Trellis Micro-grants: First Two Years
Lou Laurence, Valéry St-Gelais, Elyze Venne-Deshaies, Kat Pereira, Noam Guerrier-Freud, and Thomas Floquet at Studio Madame Wood recording “Le Montreal Switch”. Photo credit: Karine Laurence.
Montreal, July 7, 2025 – The English Language Arts Network (ELAN) is proud to share a summary of the projects funded by Trellis Micro-grants (TMG) for 2024-25 and 2025-2026; below you will find an overview of the projects that were supported in the first two years of this exciting new program. The projects span a number of different disciplines – from visual arts, to music – as well as a number of regions in Quebec.
Funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage’s Official Languages Support Programs, TMG seeks to highlight English-language Arts and Artists, and the contributions they make to the Quebec cultural fabric. Funding seeks to support artistic practice by extending the visibility of artistic offerings to a broader community, and build bridges between Québec’s English-speaking minority and Francophone majority.
Thanks to TMG’s improved accessibility (the application process is simplified and totally free) and blind adjudication supported by qualitative and quantitative metrics (reducing the possibility of bias), the grants have been able to reach both established creatives and those who are generally less likely to receive funding (emerging artists, marginalized communities and activities in the outer Regions of Quebec). The program’s goal of integrating the English-speaking artistic community further with the province’s linguistic majority has likewise been a great success across many disciplines—as the wide range of projects below can attest.
The descriptions are taken directly from the artists’ applications, edited for privacy and/or brevity.
ELAN extends our thanks to all those who served as jury members. Their deep commitment to serving the community and the great integrity they displayed in deliberating, made the process one ELAN can be proud of. See the 2024-26 jury here.
We congratulate all the artists and arts organizations on the wonderful projects they completed this past year. ELAN exists because of and for you, and we are delighted to see what you can do with a little investment.
Artists 2024-2025
Gavin Seal at the Artrepreneurship workshop. Photo credit: Klaudia Gasecka.
Sarah Barone - Of Formless Formations
My latest project, Of Formless Formations, weaves together sound, sculpture and dance to tell the story of a dying river that returns to its natural path, reaching the sea. The process of each project stems deeply from journaling and metaphors, that emerge from scientific and ethnographic research, that I translate from English into an expressive dance movement language.
The creation of this work emerges from a noticeable and unique synergy between the dancers who signed up for a workshop I was hosting independently. We use the exercises in the workshop, combined with our chemistry and back and forth between French and English language interpretations to create a speculative fiction about this drying river, that we wish could come back to life in a wave of collective bodies, using the story of this water system as a metaphor for our hopes for local and global communities to follow suit through the interplay of perception, embodiment, experience, and empathy.
Based on the Resurrection podcast that told the story of Michael Callen, an AIDS activist and musician who invented safe sex, saving thousands of lives during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, I was inspired to workshop the show into a bespoke piece of experimental theatre as a part of Centaur Theatre’s WinterWorks Festival.
We will use the podcast feed to promote the show—connecting us with 10,000 podcast listeners. The majority of these podcast listeners are in Canada, with a substantial number of French-speakers.
Magda Erockfor - Purple Nebula
To record and promote my sophomore EP, Purple Nebula, which promises to be a visually striking and sonically captivating collection of nine tracks. This project fuses the rhythms of soul, R&B, hip-hop, Afrobeat, and jazz. It's an ambitious endeavor that embodies artistic rebellion against colonial and capitalist influences, drawing deeply from the cultural richness of my Cameroonian heritage. At its core, Pink Nebula celebrates and reclaims the community, sisterhood, and matriarchal values inherent in my background. The EP will be produced by Montreal-based Nader, whose impressive discography includes work with anglophone artists like Fernie and francophone artists like Kaya Hoax.
Tyson Houseman - The Six Seasons
The Six Seasons is an operatic multimedia live video performance that combines multiple live video feed projections with dynamic theatrical set pieces and small-scale object performance, with an electroacoustic musical score composed and performed live by Devon Bate and featuring lyrics sung in nehiyawewin (plains cree) by baritone vocalist Jonathon Adams (Cree-Métis). This performance depicts traditional nehiyaw landscape scenes and abstracted mountainscape imagery from my home territory in the mountains and foothills of Treaty Six territory in order to convey a cyclical notion of non-linear "deep time" on a geological timescale, and interpret nehiyaw cosmological teachings from my Elders about connections to land at a critical moment of ecological crisis in human history.
