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Well folks,
Hold onto your hats, yet another city is answering to unseen forces, and bowing to pressure to "crack down" on the all buskers, portrait artists and street vendors in the city.
The City of Montreal held three nights of public hearings last week- in a stated 'consultation' regarding 29 pages of amendments to the current rules and regulations governing the use of public property for business pursuits. These amendments cover a range of concerns, and will affect portrait artists, flower vendors, human statues, musicians, tatooists, and small and large circle street shows.
In a nutshell, the proposals include:
- moving artists out of place Jacques Cartier (PJC) and into a smaller neighbouring square
-hiring a co-ordinator to schedule buskers' performances in PJC
- hiring teams of inspecators to police buskers on Ste. Catherine St. and in Old Montreal.
- barring tatoo artists from PJC
-banning chlidren's face painters from Cabot Square, Place du Canada and Dorcester Square.
- prohibiting musicians from using spoons, triangles or castanets on Ste. Catherine between St. Mathieu and University Sts.
-increasing permit fees for all performers and artists by 300$, those wishing to play in PJC will pay an additional 400$ (total = 820$)
From the word go, the meetings were met with anxious hostility on the part of the hundreds of permit holders who WERE NOT EVEN ADVISED of the proposed amendments and the public consultations. The only warning were the standard issue public service announcement ads tucked in with the classifieds, and a smattering of press coverage... the day before the consulatations. If you wanted to speak at the consulatation, you were require to registed a WEEK prior.
I got wind of this all rather late in the game, and missed the first meeting, but did manage to catch the 2nd and 3rd nights.
At the start of the meeting, the committee defended their procedures, and claimed that sending 500-odd letters to all the current permit-holders advising them was impractical and not feasible.
On this welcoming note, the meetings began...
Also to note, while it is the city council that has proposed the amendments, the actual consultations were presided over by a committee of 3 academics that will ADVISE the council on the proposed amendments, but themselves have no legislative power.
As I mentioned, I missed the first evening, but the highlight of the second was a presentation to the committee by a gentleman from a lobby group for downtown businesses called "Destination: Centre-Ville". He painted a chaotic picture of Montreal, overrun by punks, bums and poorly dressed buskers that are staining Montreal's reputation to visitors and tourists. The City must crack down on charities soliciting money on the streets, and individuals that are handing out pamphlets and promotional flyers. These activites are undesirable for our image, he insisted. The performers and artists on the street must me closely auditioned and then monitored at all times, to insure quality control.
To jeers from the gallery, he ended his presentation with a reminder of the substantial municipal taxes paid by the downtown businesses.
The remainder of the evening was filled will portraits artists provided prefessional and impassioned pleas on behalf of their community of artists. Their main beef is that they cannot survive if they are forcibly relocated to the square ADJACENT to the busy PLC. The committe was made aware that people often flow like water, and the artists will position themselves in the middle of the current, not on the banks of the river.
A short Q & A period allowed 2 min for non-registered persons to make their case. One woman, a portrait artist for 35 yrs, poiinted to the example of Prince-Arthur street; once a vibrant night market of performers and artists years ago, the area is now as charming as grave-yard. At some point, pressure came to bear on the animation in the area by the merchants via the city, and the artists shipped out. Now, the fountain is boarded up, and a precious corner of nightlife and activity has been silenced. Don't turn PJC into Princ-Arthur St. she pleaded. Another artist pointed to Montreal's international reputation as a circus and arts hub. The irony was clear, considering many American cities allocate resources to BRING in street animation and performance.
The final evening of the consultations was lively indeed. Word has now spread, and most of Montreal's most familiar busking faces were there.
They all offered the same implassioned plea to the committee:
The proposed amendments are unreasonable.
We were never consulated.
We have been waiting to negotiate with you for years.
Wake up and treat us with respect.
Rafael Sebastien, a regular circle show on PJC, went to great lengths to underline the importance of a vibrant street performance culture in the city, even quoting from Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte. Much reference was made to Cirque's humble origins as stilt-walkers on the streets of Quebec City. The committee also heard from En Piste, an association of circus artists and performers.
In the Q & A, Montreal's famous busker the Spoonman, presented the committee with an enormous petition supporting his cause. His spoon-playing is directly targeted in the proposed amendements. He has been fighting Ogilvy's department store via the City, for years, for the right to play his spoons on the street outside. (Google his name, and you'll read all about it.) Cyrille claims to have been trying for 2 years to speak with the Council regarding his case, but no one ever returns his calls or answers his letters. Exasperated, he plunked the petition down in front of the committee and stormed away.
The consultations are over, and the committee will produce a report in June that the council will then read, and act upon.
Finally, full disclosure. I have not performed a street show in Montreal since 1999, and have no plans to do so in the near future. This is however, where I began my haphasard career, on the streets of Old Montreal, under the watchful eye of Flying Dutchmen ex Jean-Michel Pare. Since then I have seen countless quality acts, pack up and leave simply because the City's stringent rules are not worth the notoriously cheap crowds. Somehow Montreal has managed to cultivate a public image overseas that speaks of circus brilliance, a respect for culture and a renegade theatre community. Montreal carries a reputation for cultural spark that is the envy of most every other major city in North America. I wonder how long the illusion will hold.
