Fondation de la Place des Arts

Objectives

For purely philanthropic purposes in the fields of art and culture, in order to encourage the general public’s access  to the different aspects of the performing arts and to foster artistic and cultural life in Québec, the Fondation de la Place des Arts has the following objectives:

• Support Société de la Place des Arts de Montréal by contributing financially to projects and activities that fall within the purview of its artistic and cultural mission, including:
  
  
  • education and awareness of the public in relation to the performing arts, particularly young people;
    
    
  • accessibility of different segments of the public to artistic productions from here and elsewhere;
    
    
  • development of audiences for innovative projects that Place des Arts may put on, alone or with partners;
    
    
  • artistic research, experimentation and creation.
    
    
  • Receive donations, bequests and other similar contributions in cash, movable or immovable securities, and administer such donations, bequests and others contributions; organize subscription campaigns to raise funds for its purposes.
    
  
  
  
  
• Receive donations, bequests and other similar contributions in cash, movable or immovable securities, and administer such donations, bequests and others contributions; organize subscription campaigns to raise funds for its purposes.

The Fondation de la Place des Arts:
valuable support for the activities of the
Société de la Place des Arts de Montréal

The Fondation de la Place des Arts is a major resource, allowing the Société de la Place des Arts to fully realize its artistic and cultural mission. In three years, its financial contribution to these activities has amounted to $600,000.

Summary list of activities supported by the Fondation in 2010-2011

PdA Junior Series
With a goal of developing new—and notably young—audiences, and increasing their awareness of the performing arts, Place des Arts, through a partnership with its resident companies and other arts organizations, presented the PdA Junior series. Consisting of some twenty shows involving dance, music, theatre, puppetry, and song for audiences of ages 4 to 12, and grounded in the capacity for enchantment and wonder that is unique to childhood, this highly appreciated series literally played to packed houses.

Invitations to performances
In order to provide youth of all backgrounds with the opportunity to be moved and to hope for a better reality, Place des Arts has, throughout the year and especially around the holiday season, offered free tickets to disadvantaged youth. Several non-profit organizations—such as the Centre jeunesse de Montréal, the Association sportive et communautaire Centre-Sud, and La Croisée de Longueuil—were involved in the distribution of these tickets.

Artists in residence
Through its residency programs, Place des Arts offers artists the opportunity to give free rein to their creativity through the use of performance halls, rehearsal rooms, and the new Espace culturel Georges-Émile-Lapalme, either for one or several stages in their creative process, or for the presentation of their works. In 2010-2011, Théâtre de l’Opsis, Pigeons International, choreographer José Navas, choreographer Marie Chouinard, stage director Patrice Coquereau and actor Didier Lucien, as well as composer Simon Leclerc all worked in one space or another at Place des Arts, through the Fondation’s support.

Access to the performing arts
Cultural democratization and access to the arts are central to Place des Arts’ artistic mandate, and this aspect of the mission greatly benefited from the inauguration of the Espace culturel Georges-Émile-Lapalme in February 2011. A varied and well-developed program is presented free of charge, to the great delight of the tens of thousands of people who make their way through the space each day… and who linger to watch and listen. This large lobby has become a site of quasi-permanent activity, geared towards the exploration and promotion of the arts and artists.