As a piece of Indigenous multimedia theatre with operatic lyrics sung in nehiyawewin (the Plains Cree language), one of the Indigenous languages of this land, I feel that this piece speaks to aspects of language revitalization and the importance of bridging divides between language groups, even beyond Canadian or Quebecois societal language groupings of English and French. As an Indigenous language production being produced by a group of Anglophone artists in Montreal, I feel that this piece subverts this traditional language divide and has the opportunity to create an equal perspective shift for both dominant colonial languages, potentially allowing for growth and connection across communities.
Lou Laurence - Le Montréal Switch
The main objective of this project is to produce an EP that celebrates and elevates the linguistic particularity of Montreal as a city that operates in French, English, and thrives somewhere between the two. The working title, “Le Montréal Switch,” celebrates the way many Montrealers switch between English and French mid-phrase. The album will perform this same switch beginning in English, transitioning with a “franglais” track in the middle, and ending in French. Like a conversation, the album seamlessly merges English and French compositions for a uniquely local sound.
As my first studio release, this album is my opportunity to present my unique blend of bilingualism, humour, and jazz on a broad scale to new audiences and industry figures in French and English.
This work is an effort in collective imagining and writing. It attempts to bridge distance across linguistic groups by building solidarity and community dialogue, applying our learning and envisioning of the past to our creative collaboration and the current social political moment.
HSN is a project about building solidarity between multi-lingual, cultural and racial communities by enacting that exact work to produce it. It explores a historical moment in Montréal (Summer 1990) to consider how solidarity building across marginal communities can thrive or fail, seeking to apply these learnings to our creative collaboration and social political moment. The LGBTQS+ emerging screenwriters involved are from different cultural and linguistic communities, coming together to build a multilingual script on this impactful moment in Montréal’s history. The film itself is about building bridges between communities (LGBTQS+, Kanien'kehá:ka, Haitian, French & English settlers) and the importance of cross-cultural solidarity between marginalized communities to combat state repression and police violence.
Alexandra Levy - The Songwriting Process, feat. Thomas Molander
I’m applying to create a website for The Songwriting Method and be able to host the Spring Songwriting Method to a larger group. The Songwriting Method is a songwriting process I’ve been developing since 2017. This project will give songwriters and artists across Quebec a space to collaborate, share, and grow their craft, no matter where they’re located. We aim to build a bilingual, accessible platform that connects English-speaking and Francophone artists, with a culminating showcase to highlight participants’ work.
The live showcase event provides a public-facing component, increasing visibility for English-language arts and fostering connections between English-speaking and Francophone communities. Through bilingual tools and the showcase, the project supports the broader goal of cultural exchange and collaboration across Quebec.
Rob Lutes - Chansons du Québec Songs, feat. Kerry-Anne Kutz
Quebec songwriters, performing artists, musical educators Rob Lutes and Kerry-Anne Kutz will curate and perform a public concert and a series of workshops in secondary schools and at seniors' residences (francophone, anglophone and bilingual facilities). This concert/workshop (the “concert”) will celebrate the long history of creative collaboration between and shared cultural heritage of Quebec's francophone and anglophone communities as represented in traditional and popular song.
In a current Quebec social and political climate where differences and divergent cultural histories of these two communities are often emphasized by leaders, this bilingual event will celebrate to francophone, anglophone and bilingual audiences the longstanding cultural exchange and artistic sharing that has existed between the two communities over centuries.
Gavin Seal - Artrepreneurship Workshop for OLMC Filmmakers
Filmmakers from Quebec's Official Language Minority Communities (OLMC) face unique challenges building sustainable careers here. Despite representing roughly 20% of the population the QEPC reports they have a 3% chance of receiving funding by the province. Most industry programs here teach media entrepreneurship through case studies presented by Francophone filmmakers who have access to 97% of the provincial funding so they are not replicable. This program bridges this gap by empowering artists to embrace entrepreneurship and view their diverse activities through a cohesive multisided business model.
This two-day intensive workshop, held in Montreal in March 2025, guides participants through "present state" (reflection) and "future state" (designing) exercises. Leveraging proven methodologies from Business Model Generation YOU, we will train artists to gain a deeper understanding of their financial standing, funding opportunities, marketing strategies, and legal landscape. They will create actionable plans for growth, building a strong network for support, peer-learning, and knowledge development. Expert-led workshops will cover financial management, branding, legal considerations, grant writing, incorporation, building a tech stack, and networking. Networking events will foster connections among participants and industry professionals including filmmakers from Francophone communities.
Stephanie Sedlbauer - Le Pub Classique
Montreal’s only classical music “Open Mic” event, inspired by the casual “Opera Pub” concert format, offers a relaxed, approachable setting for classical musicians to perform. We aim to provide anglophone and francophone musicians opportunities to showcase their craft, connect with each other, and foster community relationships that often spark career opportunities.
