Culture
French-speaking society in North America, Québec is deeply
attached to its culture. Québec's culture is the very symbol of its
identity, joining its French roots together with the Amerindian
heritage, while being influenced by its proximity to the United
States and by the multi-ethnic population that shapes its
demographic profile.
Québec is proud to possess a culture of its own that reflects
its reality, its history and its population.
Architecture
Visual Arts
Cinema
Circus
Customs and Traditions
Dance
Festivals
Gastronomy
Literature
Media
Arts and Crafts
Museums
Music
Heritage
Theatre
To learn more :
,
from the ministère de la Culture et des Communications.
Québec's architecture has characteristics that are peculiar to
it. The European influence, Québec's climate, and the large size of
its families contributed to shape the architecture of Québec's
buildings.
In days gone by, buildings had to be adapted to the harshness of
winter while also providing the possibility of housing families of
ten members. Both of these constraints were reflected in buildings,
on the inside as well as externally.
Despite the trend towards modernity, we can still find many
traditional structures, especially in rural areas, where houses
still display this charm of long ago. In the urban context, the
larger cities such as Montréal and Québec offer lovers of
architecture a mixture of historic and contemporary buildings in
European and North American styles.
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The visual arts include the following fields : multimedia
art, video art, the textile arts, drawing, etching, holography,
installation, painting, performance, photography and others.
Québec numbers about 75 self-managed arts centres, 75 centres
devoted to contemporary art, and close to 180 professional art
galleries.
Québec is very open to cultural exchanges in the visual arts
field. It produces a great number of events that attract visitors
from everywhere and foreign artists. To cite a few examples, these
include the Mois de la Photo à Montréal, Québec's
international festivals of the performing arts, and missions
related to the visual arts.
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The first film that was shot in Québec was “Danse indienne”, in
1896, by the Lumière Brothers. It was not before the 1950's,
however, that Québec's film industry took off. Productions from
that period dealt with everyday life in Québec. In 1956, the French
section of the National Film Board, the Office national du film
(ONF), was moved from Ottawa to Montréal, which contributed to
heighten the enthusiasm of Québec's film makers.
Today, film making in Québec has matured. The presence of many
productions in internationally reputed festivals clearly
demonstrates this. Films by producers such as Denys Arcand, Manon
Briand, Gilles Carle, François Girard, Carole Laure or Denis
Villeneuve have contributed to give Québec wider visibility.
To learn more:
The (in French only)
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In the circus arts, Québec today is displaying a rare vitality.
Its creative people are producing amazement everywhere and
developing world-famous artists. Since the early 1980's, the circus
in Québec truly took off with and the circus school in
Montréal, which has now become . Since then, the Cirque Éos, the
as well as several independent workers have also emerged to take
part in further widening Québec's scope of influence.
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Québec has certain customs and traditions that are difficult to
ignore. Among these are the storytellers, who have always held an
important place in the Québec tradition. Their legends and tales
nourished the collective memory even while serving as a means of
entertainment.
Storytellers can still be found in certain regions of Québec,
telling stories that are sometimes newly created and sometimes
traditional, such as “La Corriveau” and “La chasse-galerie”, which
are among the most popular.
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Roland Lorente
Copyright 2004Although the dance is still a relatively young art here,
Québec's dance creations are nevertheless renowned throughout the
world. Over the last 20 years, Québec’s choreographers have
contributed, by their creations, to make Québec shine abroad with a
unique blend of originality, innovation and quality. Groups such as
the , the company, the , (in French
only) and several others have given Québec an unequalled reputation
in the dance. For close to 15 years now, Montréal has built a
reputation as a very dynamic choreography centre in North
America.
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Copyright 2004Quebecers feel attracted to a collective cultural life, a
heritage from the first French settlers who, in the wintertime,
would gather together to celebrate and hobnob among family and
friends. This tradition is still carried on today with some 400
events and , such as the and
the , which enliven
Québec's towns and regions all year round.
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In rural areas as in cities, the enjoyment of good food is
firmly anchored in tradition. is renowned throughout North America
and is gradually gaining international fame through the reputations
of some of its chefs.
Starting with a solid French base, Québec's gastronomy is
influenced by different cultures, especially its Amerindian
heritage and the various cultural roots of the people who make up
its population.
Québec's cuisine develops continuously with the trends and laces
itself with more cosmopolitan flavours. However, some of the more
rustic traditional dishes, designed to sustain the first settlers,
are still being prepared and still appear on the menus of certain
specialized restaurants.
