My Alerts Montréal, December 13, 2011 – Société de transport de Montréal (STM) is announcing the creation of a new program named Les étoiles du métro. As part of an overall strategy designed to improve the customer experience, the initiative aims to expand the wealth of musical styles performed in the métro and to help in the discovery of emerging musical talent. The program begins with a partnership with MusiMétroMontréal, and an invitation to audition in 2012 at ARTVstudio, ARTV’s new cultural space at Place des Arts.
THE PROGRAM BEHIND LES ÉTOILES DU MÉTRO
The new Les étoiles du métro program is set to showcase métro artists by providing them with visibility and recognition for their talent. An annual programming schedule will also be presented to métro customers. MusiMétroMontréal is responsible for organizing these artistic performances, thereby ensuring the program’s deployment.
MusiMétroMontréal is a non-profit organization that, for purely artistic reasons, represents the interests of all musicians who are members in good standing, and who express their art on a regular or occasional basis inside one or more métro stations. The organization also ensures that its members comply with STM regulations regarding their interaction with transit users and workers, as well as métro retailers, in order to create a harmonious and respectful environment for all.
INVITATION FOR MUSICIANS TO TAKE PART IN AUDITIONS
MusiMétroMontréal will begin by organizing auditions to select forty musicians among those who submit their name. Musicians interested in taking part in the auditions are invited to register now by logging on to the MusiMétroMontréal website, before January 4, 2012. Complete details about registration and auditions are also available at www.musimetromontreal.org. Open to all musicians, the auditions will be held in January 2012 at ARTVstudio located in the centre of Place des Arts, between Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier and the Maison symphonique de Montréal, and be evaluated by three MusiMétroMontréal judges and an independent one.
The forty selected musicians can perform their music at any one of five harps permanently assigned to Les étoiles du metro, namely at these métro stations: Berri-UQAM (St. Denis St. exit), Place-des-Arts (next to the glass mural by Frédérik Back), Jean-Talon (downstairs), Laurier (on the passageway at the north entrance) and Snowdon (in the middle corridor between the Montmorency and Saint-Michel métro lines).
The STM reminds the public that it makes 52 different locations, identified by wall-mounted signs featuring a harp, available to musicians for free. With the exception of the new harps exclusive to Les Étoiles du metro, musicans can time-share the other locations as they wish. The STM will soon revamp all harp locations inside metro stations, to better identify and promote these zones dedicated to music.
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