Montreal's branding as a city of culture is established. But as real estate prices climbed, Montreal could no longer take artists for granted.
Montreal Creative His Class Resists Pressure From The Housing Market I am receiving The crisis drives artists out of the central district. If Montreal wants to retain its artistic core, it needs to quickly secure its studio space.
The relationship between artists and big cities is complex. Courted and exiled artists are both pioneers and early victims of gentrification. Cycles are well known. Artists move their working studios to affordable areas, making it only attractive to developers to relocate the space to more profitable uses.
A hot housing market is accelerating this trend. It's getting harder for artists to have space for professionals, making it more attractive for developers to repurpose old industrial buildings that were used as studios as condominiums.
So far, Montreal's approach to slowing the phenomenon has been to fund the development of "protected studios." In 2021, Quebec and Montreal will invest her $30 million to help the nonprofit reach an agreement with the building's owner for a long-term lease below market value.
The program created an affordable and durable space that takes up about half of the Montreal studio. So half are unprotected. And even so, the current policy's ability to protect the affordability of studios is limited. Because the program allocates funds to offset the tax increase for only two years on a 20 or 30 year lease.
Property tax incentives for artist studios would go a long way. First, it encourages more developers to join existing programs. In the past, building owners often entered the program through a zoning exemption. However, these are not always possible for local governments, nor are they required by owners.
Property tax cuts better protect tenants in "protected studios" from rent increases passed on by landlords.
Montreal Artists benefit from living in relatively affordable cities, but they are catching up.
In the near future, some studio buildings could look like the ones I until recently shared with 80 of her fellow artists. The developer bought it in 2018 and it didn't take long before a rent increase and diversion was planned. By 2020, we were all scattered in and out of Montreal.
In some cases, decades-old communities are forced to disperse, which has a negative impact on the entire creative ecosystem. Artists look for affordable prices outside Montreal, in surrounding neighborhoods, or in smaller spaces, sometimes using their own homes. Life can be difficult.) An artist's activities are constrained by a small environment. This may force some to scale back their scope of work.
In 2016, the median income for a visual artist was $13,497. In recent years, various levels of government have addressed the insecurity of cultural workers, notably through investment and reform of Quebec's Artists Act. New laws standardize working conditions but do little to increase the income of professional artists.
But this is not just about artists and their needs.
Montreal's branding as a city of culture is well established. It drives tourism, attracts newcomers and brings in billions of dollars. Beyond the brand, we have come to define our identity. The bustling creativity of Montreal's streets is one of the reasons why the city is so appealing and a reflection of Quebec's modernity.
But Montreal cannot take artists for granted, especially as the cost of living here is catching up with other big cities.
A studio is a community he is a hub, a creative sanctuary, and integral to an artist's life. Montreal takes pride in their work, but there is still more they can do to make it possible.
Renaud Chicoine-McKenzie is a journalism student at the University of Montreal. This column is the result of this four-week joint discussion with other current or recent student journalists participating in his Montreal Gazette Column Council series. They were Sepideh Afshar, Sophie Dufresne, Monique Kasonga,Dima Kiwan,Gabriela Vasquez-Rondon
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