This project will uplift the English classical musicians of Montreal by providing a platform of exposure and connection to the greater Francophone music community through intimate concert events that provide an opportunity to connect and network with their peers.
Quinten Sheriff - Community Solutions + Leadership Development
This project aims to build and support a community of practice among creators, to help artists, cultural workers and leaders to share experiences, seek and offer advice, and collaborate on solutions to challenges. We aim to encourage two groups through this project; emerging leaders, artists and cultural workers with less than five years’ experience, and leaders, artists and cultural workers with more than five years’ experience. A focus on diverse voices will allow for a more inclusive arts, culture and heritage sector.
The project will bring together emerging and experienced leaders, fostering mentorship and knowledge sharing across generations and experience levels. This intergenerational exchange will not only benefit individual artists but also strengthen the overall cultural sector. Furthermore, the focus on diverse voices will ensure that the perspectives and experiences of underrepresented groups are heard and valued, building bridges between different linguistic groups.
Organizations 2024-2025
Seth Zosky in “Titanique” at the Segal Centre. Photo credit: Marie-Andree Lemire.
ARCMTL - Montreal Printed Arts Festival
Inaugurated in 2016 and held every 2 or 3 years since then, the Montreal Printed Arts Festival is a relatively new part of the Montreal arts scene; however, the large number of print-makers, arts organizations, and members of the public that have participated in past years suggest that FAIMTL serve a vital and previously unmet gap in the Montreal arts scene. No other festival in Montreal is dedicated solely to print-making, an artistic genre that encompasses a rich variety of techniques, traditions, and perspectives, long practiced by artists of both official languages and from diverse communities. FAIMTL's mission is to create a space conducive to dialogue, exchange and reflection, to showcase diversity in the printed arts, and to support outreach and connections amongst artists, art organizations, and the public in both official languages.
By specifically programming English-language minority activities, we believe engagement with the Anglophone communities of Montreal will begin to increase and represent an essential revitalization of the multi-linguistic bonds of the Montreal arts and culture scene. 2025 programming for FAIMTL will foster those connections, and as they continue to flourish in subsequent years, the Anglophone artist community will be positioned to provide mutual support and resources internally.
Centaur Theatre Company - Strawberries in January
Centaur Theatre is expanding on our ongoing commitment to building bridges between the English and French theatre communities in Montreal by collaborating with director Frédéric Bélanger and his company Théâtre Advienne que pourra to create an English-language musical version of Québécoise playwright Evelyne de la Chenalière’s charming romantic comedy Strawberries in January at Centaur Theatre in January-February of 2025. The goal of this project is to celebrate the unique talents of the artists on both sides of the language divide in Montreal and attract a linguistically diverse audience.
In addition to helping us to achieve the highest level of production value, this grant will give us the capacity to market more effectively to the Francophone theatre audience, which is key to our ability to grow our audience in the future. We already offer French surtitled performances for most of our productions and having a more robust marketing budget will allow us to reach into publications and neighbourhoods that may not currently be aware of the work we are doing at Centaur, which is inspired by the French theatre community.
Contact Theatre is producing its next musical, Cabaret. A musical that transports audiences to the Kit Kat Klub, a queer burlesque club, on New Year's Eve 1930 Berlin. The musical explores themes of self-approbation, complicity, and the consequences of complacency. Our production reimagines this iconic story with a bold and immersive approach, placing the audience directly in the Kit Kat Klub.
Contact Theatre has consistently elevated English-language arts in Montreal. Our cast and creative team include francophone artists in their first English-language production, alongside artists of varying ethnicities, sexualities, gender identities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. By uniting theatre-makers from all communities, we create an artistic space that reflects Montreal’s bilingual cultural landscape. Ultimately, Cabaret will showcase and promote the vibrancy of English-language arts in Quebec, while building meaningful bridges to francophone and minority artists, creating a more collaborative arts community.
Heritage Lower St Lawrence - Trails of Time: A Multimedia Guide to Historic Métis-sur-Mer
Heritage Lower Saint Lawrence (HLSL) is finalizing an important project to publish a multimedia guidebook of historical trails in Métis-sur-Mer. This guidebook will include written content and audio clips featuring recollections from local villagers. The written content is complete and is currently being edited to create a comprehensive and accessible resource for both French and English-speaking communities. Similarly, the audio files, which capture intangible cultural artifacts in the voices of community members, are being edited for clarity and usability. These recordings, presented in either French or English depending on the speaker, require overdubbing in the corresponding language to ensure accessibility for all users. Once finalized, the audio files will be uploaded to our website, making them easily accessible via mobile devices.