Jeff Achtem
Mr Bunk
Hold onto your hats, yet another city is answering to unseen forces, and bowing to pressure to "crack down" on the all buskers, portrait artists and street vendors in the city.
The City of Montreal held three nights of public hearings last week- in a stated 'consultation' regarding 29 pages of amendments to the current rules and regulations governing the use of public property for business pursuits. These amendments cover a range of concerns, and will affect portrait artists, flower vendors, human statues, musicians, tatooists, and small and large circle street shows.
In a nutshell, the proposals include:
- moving artists out of place Jacques Cartier (PJC) and into a smaller neighbouring square
-hiring a co-ordinator to schedule buskers' performances in PJC
- hiring teams of inspecators to police buskers on Ste. Catherine St. and in Old Montreal.
- barring tatoo artists from PJC
-banning chlidren's face painters from Cabot Square, Place du Canada and Dorcester Square.
- prohibiting musicians from using spoons, triangles or castanets on Ste. Catherine between St. Mathieu and University Sts.
-increasing permit fees for all performers and artists by 300$, those wishing to play in PJC will pay an additional 400$ (total = 820$)
From the word go, the meetings were met with anxious hostility on the part of the hundreds of permit holders who WERE NOT EVEN ADVISED of the proposed amendments and the public consultations. The only warning were the standard issue public service announcement ads tucked in with the classifieds, and a smattering of press coverage... the day before the consulatations. If you wanted to speak at the consulatation, you were require to registed a WEEK prior.
I got wind of this all rather late in the game, and missed the first meeting, but did manage to catch the 2nd and 3rd nights.
At the start of the meeting, the committee defended their procedures, and claimed that sending 500-odd letters to all the current permit-holders advising them was impractical and not feasible.
On this welcoming note, the meetings began...
Also to note, while it is the city council that has proposed the amendments, the actual consultations were presided over by a committee of 3 academics that will ADVISE the council on the proposed amendments, but themselves have no legislative power.
As I mentioned, I missed the first evening, but the highlight of the second was a presentation to the committee by a gentleman from a lobby group for downtown businesses called "Destination: Centre-Ville". He painted a chaotic picture of Montreal, overrun by punks, bums and poorly dressed buskers that are staining Montreal's reputation to visitors and tourists. The City must crack down on charities soliciting money on the streets, and individuals that are handing out pamphlets and promotional flyers. These activites are undesirable for our image, he insisted. The performers and artists on the street must me closely auditioned and then monitored at all times, to insure quality control.
To jeers from the gallery, he ended his presentation with a reminder of the substantial municipal taxes paid by the downtown businesses.
The remainder of the evening was filled will portraits artists provided prefessional and impassioned pleas on behalf of their community of artists. Their main beef is that they cannot survive if they are forcibly relocated to the square ADJACENT to the busy PLC. The committe was made aware that people often flow like water, and the artists will position themselves in the middle of the current, not on the banks of the river.
A short Q & A period allowed 2 min for non-registered persons to make their case. One woman, a portrait artist for 35 yrs, poiinted to the example of Prince-Arthur street; once a vibrant night market of performers and artists years ago, the area is now as charming as grave-yard. At some point, pressure came to bear on the animation in the area by the merchants via the city, and the artists shipped out. Now, the fountain is boarded up, and a precious corner of nightlife and activity has been silenced. Don't turn PJC into Princ-Arthur St. she pleaded. Another artist pointed to Montreal's international reputation as a circus and arts hub. The irony was clear, considering many American cities allocate resources to BRING in street animation and performance.
The final evening of the consultations was lively indeed. Word has now spread, and most of Montreal's most familiar busking faces were there.
They all offered the same implassioned plea to the committee:
The proposed amendments are unreasonable.
We were never consulated.
We have been waiting to negotiate with you for years.
Wake up and treat us with respect.
Rafael Sebastien, a regular circle show on PJC, went to great lengths to underline the importance of a vibrant street performance culture in the city, even quoting from Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte. Much reference was made to Cirque's humble origins as stilt-walkers on the streets of Quebec City. The committee also heard from En Piste, an association of circus artists and performers.
In the Q & A, Montreal's famous busker the Spoonman, presented the committee with an enormous petition supporting his cause. His spoon-playing is directly targeted in the proposed amendements. He has been fighting Ogilvy's department store via the City, for years, for the right to play his spoons on the street outside. (Google his name, and you'll read all about it.) Cyrille claims to have been trying for 2 years to speak with the Council regarding his case, but no one ever returns his calls or answers his letters. Exasperated, he plunked the petition down in front of the committee and stormed away.
The consultations are over, and the committee will produce a report in June that the council will then read, and act upon.
Finally, full disclosure. I have not performed a street show in Montreal since 1999, and have no plans to do so in the near future. This is however, where I began my haphasard career, on the streets of Old Montreal, under the watchful eye of Flying Dutchmen ex Jean-Michel Pare. Since then I have seen countless quality acts, pack up and leave simply because the City's stringent rules are not worth the notoriously cheap crowds. Somehow Montreal has managed to cultivate a public image overseas that speaks of circus brilliance, a respect for culture and a renegade theatre community. Montreal carries a reputation for cultural spark that is the envy of most every other major city in North America. I wonder how long the illusion will hold.
Jeff Achtem
Mr Bunk
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