News Releases - 2007
Partnership: Vivacité Montréal offers $480 000 to support young immigrant and visible minority professional artists in Montréal
Montréal, Friday, October 12, 2007 – Minister of Culture, Communications and the Status of Women Christine St-Pierre and Minister of Immigration and Cultural Communities Yolande James, accompanied by representatives of seven other government or private-sector partners, today launched the Vivacité Montréal program.
The new grant program is intended for artists and writers under 35 years of age from the immigrant and visible minority communities in Montréal working in the realms of the circus arts, the media arts, the multidisciplinary arts, the visual arts, popular song, dance, literature, the arts and crafts, music, theatre and architectural research.
An outstanding partnership
Under this outstanding partnership agreement involving nine public and private agencies, $480 000 in grants will be awarded over the next three years. The agreement was established through financial participation by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec ($150 000), the Canada Council for the Arts ($150 000), the Conférence régionale des élus de Montréal ($120 000), the ministère de l’Immigration et des Communautés culturelles ($30 000) and the Foundation of Greater Montréal ($30 000). The Forum jeunesse de l’île de Montréal, the Fondation du maire de Montréal pour la jeunesse and the Conseil des arts de Montréal are also collaborating to ensure the program’s success.
“Today’s announcement confirms the Québec government’s determination to support artistic and literary development and encourage the professionalization and integration of young artists and writers and thus foster the emergence of an upcoming generation of artists and writers,” noted Minister of Culture, Communications and the Status of Women Christine St-Pierre. “Through this initiative, the ministère de la Culture, des Communications et de la Condition féminine and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, which is overseeing the Vivacité Montréal program, acknowledge the invaluable contribution made by the cultural communities to the impact and vitality of the arts and literature in Québec.”
“The Vivacité Montréal program allows us to create conditions through which young artists from the cultural communities can express themselves and to ensure their full integration into society and their participation in the development of the arts and literature,” Minister of Immigration and Cultural Communities Yolande James added. “The MICC is proud to participate in this program, which will also broaden participation by the cultural communities in economic life.”
Manon Barbe, First Vice-President of the Conférence régionale des élus de Montréal, went on to say that “the Vivacité Montréal program is entirely in keeping with the policy directions spelled out in the 2005-2010 five-year plan of the Island of Montréal, Innover pour se développer. Our region has developed through immigration. We cannot contemplate the future without relying fully on the cultural diversity that has become a driving force in our development. The Vivacité Montréal program takes into account conditions in our region from the standpoint of culture and immigration. It will certainly be a success and the CRÉ de Montréal is pleased to have become one of the key collaborators responsible for its implementation and for funding.”
“Under this agreement, as is the case with all of the agreements that we have negotiated in 10 or so regions of Québec, we have made careful note of the needs expressed and the initiatives already undertaken by our Montréal partners,” noted Yvan Gauthier, President and CEO of Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. “The Vivacité Montréal program reflects, first and foremost, a broad consensus concerning objectives through the assembling of partners from the three levels of government, three arts councils and the private sector. Moreover, the agreement reflects a desire to act in order to concretely encourage young immigrant and visible minority artists to pursue their artistic dreams and participate in Montréal’s cultural life.”
“The Foundation of Greater Montréal is pleased and proud to be associated with this new program,” said President and CEO Kathleen Weil. “The Foundation recognizes the importance of developing strategies to integrate and support active participation in society by immigrants and members of the visible minorities.” She perceives the Vivacité Montréal program as an excellent means to promote contributions in the realms of the arts and culture by immigrant and visible minority artists. “We are convinced that this collaboration between the program’s partners will have a multiplier effect on their contribution to our city’s thriving cultural vitality.”
Registration
The deadline for submitting applications is November 30, 2007. Information on the program and application forms are available in French and in English from offices of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and on the website.
Since 1994, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec has supported throughout Québec creation, experimentation and production in the realms of the performing arts, the visual arts, the media arts, architectural research, the arts and crafts, and literature and fostered the broadening of their influence in Québec, Canada and abroad. The Conseil also supports the development of professional artists.
Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec
Carl Allen
Director of Public Relations
514-864-2930 or 1-800-608-3350