This project is vital for one of the smallest English-speaking artistic communities in Quebec, offering an opportunity to highlight its rich contributions to the province’s cultural and historical tapestry. By capturing and sharing the voices and recollections of Métis-sur-Mer villagers through a multimedia guidebook, the project preserves an invaluable part of Québec’s heritage in Metis-sur-Mer. The inclusion of audio clips in both English and French ensures these stories are accessible to diverse audiences, showcasing the intertwined histories and shared experiences of the region's Francophone and Anglophone communities. For the English-speaking artistic community, this initiative is a platform to celebrate its identity and influence, amplifying its voice within Québec’s broader cultural narrative. It acknowledges the community's artistic and historical significance, fostering a sense of belonging and vitality while ensuring its contributions are recognized and valued alongside those of the French-speaking majority, and vice versa, for mutual understanding.
Imago Theatre plans to produce the world premiere of Montreal playwright Adjani Poirier's Scorpio Moon in March 2025. Developed in collaboration with Playwrights Workshop Montreal (PWM), the play is a love story about friendship that explores the complexities of race, queerness, art and survival. With returning veteran French translator Elaine Normandeau, Imago plans to present all twelve shows with French surtitles and bring English and French speaking communities together for this event.
In our encounters with Francophone theatre artists, we have learned that many would love to attend our shows but felt a strong language barrier: they feared they would not be able to experience the play fully given the limitations of their knowledge of English. Imago began an ongoing practice of surtitling productions in 2022 and we have seen our Francophone audience grow. Scorpio Moon will be presented with French surtitling to facilitate its promotion to French language festivals and territories outside Montreal, places we were not previously able to access due to the language barrier.
InfiniTheatre - NOLI & Outreach Translations
Since the beginning of our 2024/25 season, Infinithéâtre has internally committed to improved outreach and expanded audience engagement, including strengthening our outreach to French-language audience members. This grant application proposes financial support to assist Infinithéâtre with our multitude of ongoing day-to-day public-facing text documents. Throughout the year we must generate and translate into French the following: press releases, social media and newsletter posts, show posters and programs, study guides.
We see this effort as a natural and essential addition to our long-established history as a proudly English-language theatre in Quebec. The sustainability and prosperity of our niche position within this province’s arts ecosystem depends upon us improving our relations with ALL members of our communities; anglophone, francophones, the Indigenous communities, and allophones.
Infinithéâtre is taking steps toward producing the English-language premiere of NOLI, a play written by Quebec playwright Virginie Daigle, originally produced at Théâtre Prospero in 2022. As such, we are currently seeking funding to assist with the costs of translating the script from French to English, as well as a week-long development workshop with the playwright, translator, actors and director. NOLI will bring work to an English creative team and an anglophone translator, as well as a rich and thought-provoking story to English audiences. It will foster a sense of familiarity and credibility with English theatre-makers among our French counterparts, and demonstrate concrete steps towards bridging linguistic gaps through exchange and collaboration.
MainLine Theatre - Propeller Program
The Propeller Program is designed with the goals of bridging the gap between emerging francophone, anglophone and allophone artists by equipping its participants with the knowledge and tools needed to collaborate cross-culturally and facilitating the transition of emerging artists into the professional performing arts industry.
This project aims to build meaningful bridges between cultural communities. Artists who learn together grow together. We believe that a hands-on training opportunity in a small-group setting will help participants create meaningful and long lasting relationships. We held a pilot version of the Propeller program in 2021. All pilot participants are pursuing their careers in the arts. FringeMTL aims to create an atmosphere that encourages cross-pollination between cultures, communities and artistic genres. The festival is well known as a unique meeting place for anglophone and francophone artists and our venue MainLine Theatre is located directly on the Main (St-Laurent Blvd).
Quebec Writers Federation - The Neighborhood/Le Quartier
“The Neighborhood/Le Quartier” is an immersive audio experience featuring four fictional narratives inspired by interviews with community members from Beaconsfield and Montreal Ouest. Designed as a walking experience with headphones, “The Neighbourhood/Le Quartier” invites audience members to explore suburban landscapes while engaging with each protagonist’s story. The stories are set in a specific neighbourhood and refer to visible landmarks that the participants will recognize from their daily lives, but the personal historical narratives bring them to life in a new way. The experience culminates in a communal block party, fostering shared reflection and connection among participants. The original English Language version was presented in Montreal Ouest in October 2024. Our goal is to present a fully bilingual show in Beaconsfield for spring 2025.
