Montréal en lumière, Nuit Blanche activities in flux
Jacques Primeau would love to tell everyone more about what to expect at this year's Montréal en lumière festival and Nuit Blanche. But he can't for the very simple reason that he and his colleagues simply don't know what kinds of events they'll be able to organize in March. Primeau is the director general of Équipe Spectra, which runs Montréal en lumière, Nuit Blanche, Les Francos and the Montreal International Jazz Festival.
On Thursday, it was announced that Montréal en lumière was pushing back its dates by a few weeks and will run March 4-28 and Nuit Blanche will take place Sat., March 13. Montréal en lumière is a winter festival dedicated to gastronomy and culture, while Nuit Blanche is an all-night culture fair.
“With the curfew and the confinement, it's impossible to imagine a scenario where there could be outdoor installations during Montreal en lumière in its original dates in February,” Primeau said. “With a curfew, that would be impossible. We figure it's more likely there will be no curfew in March than in February.”
Much of the programming for both Montréal en lumière and Nuit Blanche will be online, but Primeau and his staff are still hoping there can be some outdoor components, something along the lines of the al fresco light installations that have been set up in the Quartier des Spectacles this winter.
In some ways, the challenge is greater for Montréal en lumière compared to, say, Les Francos or the jazz fest, in the sense that those music festivals can easily present online concerts. But how do you hold a food event online?
“It will have to be a completely different way of reaching the public,” Primeau said. “We'll talk about gastronomy. It's audiovisual production. We'll be doing foodie content.”
All Primeau can say about Nuit Blanche is that it's happening. But it all depends on what the regulations will be at that time.
“We have Plans A, B, C, and we'll do the maximum we can with the public health regulations,” Primeau said.
This week, Montréal en lumière launched the J'adore mon resto campaign, designed to encourage people to support their local restaurants.
“There is a very important section focused on gastronomy at Montréal en lumière and if there are no restaurants that survive, we won't have any gastronomy programming,” Primeau said. “These restaurants are our partners.”
Looking at what's coming in 2021, Primeau is aware it will be another challenging year for the big festivals like Les Francos, the jazz fest and Osheaga (which is run by Équipe Spectra's sister company Evenko).
“We don't have any illusions,” Primeau said. “There's not going to be a miracle overnight. The vaccinations aren't going to be all completed by the beginning of the summer. For example, we don't know if the borders will be open in the summer so we are thinking maybe we'll have to bring in more Canadian artists for the jazz festival. With Les Francos, maybe it'll be more focused on Québécois artists. But we think there will be more concerts this summer than there were in the summer of 2020. But I still don't know if we'll be allowed to book shows.
“Hopefully we'll be able to have a gradual return, shows with less people and more social distancing,” Primeau continued. “And there will still be digital programming. Our people are working hard to invent new things. Now we have more time to plan. We don't know how it will look but we're not giving up. But it won't be business as usual. On the other hand, we have to think big for 2022!”
If there are no restaurants that survive, then we won't have any gastronomy programs. These restaurants are our partners.