[LE FIL CULTUREL DE L’ONTARIO FRANÇAIS]
It’s a week of launches in French-speaking Ontario. With the month of May comes Asian Heritage Month as well as Museum Month. Two institutions in the federal capital unveil their upcoming programming. And a musician comes out of his duo for a break which allows us to appreciate all his talent.
Multidisciplinary
A month to dare museums
The Ontario Museum Association presents May, museum month in Ontario, an initiative that also exists elsewhere in Canada. According to the non-profit organization, the province has more than 700 museums in which 11,000 workers and 37,000 volunteers work. Several of them offer free access on Thursday evenings. You must monitor everyone’s programming to know what activities are in progress.
Across Ontario, until May 31. Several ideas on the Ontario Museum Association X account.
Several anniversaries at the CNA
The National Arts Center (NAC) will unveil its 2024-2025 programming on May 9. The French Theater is already talking about around fifteen shows brought together under the theme Get out of the box for the third season of artistic director Mani Soleymanlou. Names of artists and authors who will visit the NAC, such as Jean-Philippe Baril Guérard, Éric Bernier, Sophie Cadieux, Evelyne de la Chenelière, Ève Landry, Julie Le Breton, Debbie Lynch-White, Benoit McGinnis and Mireille Métellus and Michel Tremblay have already been revealed.
Alexander Shelley will highlight his 10 years at the helm of the NAC Orchestra. And Caroline Ohrt, who arrived last year, will present her first program for CNA Dance. Indigenous Theater is in its fifth season.
The NAC also marks Asian Heritage Month by lighting its Kipness lantern with the artwork sama-sama * sala-sala by Christine Mangosing. It showcases the indigenous weaving and tattoo traditions of the Philippines. In addition, it’s the return of the Jukebox lunchtime concerts, free performances which take place every Thursday at Peter A. Herrndorf Square.
Ottawa. Launching May 9. All the details of the current programming on the CNA website.
The euphoria of MIFO
The Orléans Francophone Involvement Movement (MIFO) is on cloud nine this week, as the federal government has just granted it $36 million in funding for the construction of its new building. The organization also announced the appointment of Mélanie Routhier Boudreau as new executive director. The icing on the sundae is that the 2024-2025 program will be launched on May 8 at the Shenkman Arts Center with certain planned artists.
Two comedy shows have already been announced: Pelote, by Michelle Desrochers (October 19) and Vulnerable, by Guillaume Pineault (November 16). The MIFO is also avoiding surprises and will only reveal the broad outlines of its programming during the event on May 8, at its center on rue Carrière.
Ottawa, May 8. Details on the MIFO website.
Pan-Canadian artistic correspondence
The Duo Chorus, imagined by Rhizome productions, are shows that combine poetry and sound art by pairing artists from across Canada. They will stop at the Alliance Française in Toronto on May 7 and at the Greater Sudbury Book Fair on May 9. The meeting is intended to be interdisciplinary, linguistic and geographical, while the work is created through epistolary exchanges, like an artistic correspondence.
The audio artist sends a piece to the poet, who is inspired by it to create a text. The recording of the poem is then given to the audio artist to use as sound material. The result is presented on stage with the artists, but also with the audiograph, a typographic animation generator. Sudbury poet Chloé LaDuchesse is one of the invited artists.
Toronto, May 7. Sudbury, May 9. Details on the websites of the Alliance Française de Toronto and the Salon du livre du Grand Sudbury.
Theater
Just because we laugh doesn’t mean it’s funny
The Kapuskasing Regional Cultural Leisure Center offers a dinner show that is there to make you laugh, but which deals with a current subject that is far from funny. Ms. Brûlé is enthusiastic about the idea of completing her first teaching contract, but the reality is much less rosy than her aspirations. The public plays the role of sometimes the student, sometimes the parent, to follow the descent into hell of this increasingly… burned-out teacher. This Empire Pagaille production combines physical comedy and object theater and is intended for an adult audience. Ms. Brûlé will also stop at the Midland Cultural Center on May 10.
Kapuskasing, May 7. Details and tickets on the Point of Sale platform.
Music
Simply Alain
The male half of the duo Geneviève and Alain, guitarist Alain Barbeau, launches a first solo extract, an instrumental piece recorded in a single take, entitled 333. Like in a Jim Carrey film but softer, Alain Barbeau constantly notices this number for several years. The piece was recorded live, in a single take. “This is what happens when Geneviève leaves the house and he finds himself alone with his guitar, looking at the dial out of the corner of his eye,” we can read in the description of the piece.
Geneviève and Alain have been parents for a few months. We can assume that this new family dynamic changes the rhythm of life and creation. 333 thus gives the impression of entering into the privacy of the new dad who takes some time for himself, picking up his guitar between two diaper changes.
Released on May 3, the piece is available on Geneviève and Alain’s platforms.
