Fest has big impact on city: richardson
Event showcases old and new talent while making lasting contribution to city streets
Summer in Montreal strikes a delicate balance between chaotic and beautiful. Between the construction and terrasses, the heartbeat of the city has become our festivals and events. We are world-renowned for them and we have a lot of them. They bring in droves of tourists and millions of dollars in revenue for local merchants.
This weekend served as the unofficial kickoff to summer in Montreal, with Formula One making its annual pit stop at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the Canadian Grand Prix. Meanwhile, Les Francos de Montréal (previously known as Les Franco-Folies) played their opening salvo Friday, and the weeklong showcase serves as the first of many festivals to take over the Quartier des spectacles throughout the summer.
Also underway was Mural Festival, which, in my opinion, is the best festival that Montreal has to offer — yes, including the Jazz Fest — despite the fact that it gets less mainstream attention than some of the city’s other stellar summer shindigs.
If you’re unfamiliar with Mural, here’s a quick primer: The event brings widely acclaimed urban artists to the city and commissions them, along with local talent, both emerging and established, to create awesome works of public art in the neighbourhood surrounding St-Laurent Blvd. As the name implies, the result is an open air exhibition of massive murals aimed at regenerating and beautifying the area. There’s also an experiential side, with The Main closed to vehicles and taken over by art installations and temporary retail spaces showcasing brands both local and international. Oh, and there’s a musical component with an eclectic mix of artists that range from local acts to world-class headliners.
So what makes Mural so great? Well, it’s two-fold, really. For one, it offers continuously accessible art installations that rotate from year to year and adds a considerable amount to the city’s cultural capital. Second, it’s an important event for Montreal-based artists that often gives them a massive platform to help build their reputations. In short: despite taking place over only 11 days, the festival’s impact is long-lasting.
Its five years might pale in comparison to Just For Laugh’s 35 and the Jazz Fest’s 39, but what it lacks in history, it makes up for in youthful exuberance. Mural offers emerging local talent a unique platform where they can showcase their work alongside internationally renowned artists. And, given the quality of artists that the festival attracts — and the fact that mural festivals are not common — local artists benefit from a degree of international exposure.
Local artists and international acts alike have cut their teeth at Mural over the last five years, from American musician Post Malone and Spanish illustrator Ricardo Cavolo to Laval-based DJ/producer High Klassified and Montreal visual artist Pony, who worked with Aldo on an installation this year.
When all that talent is combined, the result is intoxicating: blocks of St-Laurent filled with passionate and excited young artists and entrepreneurs, who see a world of potential in front of them. Festivals like Mural give young creatives the opportunity to test themselves in their own backyard against world-class talent, but they also help entrench Montreal as a place to come to, rather than as a place to get out of.
More importantly, the element of renewal that the festival touts so proudly in its mission statement is decidedly present in a less obvious way. The neighbourhood that hosts the festival, Plateau Mont-Royal, is one of Montreal’s historically creative areas. It was a neighbourhood that Leonard Cohen called home — something that Montrealbased artist Kevin Ledo paid homage to last year with a towering portrait.
By creating this sprawling open-air exhibition of art and creativity, the festival is not only beautifying the neighbourhood — more than 80 permanent public works are part of the festival’s legacy — but passing the baton to a new generation of creatives that will call the Plateau home.
Mural typifies Montreal’s cachet, bringing together a wide array of eclectic talents to create something captivating. That is what makes Montreal special to the hordes of tourists who descend on the city for the Grand Prix, but leave in awe of the public art. So while it may not get the same attention as some of the other festivals the city hosts throughout the summer, Mural is integral to the preservation of Montreal’s unique identity.