By offering a bilingual production in Beaconsfield, a recognized bilingual community, the project highlights the presence and contributions of English-speaking artists in Quebec to both linguistic communities. Anglophone actors will reprise their roles in both the original English version and the French adaptation, performing alongside their Francophone counterparts. This will demonstrate that Anglophone artists are active participants in Quebec’s diverse linguistic and cultural landscape, showcasing their ability to speak French and contribute to bilingual artistic expression. The simultaneous availability of English and French versions allows audiences to choose their preferred language while still participating in a shared social experience.
The Segal Centre seeks funding to support a two-week remount of Titanique, an award-winning musical comedy that reimagines the iconic film Titanic through the music of Céline Dion. At the Segal, Titanique was a runaway fan favourite, smashing previous Segal Centre ticket sale records. Our production stars Quebec vedette Véronique Claveau, renowned for her flawless Céline Dion impressions, as the beloved global icon herself. The original run drew the interest of many Quebec influencers and celebrities, drawing more Francophone patrons than ever before to discover the Segal Centre.
Titanique, created by American artists, has been uniquely adapted at the Segal Centre for Canadian audiences, by a Canadian team. Among all Titanique productions globally, this Canadian rendition stands alone in casting a Francophone actor as Céline Dion, with Véronique Claveau making her debut performance in English. The Segal production exceptionally bridges cultural worlds and celebrates the richness of bilingual artistry.
We propose to bring Talisman's 2022 production of Wildfire to Bishop University's 100-seat Turner Studio for two performances on Saturday the 8th and Sunday the 9th of March (with the possibility of a matinee on the 9th). The performances would also be digitally captured and live-streamed from the Turner Studio to an international audience. Wildfire, by David Paquet, is a tragicomedy as fiercely dark as any from classical Greece. Structured as a multi-generational triptych, it is set in a triplex inhabited by twisted triplets with a toxic family heritage.
The main thrust of our mission has always been to build bridges between the English- and French-speaking communities by commissioning English translations of new, successful Quebec plays. The plays we select generally focus on contemporary issues that are common to all Canadians, but are portrayed from a typically Quebecois point of view. We always include the French-language press in our publicity and marketing campaigns. Also, we always provide French-language surtitles/subtitles to accommodate French speakers. As a result, the French press and bloggers have always expressed great interest in reviewing our English-language versions of successful Quebec productions.
Teesri Duniya Theatre - One Road Four Stops
Teesri Duniya Theatre's season, Staging Freedom, represents a cultural front to unite Montrealers and mobilize opinion for a ceasefire, long-term peace, and Freedom from colonial occupation while fighting against the sharp rise in Islamophobia and antisemitism through the power of art. We seek support for One Road Four Stops, a subcomponent of our season consisting following art-inspired activities ending by March 2025.
Within the English-speaking minority community in Quebec, Teesri Duniya Theatre emphasizes visible minorities distinguished by skin colour, heritage, and country of origin. Visible minorities or people of colour (POC) exist as a minority within the larger English-speaking Official Language Minority Community (OLMC). We aim to develop their creativity at par with their dominant culture counterparts. Bridges are built, and communities connect when their stories are simultaneously presented on a shared stage. This unique set of activities will feature Arab, Jewish, Anglo, French and other POC communities. We will offer translation and interpretation services and promote and market the shows across linguistic and cultural domains.
Yolk Literary - Bridging Languages Through Literature
For this project, our highest order aims are twofold: to highlight yolk’s English-speaking artistic contributions (published in Vol. 4.1) to Québec’s development, and to increase the visibility of the English-language artists we publish in yolk within the broader majority French-speaking Quebec artistic communities.
Through targeted marketing, we directly connect with French-speaking audiences by leveraging platforms they already engage with. Hiring a French Ambassador and placing advertisements in French-language journals, yolk creates intentional connections with established French artistic networks. This bilingual bridge-building effort facilitates cross-community understanding and paves the way for future collaborative initiatives, such as yolk’s ability to foster meaningful cross-community exchanges. Bilingual Pop-Up Poetry events will directly engage French-speaking communities, providing an approachable platform to showcase the vibrancy of English-language contributions.
Youth Employment Services Foundation (YES) - Connecting Artists/Connexion Artistes
This project aims to enhance the visibility and integration of English-speaking artists in Québec by fostering collaboration, building partnerships, and raising awareness of French/bilingual community arts organizations. Our overarching goals are to:
Expand the reach of English-speaking artists through networking and community events, curated meetings, workshops, and presentations that foster collaboration with Francophone and bilingual arts organizations, while equipping artists with skills and resources to enhance their visibility.
