- Dr Nadia Chaudhri is launching her own scholarship at Concordia to encourage under-represented scholars in her field of neuroscience. Dr Chaudhri is being treated for terminal ovarian cancer, while still working to set up the Wingspan Award. Find out more about her and contribute here. And here is her interview with Andrew.
- Several organizations are working to help the 149 families affected by the Brunswick fire last weekend in DDO. Make a financial donation here. Food donations are accepted by West Island Mission and On Rock Ministries. West Island Assistance Fund is collecting both food and clothing. And a clothing drive is taking place Friday night at Hellenic Community of West Island at 20 Brunswick Blvd. Volunteers are welcome to come sort items.
It was a hot week! Cool off at Below the Ice with Mario Cyr, a new immersive walk-through exhibit by Cirque Éloize. You will journey north to follow Cyr, a documentary filmmaker, to nearly inaccessible spots in the Canadian Arctic. Marvel at the polar bears and narwhals and walruses, and learn more about what a precarious position their environment is in. At the Éloize Studios In Old Montreal, at 417 Berri.
You still can't visit New York, but you can travel to Washington Heights, Manhattan, the setting for Lin-Manuel Miranda's latest work. In the Heights portrays a vibrant Latino neighbourhood "where you can't walk two blocks without bumping into someone else's dream." Miranda, the creator of Hamilton, wrote the feel-good musical during his studies at Wesleyan and still lives in the neighbourhood. In theatres and on demand.
The city's art galleries are opening their doors for the first-ever Gallery Weekend Montreal. Check out one of four tours (downtown, Mile-End-Plateau, Rosemont / Little Italy and Old Montreal / Sud-Ouest). Or enjoy the art from home, on social media. Until Sunday.
Singer-songwriter Hanorah and "futuristic nostalgia" artist Tika will serenade a limited, sold-out audience on the roof of the Rialto. But you can stream the show live on Facebook, Saturday at 7:30pm.
The live, in-person shows at the 30th annual Montreal Fringe Festival have just launched! Tickets are going fast, especially with limited seating in the venues, but there is online content available to stream via FringeTV.
Some show suggestions:
- Master storyteller Nisha Coleman spins more heart-stopping tales in Alright: Solving the Problem of Living
- GlenMary KateMoss is a queer genderbent nipple twist on the David Mamet classic' about struggling salesmen, Glengarry Glennross.
- Poetry and music come together in Choral Poetry Project, which draws on works by five female authors, performed by five Montreal women.
- And my pal Walter Lyng returns with Knife Fight X, a show where he talks about launching an action franchise about knives...but never seems to get around to it
The Festival Transamériques wraps up this weekend. Many of the live indoor shows have sold out, but you can catch the outdoor works and online content, including Je suis au maudite sauvagesse by Innu author An Antane Kapesh and solo dance show, The door opened west.
New in streaming:
After quite the cliffhanger, there are more Lupin episodes arriving on Netflix. The Omar Sy adaptation of the classic detective stories became a global hit earlier this year. Fans were left hanging when gentleman thief Assanne's son Raoul vanished from a beach, possibly taken by someone who wants to put an end to Assanne's efforts to clear his own father's name.
Tom Hiddleston returns as unearthly mischief maker Loki in what some are calling Marvel's most audacious TV show yet. Having messed with the fabric of time, Loki is forced to team up with Mobius (Owen Wilson) to undo some of the knots he's caused.
The Grand Poutinefest comes to Mirabel. Choose from 20 poutines, in a drive-thru format, on Chambord Street behind the Premium Outlets. Until Sunday.
Yatai MTL presents Japan Week, a celebration of the culture and food of the country. Check out cultural offerings online, or nosh on yakisoba noodles or matcha vegan ice cream in different corners of the city. Until Sunday.
Singer Norah Jones performs virtually, Saturday at 4pm.
Singer Macy Gray livestreams songs from her album, The California Jet Club. Sunday at 8pm.
La Ronde is open on weekends.
The eighth edition of SatFest presents eight short immersive works to be enjoyed under the dome, on a cozy black bean bag chair: check out a 'vertigo-inducing ive into entropic chaos', a fictional exploration of microbiology titled Immunity and an AI-generated trip called Piece. Until June 19.
Pointe-a-Calliere Museum's new show is Italian Montréal. Drawing on loaned treasures from local families, the show touches on culinary traditions and how first-generation families fared after arriving in the city. A quarter of a million Montrealers count themselves as having roots from Italy! (While you are there, visit A Railroad to Dreams, all about trains!)
In the Old Port, the Voiles en Voiles adventure park features archery, aerial circuits, inflatable games. And MTL Zipline and The Observation Wheel in the Old Port has reopened, open daily 11am to 7pm. (Each carriage is cleaned after use.)
OASIS immersion is a new, 'touchless', next-level experience on the ground floor of the Palais des congrès. There are 105 laser projector, 119 surround sound speakers and a LED lighting setup. You begin in the Anticipation Room, proceeding through a set of different rooms and wind down in the Decompression Chamber. Current exhibitions include: stepping into the worlds of pianist Alexandra Stréliski, and astronaut David Saint-Jacques's recent trip to space. There is also a tribute to hygge, the Danish tradition of finding coziness in the everyday. Each visit is about 75 minutes.
Consider checking out a museum, now that they are open to the public: you pick your entry time in advance, so visits are socially distanced. Demand is high as well, so you will want to select your date in advance. Visit the McCord for the Dior haute couture show (today is the anniversary of the debut of the New Look!) or the MAC for Des horizons d'attente, its bundle of recently acquired works that address today's sense of malaise. The Museum of Fine Arts presents Riopelle: The Call of Northern Landscapes and other shows. They have also started to offer children and family workshops through weekends this summer.
And if you don't want to leave the house, several museums are still offering virtual shows... including the MAC, which has updated and expanded their sensational exhibit on Leonard Cohen, A Crack in Everything. Cohen gave his blessing for the show, which features pieces inspired by his life and work, back in 2015, and it went on display around the time of passing in 2017. The show has been enriched for online viewing, available until February 2024. The Louvre has also just put its over 480,000 items online. From the world's most-visited museum, check out the antiquities to Islamic art to medieval decorative arts, to modern sculpture and beyond.