and earth to bring together actors and personalities around the four readings.

Among the thirty people who lent their voice and their talent, some of whom have a link with Mont-Saint-Hilaire, we found Marc Labrèche, François Avard, Marcel Sabourin, Chantal Lamarre, Marcel Leboeuf, Bruno Pelletier, Muriel Dutil, Michel Coulombe, Dorothée Berryman, Yves Simoneau, Pierre-Luc Brillant and several others.

Everyone read the texts of Overall refusal. And they did it voluntarily to support the MBAMSH. Will and passion, I tell you!

We very often talk about the cities of Quebec to highlight their ugliness or their lack of personality. It’s true that there are quite a few. But we talk too little about those which are beautiful, which catch our eye when we leave the highways, which vibrate everywhere, which give space to art and artists, even if they are small or large average.

Let’s exclude the five largest cities in Quebec (Montreal, Quebec, Laval, Gatineau, Longueuil) and let’s take an overview of a few municipalities that stand out for their dynamism. Can I mention Sherbrooke, Joliette and La Malbaie (where you can currently see a very successful exhibition on Riopelle) and their splendid museums? Trois-Rivières and its heritage places? Baie-Saint-Paul and its symposium?

Can we talk about the Grand-Métis gardens, in Gaspésie, or the Domaine Joly, in the Lotbinière region? Can we also mention the Rouyn-Noranda Film Festival or the Granby International Song Festival?

These cities are engines for their region! Bravo to those who created these places and these events. And congratulations to those who ensure its sustainability.

This week, we inaugurated the Montreal Memories Center (former Montreal History Center). It is one of around fifty museums in the metropolis. Yes, you read correctly: there are 50 museums in Montreal. There are so many that we forget some of them.

Even though they have their challenges, large cities have resources and infrastructure that small municipalities do not have. We must fight to convince and seduce, wage battles, create fundraisers, bring together strong forces to achieve our goals.

With or without the help of government orders, these cities sometimes achieve the impossible. They do it to nourish their DNA, to slow down the exodus of artists towards large centers and, above all, to thrill their citizens.

This weekend marks a new edition of Culture Days. You will enter artists’ studios, attend conferences, see exhibitions or attend a concert. Spare a thought for those who strive to ensure the presence of culture in your community. These people are treasures!