Promote cultural diversity and cross-cultural exchange by showcasing and celebrating the unique contributions of English-speaking artists, while also developing and fostering dialogue with Francophone audiences, which will create more inclusivity and celebrate diversity in Quebec's cultural fabric.
Strengthen the artistic ecosystem by forging lasting partnerships for English-speaking artists within French arts organizations.
This project will enhance the visibility of English-language arts within the wider community by fostering collaboration, building bridges, and creating opportunities for cross-cultural exchange. By connecting English-speaking artists with organizations from the French/bilingual community, we will expand their networks, increase their visibility, and create a more inclusive and diverse cultural landscape.
Artists 2025-2026
Maitreyi Muralidharan, Tong Wang, and Julia Weldon performing at Le Pub Classique. Photo credit: Stephanie Sedlbauer. Note: this is a 2024-2025 project.
Carson Becke - The Forest, feat. Meghan Lindsay
7 February 2026, Chelsea & Wakefield QC
I am applying for a Trellis micro-grant to support the creation and dissemination of an art song cycle, approximately 25 minutes in length, for voice and piano called The Forest. I will commission six anglophone poets who live in or have strong ties to the Outaouais region of Quebec to write one poem each about a specific tree that holds special meaning for them. Once the poems are complete, I will set them to music: I am envisioning this as a continuous piece with the six poems embedded into the whole. The music will function similarly to the way mycelium (mushroom) networks connect trees in the forest: binding individual trees into a communicative symbiotic whole. The end result will be a community-sourced multi-disciplinary piece of art about trees and our connections with them.
By working with a team of anglophone collaborators who live and work in the rural Outaouais region and presenting the premiere of this song cycle here, I am working to demonstrate the idea that art can be by the community, for the community. This interdisciplinary project brings together artists of different generational groups (spanning 19 to 81 years of age) and different backgrounds.
Pamela Beyer - House of Profection
TBD
House of Profection is an experimental play that, through acts of storied repetition and reiteration, attempts to inhabit the location where the absence and presence of a person collapse into the same instance. This play is primarily an exercise in showing the ways in which we turn an event, a person around in our minds for comprehension. The work involves themes of grief, obsession, dissociation, and love.
Written in English but engaging with French-language institutional records, the play’s themes of trauma, institutionalization, and fragmented memory resonate across linguistic and cultural boundaries. Critical engagement with documents from both Francophone and Anglophone institutions fosters cross-community dialogue and mutual understanding.
Louise Campbell - Dark Sky Preserve
TBD
The book and album Dark Sky Preserve is a musical and literary inquiry into ways in which we connect and disconnect from ourselves and others in our search for our place in the universe. In this meditation on the night sky, spoken word artist Ian Ferrier and two long-time collaborators created a score book and album to inspire others to reflect on the night sky and create their own music based on the featured works.
Editor’s note: Ian Ferrier (1954 – 3 November 2023) was a Montreal born poet, musician, and cultural arts organizer. His loss is greatly felt, and this project represents the last of his recorded work. Read more about him here.
Moe Clark - tastawayihk dreaming
17 July 2025, Montreal QC
For this grant, I am proposing two components of creative activation with Tio’tiake’s 2Spirit and arts communities. The first component is hosting a series of five big drum circles, providing community access to drum song, talking circles, feasts, and language reconnection. The second is the continued creation of new 2Spirit drum songs that can be shared and sung on the big drum with community.
Hosting five monthly drum circles with and for community will create bridges between our professional Indigenous arts community and other community members who haven’t had the chance to receive formalized training in voice, drum guardianship, or language reclamation. It is a privilege for me to be able to share my process as a song carrier with community, as a means of extending 2Spirit values, stories, language and creative practice through circle work. These forms of exchange, which centre practices of skill sharing and knowledge transmission outside of formalized institutions, are vital for our Indigenous communities, as they provide much needed community care within inclusive and creative settings.
Roy MacLaren - the beat is the bridge
TBD
This project will use traditional Quebec square dances called in English to bring together community members of all backgrounds and ages in celebration of the timeless joy of dancing to jigs and reels played by live musicians. Each dance will be preceded by a bilingual workshop with the caller and musicians. The caller will explain the steps and figures of the dances and help translate the English-language calls for francophones and others unfamiliar with the terminology.
