Last Sunday afternoon, my daughter wouldn’t leave the house. After another of her usual little tantrums, I finally managed to convince her that I would buy her a hopping chair if she followed her brother and me to the Festival des arts de ruelle (FAR), a street arts event that has been held every year since 2017 in different neighbourhoods across the island of Montreal.
As soon as we arrived at the headquarters, between Chambord and Normanville streets, south of Saint-Zotique, a large chic ball on stilts began to parade through the alleys and streets of Rosemont, bringing with it a procession of about a hundred spectators.
Afterwards, for an entire afternoon, we learned to juggle during a circus workshop, contemplated artists’ paintings during an exhibition pop-upparticipated in a silver photo booth, hunted for socks, chatted with puppet ladies, philosophized with a folkloric fortune teller, played hockey with a funny goalie, listened to the voices of singers on bikes, were carried into the air by a pilot and his hot air balloon, tinkered with an insect shelter using natural materials, were captivated by a spontaneous ambulatory performance (the children followed the dancers and musicians running at full speed, it was such a beautiful sight), were dazzled by the antics of acrobatic house painters, ate cotton candy, threw our waste into an eco-friendly trash can, had a good laugh with a plumber who exterminates mice, were lulled by love songs played on acoustic guitar, danced on ourselves to the tempo of Latin music, were moved to tears by the pirouettes of a circus artist twirling on her Cyr wheel (“Daddy, why is that?”) I cry? “), met friends, colleagues, old classmates, parents of friends of my children and my daughter’s former daycare teacher, created bonds with neighbors who were leaving their classes, greeted spectators perched on their balconies through a clothesline, been invited by strangers to have an aperitif on a terrace…
All organized by a passionate, energetic and caring team who know how to transmit their passion and enthusiasm with contagion, generosity, humor and sensitivity. What moments of happiness we experienced that day with the animators, artists, technicians, volunteers and other citizens of our city…
Living together
As a humble man of the theatre, I know little about the production mode of such an event, but I believe, as a spectator, as an artist and as a simple father, that such a moment of grace in event art must be funded at its fair value now and at all costs. I think it is absurd, if not downright unacceptable, that such a grandiose event remains poorly supported by our donors, and that the various government institutions must come together and think of a way to subsidize this remarkable festival in a stable, sustainable and lasting manner, in order to protect, encourage and stimulate this vital space of freedom, communion and gathering that brings together more than 300 artists and that occupies a crucial place in the life of the neighborhoods and alleys of this great village that is Montreal.
In this era of war, inflation and the fallout of the pandemic, I see how easy it is to simply flatten, erase, extinguish or water down culture and that we must more than ever be attentive, alert and vigilant about the underfunding of the arts in public spaces. Street arts, theatre, song, music, circus, puppetry and public art give us the opportunity to make connections that we can share with others.
They provide us with new perspectives on reality and allow our children – and us – to have access to other universes, other ways of thinking and other visions of the world, extremely important links for the balance of our different ecosystems and societal movements if we want to safeguard not only beauty, creation, imagination, enchantment and poetry in our daily lives, but also the different, the original, the singular, the unexpected and the unusual in our lives.
The world we want
For my part, I dream of a world where fairs, clowns and parades of fantastic creatures have their place and their reason for being. I dream of a world where fantasy, allegories, the imaginary and the invisible stimulate the gaze of my children, of little men and women in the making.
Of a world where elves, pirates, jugglers, jesters, fire eaters, farandoles, mechanical arcades and firefly tamers are not only heard, understood and accepted, but also respected, defended, encouraged and protected.
Of a world where the marvelous, the fabulous, the dazzling and the extraordinary have the right to exist in an inclusive, free, popular and festive manner, for the good of a common, social, united and collective project…
From a world where escape, wonder, illusion and magic coexist with reality to soften it, humanize it and relieve it a little…
From a world where that which cannot be touched, explained, translated or defined reaches us and moves us to make us escape from time, from the instant, from the present, from the moment…
Sunday evening, after spending more than five hours at the FAR, where we had the deep and unspeakable impression of participating and touching something sacred, we unfortunately had to leave the alley, my children having school the next day. For the second time that day, my daughter had a tantrum, but this time because she didn’t want to go back. And she completely forgot that I had promised to buy her a hopping horse…
While waiting for the various institutions to find a solution to finance this remarkable festival in a stable, sustainable and lasting manner, it is possible to take part in the FAR fundraising campaign by going to the La Ruche website.