The Board of Montreal Museum Directors invites everyone to turn out for the 27th edition of its annual open house event, starting from the Promenade des Artistes in the Quartier des spectacles, on Sunday, May 26, 2013.
MONTREAL, May 2, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ -The Board of Montreal Museum Directors is pleased to announce everyone's favourite annual event: Montréal Museums Day (MMD), on Sunday, May 26. Presented by Québecor, in collaboration with the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), the 27th MMD will kick off at the Promenade des Artistes in the Quartier des spectacles. From there, participants can hop on shuttle buses and take one of six specially designed routes to any of the 34 participating museums, which will be open free of charge all day long, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
A wide range of fabulous experiences at the 34 participating museums
The program for this 27th edition is once again overflowing with exceptional cultural experiences. Visitors will be able to explore art, science, architecture, nature, archaeology and history from all kinds of perspectives, as varied as the museums themselves.
One highlight will be the new Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium, set across from the Biodôme in the Space for Life. Visitors are sure to be impressed by the amazing architecture of its domes.
The Board of Montreal Museum Directors is also proud to welcome a new member. The Museum of Costume and Textile of Québec, which recently moved from the South Shore to the Bonsecours Market, is taking part in MMD for the first time. It will be presenting its temporary exhibition, entitled Tapis rouge : la mode au musée, featuring the stunning creations of a number of Montréal designers. Welcome!
There is cause for celebration for a number of other reasons this year. The Maison Saint-Gabriel is marking the 350th anniversary of the arrival of the King's Wards and describing their amazing story in its temporary exhibition Venture into the New World. Don't miss it!
The Cinémathèque Québécoise is turning 50! It will be celebrating with an all-new permanent exhibition on special effects (Secrets et illusions, la magie des effets spéciaux), and special video screenings and shorts for the occasion.
In addition to the permanent and temporary exhibitions at various museums, there will be a host of educational and cultural activities, both indoors and out, to delight visitors of all ages. Guided garden tours, art workshops, sky gazing, archaeological digs and lots more. Come see what's on offer!
Fill your day with culture!
For 27 springs now, Montréal Museums Day has been an opportunity for exceptional discoveries and unforgettable delights, as Montrealers of all origins learn more about the city's museums.
This year's theme, Montréal Museums Day: Fill your day with culture!, refers to our museums' openness to the world, as crossroads of culture, where diversity is synonymous with belonging, cultural wealth, identity and heritage. Fill your day with culture! salutes museums' role in preserving and showcasing our city's identity through the many cultures represented in today's Montréal. It also refers to the museums' desire, as sources of knowledge, to share, innovate and use new technologies and social media to convey their commitment and their passion.
So it's only natural for our spokesperson, Pénélope McQuade, to be chatting with visitors in real time on social networks. Join us on these networks and other digital platforms, as you enjoy this 27th edition of MMD with us!
Enter the Discover the museums of Paris with Vacances Transat contest
A lucky participant in this year's Montréal Museums Day this year will be winging his or her way to Paris for a week - a cultural destination if ever there was one, full of museums. The Board of Montreal Museum Directors is pleased to announce that it has partnered with Air Transat to hold the Discover the museums of Paris with Vacances Transat contest.
Six bus routes
The meeting point for the free STM shuttle buses will be on the Promenade des Artistes, in the heart of the Quartier des spectacles. The shuttles will be making regular round trips from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (last departure from the Promenade des Artistes). Participants can get off at the museum of their choice and stay as long as they like. There is no obligation to visit all the museums on a given route.
To change routes, they need only come back to the Promenade, where shuttle buses will be departing about every 20 minutes, or use the shortcut route, a new feature for 2013, which lets them hop from one route to another at certain strategic points.
Route 1 Blue
- Links up the museums in east-end Montréal, starting with the Château Dufresne Museum, the Biodôme, the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium and the La-Prison-des-Patriotes exhibition centre, and then splits off toward St. Helen's Island to visit the Stewart Museum and the Biosphère, before continuing to central-south Montréal and the Écomusée du fier monde, the Grande Bibliothèque and the Cinémathèque québécoise.
Route 2 Green
- Takes visitors all the way to Stewart Hall Art Gallery in Pointe-Claire, and then to the Dorval Museum of Local History and Heritage, before returning along the lakeshore with stops at the Musée de Lachine (pavillon de l'Entrepôt), the Centre historique des Sœurs de Sainte-Anne, the Fur Trade at Lachine National Historic Site of Canada and the main site of the Musée de Lachine, ending at the Maison Nivard-De-Saint-Dizier.