Through bilingual pre-dance workshops this event will introduce people of all backgrounds to a dance form that transcends language. Although the participating musicians call the Eastern Townships home and share a love of traditional music, Roy, Marie, James and Richard have unique life and musical experiences (anglophone, francophone, rural, urban, immigrant, etc). This event will also use square dancing to English-language calls and the repertoire of tunes from Quebec, Ireland and Scotland as an opportunity to celebrate the longstanding and ongoing contribution of rural anglophones to Quebec culture.
Calev Litvack – Dick's Lending Library
July 2025-March 2026, Montreal QC
Dick’s Lending Library is a community-run library dedicated to collecting the literary, political, and artistic work of trans, non-binary, Two Spirit, and gender non-conforming authors. Our catalogue focuses on books that trace trans cultural production, histories, politics, and practices of collective care and resistance. We offer books in both English (347 titles) and French (40 titles), with a total of 420 books, since we’ve acquired multiple copies of some titles.
Our events would provide opportunities for people to build relationships of friendship and mutual aid and care, support each other’s artistic work, and build political solidarity among trans, non-binary, Two Spirit, and gender non-conforming Montrealers and members of other and intersecting groups that face marginalization, across linguistic and cultural lines.
Joan Sullivan - Si j’étais un arbre, feat. James Darling
20 July 2025, Cacouna QC
With funding from the Canada Council, we created Si j’étais un arbre, an immersive installation that invites visitors to “see” climate change using three of their five senses: sight, touch, hearing. Inaugurated in November 2024 in Rimouski’s municipal art gallery, our installation attracted 307 visitors – one of this francophone gallery’s highest attendance records, an impressive accomplishment for two minority anglophone artists. The goal of this proposal is to increase the visibility of Si j’étais un arbre from 307 to 3,000 francophones living in or visiting the Lower Saint Lawrence during the 2025 summer tourist season.
Our “wishing tree” – a live potted ficus tree – will be installed in the library (former church), next to our silk forest. By summer’s end, this tree will be filled with bilingual messages of hope, hand-written by francophone and anglophone visitors. A librarian will be available to assist visitors. One of us will organize a cultural mediation session with francophone youth in late July (between the two festivals) to create hand-written messages for the wishing tree.
Organizations 2025-2026
Anton May performing at Black Theatre Workshop’s Club Zed showcase. Photo credit: Philippe Latour.
Arts Arundel - Arundel Community Choir
September 2025, Arundel QC
The anglophone population of our region in the Laurentians is sprinkled across several municipalities without a cohesive sense of community. For several years, there has been a demand from these isolated anglophones to form a Community Choir to sing popular music. The problem has been that no choir director is available locally and hiring from Montreal was beyond our reach. With your funding we will follow a Train-the-Trainer model to pair a local musician (Guy Melhuish) with a mentor conductor (Ailsa Pehi) for a year’s apprenticeship.
Formation of a primarily anglophone choir singing mostly English-language songs, many written by anglophone Quebecers from the Laurentians, will surely render English-language Arts more visible and more appreciated. Inclusion of francophones in the choir and of music from French Quebec in the song list will build bridges between language communities in our region. Once the choir is established, joint events with francophone choirs will strengthen ties in a joyful way.
Black Theatre Workshop – Club Zed
14-17 May 2025, Montreal QC
The project that we are applying for this microgrant for is a new edition to BTW’s initiatives. ClubZed is a vibrant performing arts festival, tested by Black Theatre Workshop in 2023. This initiative aims to be a biennial event that brings together diverse Black communities, fostering connection and creativity. This festival was created to deepen ties between arts-based initiatives and disparate Black English communities in Montreal, to create networking and mentorship opportunities for emerging Black artists, and as a part of a larger ongoing organizational effort to promote Montreal art and artists nationally.
The impact of this festival cannot be understated as the various components allow for Black communities to gain greater exposure to the arts, the development of Black-led artistic practice, and intergenerational networking opportunities. One of our goals is to showcase the distinctiveness of the Montreal-VOICE within the Canadian theatre scene. We aim to elevate the multilingual perspectives and experiences of Black Quebec writers on a national scale, fostering connections and creating opportunities for them to engage with the broader writing community across Canada.
Exposures Trans Film Festival - 2nd Exposures Trans Film Festival
16–21 September, 2025, Montreal QC
We are seeking your support for the second edition of Exposures Trans Film Festival (ETFF), Montréal’s first and Canada’s only film festival dedicated to showcasing and promoting the works of gender-diverse filmmakers. Our mission is to make trans cinema accessible to all, regardless of language. To achieve this goal, this year we are prioritizing bridging linguistic divides and fostering collaboration across communities. Due to limited resources, our first edition primarily ran in English, resulting in a predominantly Anglophone audience. In 2025, we will continue supporting the Anglophone community while also implementing new strategies to ensure greater inclusion of Francophone audiences.
