Festival Wars: 2012 Montreal infringement festival in context

Friday, June 22nd, 2012

Montreal’s summer festival season is heating up like never before! At play this year are two very different types of festival. The first is the typical Montreal staple: carefully stage-managed and highly corporate “festivals” that promote different brands, such as the F1 or Just For Laughs Festival. The second, joining in this year, is the festival of […]

Mask ban protesters take to the streets

Friday, February 27th, 2009

If you thought that the City of Montreal postponing the vote on its controversial anti-mask bylaw would silence the amendment’s opponents, you’d only have to look to the streets Monday night to know how wrong you were. Protesters clad in masks met at Berri Square and after a speech took to the streets, literally. This […]

Outlawing theatre activism in Montreal? City attempts new “anti-mask” bylaw

Monday, January 19th, 2009

Theatre activists, like actors in a theatre, rely on a gamut of artistic accessories – props, scenery, costumes, make up, and especially masks – to conduct performances on the streets, sometimes during demonstrations. Masks constitute important props in this theatrical arsenal, as they have the power to transform the actor into a different entity, which […]