Panels & Presentations

Les SMAQ Music Venue Trust in Montreal

TIME: 10:05 AM

LOCATION: MNP District Lounge at Canada Life Place • 99 Dundas Street • London, ON

---

Les SMAQ is Quebec’s independent venue association, the only one of its kind in Canada. The organization has received significant funding to develop a cultural land trust that will create a permanent, nonprofit vehicle to acquire and protect buildings that house independent live music venues. The objective: remove this essential cultural infrastructure from the speculative real estate market. By securing long-term ownership of the properties, the trust will shield venues from rising rents, redevelopment, changes in use and displacement while preserving their cultural vocation for future generations. The project is designed to build a growing portfolio of cultural properties, provide venues with stable and affordable occupancy, leverage public investment to attract private and philanthropic capital, and quickly become financially self-sustaining. The project will safeguard vital cultural infrastructure, strengthen local music ecosystems and permanently strengthen regional economies around the province.

Join us as Jon Weisz, Founder & Executive Director of Les SMAQ, walks us through how this project is likely to revolutionize what it means to operate a grassroots music venue.

---

Speaker

• 

  Jon Weisz

  Executive Director, Les SMAQ