Route 3 Yellow
- Takes visitors around downtown Montréal, to the McCord Museum, the Redpath Museum, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Canadian Centre for Architecture, the Maison Saint-Gabriel and, lastly, the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal in the Quartier des spectacles.
Route 4 Red
- Runs through Old Montréal, with stops at the Centre d'histoire de Montréal, Pointe-à-Callière, the Montréal Museum of Archaeology and History, the Montréal Science Centre, Château Ramezay, the Marguerite Bourgeoys Museum, the Museum of Costume and Textile of Québec and the Sir George-Étienne Cartier House National Historic Site.
Route 5 Purple
- Heads north, starting at the Musée des Hospitalières de l'Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal and wending its way to the Université de Montréal exhibition centre, the St. Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal Museum, the Montréal Holocaust Memorial Centre Museum, the Musée des maîtres et artisans du Québec and lastly Cité historia - Musée d'histoire du Sault-au-Récollet.
Route 6 Lilac
- The "shortcut" route starts like the others at the Promenade des Artistes, but makes a stop in the middle of routes 1 to 5 to allow visitors to switch routes. More specifically it stops at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre Museum, the Centre historique des Sœurs de Sainte-Anne (the Fur Trade at Lachine National Historic Site of Canada), Château Ramezay (Marguerite Bourgeoys Museum, Museum of Costume and Textile of Québec) and the La-Prison-des-Patriotes exhibition centre.
Going their own way
Participants can visit museums on their own, of course, on foot, by bike or by public transit. The STM's "Family Outings" program lets up to five children under age 12 travel free with one adult with a valid ticket, throughout the system.
There will also be a good deal on ferries across the St. Lawrence, with a reduced rate of $3.50 offered by Navettes maritimes du Saint-Laurent. It's a fun way to get around, whether participants want to travel between Réal Bouvier Pier in Longueuil and the Old Port of Montréal (Red Route) or between the Old Port and St. Helen's Island (Blue Route).
An accessible day
Mobility-impaired participants can visit most of the museums, since all the shuttles are low-floor models. Note that while most Montréal museums are accessible, May 27 will be a very busy day and access may be more difficult in some cases. The list of accessible museums is available in the MMD promotional material and on the BMMD site.
Information on the MMD program
A bilingual program is now available in museums, libraries and Maisons de la culture, and in some stores, including Archambault bookstores and Super Club Videotron outlets. The complete program and all logistical details (e.g. pay and free parking lots) are available online, at www.museesmontreal.org and on the Montréal Museums iPhone and iPod Touch applications. Tourisme Québec operators can also handle all questions and even make some valuable suggestions. Just call 1-877-BONJOUR (266-5687).
Our partners
For this 27th edition, the BMMD wanted to breathe new energy into the event, make it better known and gain new clientele for Montréal's museums. The Board is making a number of changes, in particular in marketing strategies that will offer visitors a new experience and collaboration with new partners.
Along with our major partners like Québecor and the STM, the BMMD is being joined for the first time by Air Transat, supporting projects that focus on preserving and showcasing cultural heritage, and Astral radio. Air Transat is contributing through a contest that will take the winner for a week of museum-hopping in Paris. Other partners are also associated with MMD, including the Entente sur le développement culturel between the Ministère de la Culture, des Communications et de la Condition féminine (MCCCFQ) and the city of Montréal, Cogeco, Destination Centre-Ville, the Quartier des spectacles, MP Reproduction, the Ville-Marie borough, Tourisme Montréal, the Conseil des arts des Montréal, Croisières AML, Tim Horton's, the Quai Réal-Bouvier, Vie des arts magazine, Montréal pour enfants magazine and many others.
Fill your day with culture on the 27th Montréal Museums Day, May 26!
Social networks:
www.facebook.com/museesmontreal
@MuseesMontreal
iPhone application: Musées de Montréal
pinterest.com/museesmontreal
@museesmontreal
SPOKESPERSON
@Penelopemcquade
SOURCE: BOARD OF MONTREAL MUSEUM DIRECTORS
Information, interviews:
Huguette Marcotte Communications
Huguette Marcotte, Tel.: 514 951-0288
Pierre Chaurest, Tel.: 514 290-3148; 450 434-2352
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