A major new cultural area opens in Montréal
MONTREAL, Oct. 17, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - A new destination for culture is opening this fall in Montreal. Beginning Saturday, October 20, La Ligne Bleue, a sprawling cultural network that includes 25 arts and entertainment venues running along line 5 of the Montreal metro, will officially get off the ground. With over 15,000 arts activities presented annually by its arts venues, the network offers programming across a wide range of disciplines, from visual arts to dance, theatre, cinema, music and circus arts.
Launch day will feature a wide range of festive and free activities for the whole family, in neighbourhoods along the metro's blue line and open to all Montrealers. The programming will be based around a few of the city's major cultural destinations, including Cinéma Beaubien, which will screen six of the past year's most popular films for free, and the Université de Montréal Faculty of Music, which will offer exclusive, interactive performances, as well as a tour of its electroacoustic and digital music composition studio. The Côte-des-Neiges, Université-de-Montréal, Edouard-Montpetit and Outremont metro stations will also get in on the celebrations with surprise performances. On the culinary side, mobile kitchens — the much-talked-about food trucks — will park near certain activities to offer sustenance to visitors.
To end this special day, a Soirée Bleue featuring artists from different disciplines will kick off at 10 p.m. at the Segal Centre for the Performing Arts. Organized in cooperation with MASSIVart and open to one and all, it will offer guests a memorable sensory experience. The complete programming for the day of the launch is available at www.lalignebleue.ca.
lalignebleue.ca: a virtual hub
To create the connection between La Ligne Bleue arts venues and the public, the network harnesses the potential of new technology, combining the power of social media with an ambitious web platform as a central tool for sharing information. A virtual hub where Montrealers and the network's 25 cultural sites come together, lalignebleue.ca was created to provide information about programming and to build the Ligne Bleue community, where members share their latest cultural outings, by liking, sharing and suggesting, before heading out to discover new recommended activities. Visitors to the site can also buy tickets online, by being redirected to the La Vitrine website, a network partner.
"We were trying to figure out how to promote cultural venues and culture in general in the blue line boroughs when we came up with the idea of a network," says Valérie Beaulieu, co-CEO of La Ligne Bleue. "Cooperation and resource sharing, characteristic of La Ligne Bleue, logically gave rise to this web platform. It offers residents of neighbourhoods along line 5 and indeed all Montrealers access to an incredible wealth of culture through a single channel and lets them discover a world of the arts they didn't know existed."
The Ligne Bleue card
La Ligne Bleue's spirit of cooperation and community is symbolized in the creation of a Ligne Bleue card. Demonstrating network belonging, it offers members the opportunity to enjoy the many benefits and special promotions offered by local affiliated merchants. It will be on sale for the nominal price of $5 in the 25 partner arts venues of La Ligne Bleue.
Living in harmony through culture
Created in April 2011 and named for the common designation for line 5 of the metro, La Ligne Bleue is a social economy enterprise that espouses the values of cultural vitality, accessibility and active citizenry, ideas that have a direct influence on the quality of lives of Montrealers. Through the idea of a cultural network, La Ligne Bleue brings together these values into a common project, one that rallies different cultural communities around the arts and entertainment activities they share.
"Beyond arts and culture, La Ligne Bleue reinforces the feeling of belonging to Montreal and spotlights the incredible vitality of its communities," says Martin Bergeron, the organization's chairman of the board. "It is also a rallying cry to use the metro, Montreal's backbone and more than ever essential to the city's development."
New life
La Ligne Bleue bears the mark of a new generation of creators and promoters, for whom it is second nature to make new technologies part of anything they do because of their potential for visibility and interaction. Thanks to new technologies, La Ligne Bleue represents a different way of bringing major projects to life, giving new life to existing urban structures by promoting their use by residents.
For the complete programming for the inaugural day of La Ligne Bleue, visit www.lalignebleue.ca.
La Ligne Bleue partners
The STM
"The STM puts great emphasis on developing arts and culture in Montreal, whether through partnerships or through its Métro Arts," says Michel Labrecque, chairman of the board of the STM. "By creating a cultural network structured around a metro line, La Ligne Bleue is further strengthening this alliance between culture and public transit. We welcome La Ligne Bleue to the Society in Motion family."
The CRÉ de Montréal
"We are pleased to support a social economy project that innovates to promote cultural vitality in the Montreal area," says Manon Barbe, chair of the Conférence régionale de élus de Montréal. "Through its activities, La Ligne Bleue will help strengthen cultural organizations in several boroughs and help develop a dynamic, innovative economy."
La Ligne Bleue would like to thank La Vitrine, Canadian Heritage, the Ministère des affaires de la métropole, des régions et de l'occupation du territoire, the CDEC Centre-Nord, the CRÉ de Montréal, the Service de la culture of the Ville de Montréal, the Ministère de la culture et des communications and Emploi-Québec.
About La Ligne Bleue
A non-profit social economy organization dedicated to the promotion of culture, La Ligne Bleue's mission is to connect people with the arts in neighbourhoods along the blue line of the Montreal metro. Through a range of promotional tools and events for metro riders and the general public, La Ligne Bleue brings people closer to the arts. La Ligne Bleue is a member of Culture Montréal and part of the Montréal, Cultural Metropolis initiative.
On Twitter: @la_ligne_bleue // On Facebook: La Ligne Bleue // On LinkedIn: La Ligne Bleue
PDF available at: http://stream1.newswire.ca/media/2012/10/17/20121017_C7809_DOC_EN_19505.pdf
SOURCE: La Ligne Bleue
For question, requests for photos or an interview with the spokespeople for La Ligne Bleue, Valérie Beaulieu, co-CEO, Martin Bergeron, chairman of the board and Mario Fortin, president and CEO of Cinéma Beaubien, please contact:
Sarah Claude / Mélissa Lapierre-Grano
Massy Forget Langlois Public Relations
514 842-2455, extensions 22/31
[email protected]/[email protected]
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