The Quartier des spectacles is a new Montreal neighborhood located east of downtown Montreal, it is the city’s major cultural district Located in downtown Montreal.
Year-round outdoor events and festivals draw crowds to the Place des Festivals, where public art installations and light projections create a festive vibe. Night or day, sizzling summer heat or chilly wintry cold, the Quartier de spectacles welcomes all walks of life with one kilometer of emotion, fun and joy. It’s over 80 cultural venues, 8 public spaces offering a diverse array of activities, 30+performance halls, 1 km square of culture, 100+ shows a month, some 40 performance halls and bar venues with a collective seating capacity of more than 28,000, approximately 40 exhibition spaces and several cinemas.
40+ festivals, movies, plays, dance performances, art exhibitions, technological art displays, music concerts, operas, comedy shows and more all year round. Montréal’s Quartier de spectacles downtown entertainment district literally pulses with life, light and talent all year long.
Come dusk, the Quartier shines thanks to the Luminous Pathway, an enchanting lighting plan that illuminates the area’s cultural assets with a red carpet of glowing dots, showing patrons the way as it shows off the city’s unparalleled creativity. Not a single day goes by without some cultural activity taking place at one of its venues.
Quarter des spectacles has developed into a world-class cultural destination that attracts millions of visitors each year. A plethora of locations where both young and old come to discover the work of emerging and established artists. The Quartier des spectacles hosts nearly 8,500 jobs linked to cultural activities, from education and creation to production, exhibition and broadcasting.
At its heart are Place des Arts, a complex with several performance halls, and the adjacent Musée d’art contemporain. Within its boundaries, you will find the highest concentration and the greatest diversity of cultural venues in North America. Quartier des Spectacles is an arts and entertainment district located in the eastern section of Downtown Montreal, designed as a centre for Montreal’s cultural events and festivals.
There are two major centers, that of Place des Arts and Boulevard Saint-Laurent to the west and that of the Latin Quarter to the east. Its development began in 2007 around the Place des arts. The Quartier des spectacles is a member of the Global Cultural Districts Network.
All year round, day or night, Montrealers and visitors head to the Quartier in droves, captivated and intrigued by its eight vibrant public spaces and no less than 40 festivals. During their visit, they discover artistic luminous displays that highlight the Quartier’s effervescence and mirror the vitality of this unique destination. The nearby Quartier Latin has cinemas, theatres and casual bars and eateries. When it comes to entertainment, the Quartier des spectacles is at the heart of the action!
Right in its centre, the Quartier features La Vitrine, a box office which provides information and tickets for Montréal’s cultural events on location and online. With a total area of almost one square kilometre, the Quartier is bounded by City Councillors Street to the West, Berri Street to the East, Sherbrooke Street to the North and René Lévesque Boulevard to the South, encompassing all of the district known as Montreal’s Latin Quarter.
Features of the district include concert spaces, tiered green space and stonework, illuminated fountains, various forms of street lighting, mist machines, bike paths and illuminated walkways.
Quartier des spectacles include cultural facilities Place des Arts, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Grande Bibliothèque, Cinémathèque québécoise, Belgo Building Théâtre Saint-Denis, Salles du Gesù – Montreal’s oldest theatre, Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, Monument-National – home to the National Theatre School of Canada, Club Soda.
The area is now home to many of Montreal’s major festivals, including the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the Francofolies and the Just for Laughs comedy fest, Quebec Cinema Rendezvous, “21 swings” on the Promenade des Artistes, “Light therapy” on the Place des Festivals, Access Asia Festival, Pouzza Fest, Montreal Museums Day, Aboriginal Presence Festival International Festival of Films on Art, TransAmerics Festival, OFFTA – Montreal Festival of Performing Arts, Mutek, Digital Spring, Montreal completely circus, OUMF Festival, Montreal Light Festival, International Nights of Africa Festival, Pride Montreal, Montreal Fashion & Design Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, Montreal Pop Festival, Culture Days.
