Activities for the General Public
L'Art en soi’s Activities for the General Public allow you to discover the performing arts and connect with various communities.
Workshops, discussions, exhibitions, public performances, and even a festival put you in direct contact with the performing arts! Over 200 activities held throughout the year provide opportunities to explore and reflect, give you a chance to actively try your hand at various artistic disciplines, and allow you to form bonds with other community members!
Open and accessible to everyone, the activities are held in Place des Arts’ public spaces: the Espace culturel Georges-Émile-Lapalme, the Esplanade de la Place des Arts, and the Salon urbain.
Normally, tens of thousands of people take part in these more than 200 free activities every year.
Photo credit: Thibault Carron
Place des Arts Workshops
Place des Arts Workshops provide free introductions to various disciplines of the performing arts, with professional guidance. After getting an overview of the discipline, participants are encouraged to delve into its practice right away. A group performance by the artists and participants brings the workshop to a close.
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Entretiens arts et société
A sharing of ideas through lively discussions: Place des Arts’ Entretiens arts et société invite stakeholders from various social and cultural spheres to share their points of view on substantive themes.
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Photo credit: Frédéric Faddoul
TEMPÉO, Dance and Music Festival
Over the course of several days on the Place des Arts Esplanade, TEMPÉO, Dance and Music Festival—formerly known as L'Art en soi Festival—features evenings of dancing that introduce Montrealers to various dance styles, joined by professional dancers and musicians.
Also, during the lunch hour, citizens get a chance to boost their energy levels with various dance workshops.
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Photo credit: Caroline Bergeron / Digital works: Leges Motus of Dark Matters
Exhibitions and Digital Works
In the day and evening, Place des Arts’ exhibition room showcases works relating to the performing arts and topics of current interest. Works by emerging visual and media artists are also regularly featured. Lastly, a one-of-a-kind mosaic made up of 35 screens, located right by the exhibition room, continuously displays digital works of art, custom created by artists from here at home and abroad.
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Photo credit: Mikaël Theimer
Adaptive Arts
The Adaptive Arts Program offers introduction to the performing arts workshops that have been custom designed for individuals with functional limitations. At the conclusion of each series of workshops, participants are invited to share the fruits of their explorations in a public performance at Place des Arts. In 2020, Place des Arts’ Adaptive Arts Program won the Monique-Lefebvre Prize, awarded by the AlterGo organization. A visit to Place des Arts can prove to be a most moving occasion when you get the opportunity to see a presentation by this program’s participants.
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Indigenous Open Mic
An invitation to explore the cultural realities of Quebec’s Indigenous peoples. In a spirit of mutual exchange, you are invited to attend workshops and performances curated by a First Nations member. Indigenous Open Mic (Micro ouvert autochtone) is an opportunity for sharing, for discovery of oneself and of others, much like all other activities in Place des Arts’ L’Art en soi program.
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Activities for the general public are made possible through the financial support of the Fondation de la Place des Arts and its partners.