Thinking Culture: Thinking Festivals

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Small Fes­ti­vals, Their Suc­cesses and Their Challenges

In recent years, fes­ti­vals have taken over large cities and small towns. Con­sid­ered impor­tant eco­nomic dri­vers, fes­ti­vals attract tourism and in some cases, help to cement the com­mu­nity. They also offer an attrac­tive show­case for artists from here and elsewhere.

We know the major fes­ti­vals in Mon­treal and Toronto. But what about small fes­ti­vals that are devel­op­ing in the shadow of these big events? Are they mar­ginal or mar­gin­al­ized? Do they suc­ceed in obtain­ing ade­quate fund­ing from pri­vate indus­try and from gov­ern­ments? What chal­lenges do they face? Our guests will dis­cuss all these issues for fes­ti­vals in Mon­treal, Ottawa and Gatineau.

About the speakers

Will Straw:  Pro­fes­sor at the Depart­ment of Art His­tory & Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Stud­ies (McGill Uni­ver­sity) and direc­tor of the McGill Insti­tute for the Study of Canada. He is an observer and an expe­ri­enced ana­lyst of urban culture.

Anouk Bélanger: Pro­fes­sor in Soci­ol­ogy at Uni­ver­sité du Québec à Mon­tréal (UQAM). Her research is artic­u­lated around the fol­low­ing axes:  the spec­u­lar­iza­tion of urban spaces and the post-industrial city, pop­u­lar cul­ture and urban trans­for­ma­tions, the inter­sec­tion of media and cul­tural for­ma­tion and cir­cu­la­tion within urban forms. Recently, she has been inves­ti­gat­ing the cul­tural his­tory of the Faubourg Saint-Lauren and the Quartier des Spec­ta­cles in Montreal.

Elaina Mar­tin:  Elaina Mar­tin is the Founder, Artis­tic Direc­tor and Pro­ducer of WESTFEST.  Each year close to 150,00 peo­ple attend West­fest, a free mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary art fes­ti­val ded­i­cated to show­cas­ing Cana­dian artists and their work in an acces­si­ble and inclu­sive setting.

Isabel Théri­ault and Emmanuel Savard Dimanche:  Respec­tively Gen­eral Direc­tor and Pres­i­dent of the Fes­ti­val Outaouais émer­gent.  This young fes­ti­val has become in a short time, a land­mark event in Que­bec. A mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary fes­ti­val, the FOE places the pop­u­la­tion of the old-Hull and the sur­round­ing area in con­tact with local artists oper­at­ing in the fields of music, the­atre, street arts, visual arts, comics and per­for­mance art.