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Québec's French-language literature is relatively young. The
first published Québec writings appeared around the mid-nineteenth
century. These were part of a nationalist trend and depicted a
rural society oriented towards the family, land and religion.
Novels celebrating rural life included “Menaud, maître draveur”
(1937) by Félix Antoine Savard, “Le survenant” (1945) by Germaine
Guèvremont, and “Trente arpents” (1938) by Louis Ringuet (the
pseudonym of Philippe Panneton). This trend lasted until the Second
World War and then, in the post-war years there emerged a
preference for novels depicting urban lifestyles. This literature
of observation, realistic and critical, counts among its prominent
titles “Les Plouffe” (1948) by Roger Lemelin. It was in 1960, with
the Quiet Revolution, that Québec's literary publishing business
began to develop more solid structures. Emerging from the period
known as the “great darkness”, Québec's French-speaking writers
laid claim to their cultural identity. There was a proliferation of
new writers. Today, some 4 000 titles are published every year
in Québec.
Québec's gives you access
to the riches of Québec's and the world's documentary heritage.
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Despite the small size of its population, Québec offers a great
number of media. Several daily, weekly and monthly newspapers and
also magazines are produced there. It has about 150 radio stations
as well as private, community and public television networks.
Created in 1968, the Société de télédiffusion du Québec, known
today as (in French only), is a public
television corporation with an educational and cultural vocation.
This producer “distinguishes itself with a programming that
reflects and values all forms of expression, reports on cultural
diversity, accurately depicts social realities, shows an interest
in the living world and its environment, promotes learning in
children, instructs and informs a varied public in all fields of
knowledge”. (Source: Télé-Québec)
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Featuring special forms of know-how, the arts and crafts trades
include those that involve working with the following
materials : wood, ceramics, construction, textiles, leathers
and skins, textile prints, metals, papers, prints, bookbinding,
gold and silver smithery, glass, and other materials.
Québec is especially sensitive to enhancing recognition for its
arts and crafts professions. It was in 1955 that the first edition
of the (in French only) was held,
in Montréal. This tradition is now pursued every year in several
cities in Québec.
Québec also pays special attention to the transmission of
certain forms of knowledge. This concern was materialized in 1989
by the creation of a network for teaching arts and crafts
techniques in Québec's colleges.
In Québec today, close to 700 professional artisans are
associated with the (in French only).
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Since the early 1970's,
has grown in diversity and quantity. Among its close to 500
museums, 60 % appeared less than 20 years ago. Québec's
museums deal with extremely varied subjects such as art, history,
ethnology, architecture, the sciences and technologies, the natural
and environmental sciences, etc.
The expertise and dynamism of Québec's museums are recognized
internationally. They now co-operate with the most prominent
international institutional networks of museums. It is therefore
not a rare occurrence today for these museums to lend important
exhibits to Québec museums, to co-produce exhibitions with them, or
even to receive Québec exhibitions.
Among the museums of international standing are the four State
museums: the and the (in French only), the and the .
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Benoît Camirand
Copyright 2004Increasingly, Québec's artists, musicians, composers and singers
are making themselves heard outside of its borders. With its
5 000 professional musicians and 200 composers, Québec is now
a part of the world music scene. Québec music ranges through all
musical periods, from medieval to contemporary and all musical
genres, from symphonic to electroacoustic.
Classical music took off in Québec in 1902 with the creation of
the , which is the oldest
symphony group in Canada. In 1934, the was created. Since the 1980's, several other
musical ensembles have been created, including the (1980), the (1981), (1984) (in French only), (1983), and (1989) (in French only), all internationally
recognized.
Several generations of singers and musicians have been reaching
the heights of popularity. These artists play a part in giving
Québec a worldwide audience. Just think of Félix Leclerc, Louis
Lortie and Céline Dion, or remember the resounding successes of Luc
Plamondon’s rock operas “ Starmania” and “Notre-Dame de Paris”.
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(in French only) is
especially rich because of the historical movements that
contributed to shape Québec, from New France to this day. Indeed,
it bears traces of the European occupations of the 17th
and 18th centuries. Research work concerning (in French only) has
so far covered 150 years of that history.
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Québec theatre started to take shape in the 19th century, but
began in
earnest in the 1930s, moving from burlesque to more popular
theatre. Whether
puppet theatre, modern drama or multimedia, Québec's theatrical
scene today
offers aficionados, young and old alike, a variety of performance
styles.
Québec theatre, decidedly modern, is
increasingly famous worldwide. Many Québec playwrights have
had there work staged abroad. Several of Québec's 250
theatre companies have achieved international renown. Companies
such as , the multidisciplinary company , and help to expand the reach of Québec culture.
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