Geordie Theatre - Les Voix de Geordie
TBD
Geordie Theatre is seeking support to launch Les Voix de Geordie, a bilingual theatre initiative to increase our work’s reach among French-speaking audiences and collaborate with the francophone theatre community to showcase the artistic contributions of English-speaking artists to a broader francophone audience. Our 2026 Geordie Theatre Fest at La Maison Théâtre, will include our 2Play Tour shows, workshops for kids, and readings of new TYA works in development. The audience will mostly consist of patrons of La Maison Théâtre who typically attend French or non-language-specific shows, for whom the Geordie Theatre Fest may be their first theatre experience in English.
La Maison Théâtre is Montreal’s leading theatre company for young audiences; they have 33 member companies and Geordie is the only English one, so thanks to our shows, they can offer their audiences cultural activities both in French and in English. Through our collaboration with them for our Geordie Theatre Fest and Jordan, English-speaking artists, communities and their stories are represented on their stage and made visible to a broader community, many of whom are bilingual but primarily attend shows in French and are not familiar with local English theatre companies.
Sutton Saturday Market - Music Sessions at the Sutton Market
17 May-25 October 2025, Sutton QC
The Sutton Saturday Market attracts a diverse crowd that includes locals, visitors from neighbouring communities, Montreal, Sherbrooke, and tourists visiting the Eastern Townships. With 50–70 vendors each weekend, the market is the largest in the region, offering everything from local produce, baked goods and coffee, to arts, crafts, antiques and other treasures. We also support young entrepreneurs and educational initiatives, creating an inclusive community hub. For the past four years, we’ve proudly featured local musicians every weekend at the market. These talented artists, who have volunteered their performances in exchange for tips and exposure, have become an integral part of the market experience. However, as the market continues to grow, we believe it’s time to expand the musical offering and give musicians the recognition and compensation they deserve.
There is a strong English language music community in Sutton and the surrounding area. Weekly open mic events at local venues have cultivated a close-knit community of musicians who perform together, and support each other’s creative projects. The Trellis Micro-Grant will enable us to introduce a daytime performance venue, engaging audiences who may not otherwise attend evening shows. This initiative will expose English-speaking musicians to a broader, primarily French-speaking audience that includes locals and tourists, seniors, and young families alike.
Teesri Duniya Theatre - Eco Rangshala
Ongoing events, Montreal QC
One year ago, we founded Rangshala, a 100-seat indoor black box within our premises, which availed a performance stage to the local artistic community, especially to the racialized groups. Yet the demand outweighed availability. We aim to create Eco Rangshala, an outdoor 24 x 20 ft performance stage with 75 seating capacity within our premises. This venue is freely available to Teesri Duniya Theatre, and we have a long-term lease. However, the venue needs a structural and safety renovation for full utilization.
Within the English-speaking minority community in Quebec, Teesri Duniya Theatre emphasizes visible minorities distinguished by skin colour, heritage, and country of origin. Visible minorities or people of colour (POC) exist as a minority within the larger English-speaking Official Language Minority Community (OLMC). We aim to develop their creativity at par with their dominant culture counterparts.
Bridges are built, and communities connect when their stories are simultaneously presented on a shared stage. Eco Rangshala and the unique activities will feature Arab, Jewish, Anglo, French and other POC communities. We will offer translation and interpretation services and promote and market the shows across linguistic and cultural domains.
West-Can Folk Performing Co. - Rites of Passage: Rituals of the Caribbean
TBD
Rites of Passage: Rituals of the Caribbean is a collaborative artistic and cultural presentation between West-Can Folk Performing Company (West-Can) representing the English-speaking Caribbean and Mapou Ginen representing the French-Speaking Caribbean. This presentation will educate the broader Quebec community on the deeply rooted traditions surrounding birth and death in Caribbean culture. Through performances, storytelling, and community engagement, this initiative will highlight the significance of these rituals, fostering cultural appreciation, dialogue, and stronger relations between English- and French-speaking audiences in Quebec.
The collaboration between West-Can Folk Performing Company and Mapou Ginen will naturally foster intercultural dialogue and understanding by showcasing shared African and Caribbean heritage across English- and French-speaking communities. This bridge-building effort will be reinforced through a bilingual talkback session at the end of the performance allowing for meaningful exchanges between linguistic communities. Bilingual outreach efforts will encourage the attendance and engagement of Francophone communities. The project will highlight the artistic contributions of English-speaking Caribbean artists, ensuring their work is accessible to a broader audience, including Francophone communities.