Illustration: Cirque du Soleil
Caption: The Cirque du Soleil--reinventing the art of the circus.
Photo: Al Seib
Quebecers have always expressed themselves in music. Two opera companies, symphony orchestras--including the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, one of the world's finest--, chamber orchestras, and various other ensembles perform the works of both classical and Québec repertories.
Québec's musical world is highly diversified and features world-class events such as the Concours de musique de Montréal, the Festival international de Lanaudière, the Festival de musique actuelle de Victoriaville, the Montréal International Jazz Festival, and Québec City's International Summer Festival.
Quebecers love song, so it is not surprising that singers have been Québec's best ambassadors abroad. Popular song has probably done more than anything else to make Québec culture known and appreciated. Québec lyricists, composers and performers exhibit originality and quality.
Theatre is also alive and well in Québec, thanks to a renewal of dramatic expression and design which has produced remarkable authentic and universal works. Theatre for young people is one of its great strengths and has won international recognition. Venues in large cities and throughout Québec stage plays from the classical repertory and the increasingly innovative works of Québec playwrights. The Festival de théâtre des Amériques and the Quinzaine internationale de théâtre are events of major importance for theatre in Québec and internationally.
Dance, too, has evolved in recent years. The originality and audacity of contemporary Québec choreography astonishes and delights spectators the world over. The Festival international de nouvelle danse has made Montréal a privileged meeting-place for dance professionals.
The Grands Ballets canadiens, the oldest professional company in Québec, regularly performs new choreographies as well as more traditional ballets.
In the space of a few years, Québec has forged an enviable international reputation in the field of the circus. With an original formula that blends the circus arts, theatrical elements, and fantasy, the Cirque du Soleil, created in 1985, has been a resounding success in Québec, Canada, the United States, Japan and Europe, and is becoming an authentic Québec tradition. The École nationale de cirque, which opened the same year, welcomes a growing number of young people from Québec and abroad who want to train professionally for the circus.
The visual arts have flourished in the past decade. The fusion of disciplines, the appropriation of new materials and techniques, and the emergence of an impressive number of young creators have stimulated experimentation and innovation.
The number of exhibition centres, art galleries and museums speaks eloquently of the importance of the visual arts in Québec. Numerous works by Québec artists and craftspeople are in public and private collections in Québec and the world over. A government program introduced in 1960 offers artists greater visibility through the incorporation of original works into public buildings.
Traditionally dedicated to heritage conservation, Québec museums have recently developed a more public-oriented mandate which has been noted by other countries. An innovator in the field, Québec City's Musée de la civilisation has developed a thematic approach to exhibits that focus on human experience and reach out to a broad public.
Québec's specificity -- a combination of European and North American traits -- also sets it apart in the field of museology and has given rise to unique approaches where traditional museological precepts blend harmoniously with new technologies.
Characterized in the 1970s by short and feature-length films with sociocultural themes, Québec cinema now casts a more contemporary and universal eye on social realities.
Québec's innovative filmmakers have won many national and international awards and honours. These awards have recognized the talents of directors such as Denys Arcand (The Decline of the American Empire and Jesus of Montréal), Jean-Claude Lauzon (Léolo and Un zoo la nuit), Rock Demers (the Tales for All series), François Girard (Le Dortoir and Thirty-two Short Films on Glenn Gould), and Frédéric Back for his animated films Crac and The Man Who Planted Trees.
The authenticity of Québec culture is mirrored in its literature, which is constantly being enriched by the works of young authors. Their themes and treatment are both original and universal. Children's literature in particular is acclaimed both in Québec and abroad for its exceptional quality.
All works of literature published in Québec are kept in the Bibliothèque nationale, as are magazines, periodicals, and newspapers dealing with literature. The government makes a special effort to encourage young people to read and use libraries. In addition to providing book-lending services, public libraries organize a variety of activities such as writing workshops and meetings with authors. A survey on Quebecers' cultural pastimes showed that reading is the most popular of all.
The communications sector plays a key role in Québec's development with over 600 companies, 20 000 jobs, and sales exceeding $2 billion. In the written press, 12 dailies provide Quebecers with information on national and international current events. Over 200 weeklies report on news from the regions and communities they serve, while some 320 magazines and periodicals feature a wide range of topics from current events, sports, entertainment, fashion and decoration to science and technology.
Four major French-language television networks broadcast through thirty stations across Québec. They are Radio-Canada, the French-language CBC network located in Montréal; Radio-Québec, Québec's public network; and TVA and Télévision Quatre-Saisons, two private networks. Québec also has three English-language television stations. Since the creation of TV5 Québec-Canada, a model of cooperation between broadcasting corporations, Quebecers have access to some of the best shows produced by French, Belgian and Swiss networks. RDI, a new 24-hour French- language information network, began telecasting in 1995.
Quebecers can tune in to 135 AM and FM radio stations. Seventy percent are privately owned, 17% are community stations, and 13% are public. Fourteen stations, mostly in the Montréal area, broadcast in English, and two are multilingual.