Why does Montreal rank so poorly?

[CFurtado]

Despite its abundance of culture, attendance is low.

 

It’s hard to imagine that cosmopolitan Montreal, with its feted music scene, mountains of arts funding, work-to-live inclination and literary sensibility, would place anywhere but at the very top of a list of Canada’s Most Cultured Cities. An even bigger surprise is to find it near the bottom.

 

True, cultural opportunities abound in Montreal. There’s the world-class Montreal Symphony Orchestra, L’Orchestre Métropolitain, L’Opéra de Montréal, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, a half-dozen music festivals, including the Montreal International Jazz Festival and Pop Montreal, and no fewer than a dozen museums.

 

 

 

“But the index isn’t about whether something exists,” says Paul Cappon, president and chief executive of the Canadian Council on Learning. “It’s about whether people actually use it.”

 

And when you crunch the numbers, looking at how many Montrealers actually went to the ballet, for instance, or visited the McCord Museum of Canadian History last year, the locals look a lot more like rubes than the cultural leaders many in the rest of Canada imagine them to be. Only one in four Montrealers visited a museum last year, compared with nearly half of all Victoria residents. More Winnipeggers

 

Scores:http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/05/20/smart-cities-2010-canadas-most-cultured-cities/

 

Source:http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/05/20/why-does-montreal-rank-so-poorly/

[LindbergMTL]

Les québécois sont parmi les plus gros consommateurs de TV et les plus faibles utilisateurs de bibliothèques publiques. Tout est lié.

[ChrisDVD]

Here are two criteria:

"Per cent who spent on the performing arts"

"Per cent who spent on museums "

 

Numerous festivals have free events, which draws huge crowds...

and in le Musee des beaux de Montreal.... Most of the Pavilions are free...

 

So is this ranking bogus?

Edited May 21, 2010 by ChrisDVD

[Chris1989]

Another biased ranking by Macleans. They took Canada's cultural capital (and everyone knows it) and put it second to last in the rankings. I will never buy that rag.

[peluche]

They purposely defined the criterias to make sure Montreal ranks low.

 

What a bunch of bigots.

[jesseps]

They purposely defined the criterias to make sure Montreal ranks low.

 

What a bunch of bigots.

 

I am with you on that one.

[uqam+]

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Edited November 13, 2011 by uqam+

[Maisonneuve]

People have agenda's, simple as that. Other than Toronto, no one can claim that any other city in Canada matches Montreal in terms of cultural consumption. I've visited every major city in Canada in the past 2 years, no one even comes close.

 

I've written the following on another thread, but whenever rankings for cities come out, always consider the source and their political leanings. In Canada, rankings from right wing think tanks like the Conference Board of Canada, Fraser Institute or the C.D. Howe Institute, will always highlight the strengths of Western Canadians cities and the weaknesses of Central Canadian cities, especially Montreal. They do it all the time. It's plain boosterism.

 

As for Maclean's, someone in their editorial must have an axe to grind against Montreal. Whenever you see a think tank or a media outlet continually leaning a certain way, it's not a coincidence.

 

The fact that this boosterism continues, is a testament to Montreal's resiliency as a metropolis. On this forum we bemoan about the state of the metropolis, but when you measure the things the city has lost, it's remarkable how resilient it is and how it manages to reinvent itself.

 

Maclean's thinks Montreal not a cultural capital. Well, Maclean's should seek the answers for the following question and then consider the Montreal answer for those questions:

Hey Calgary, when's your Nuit Blanche ?

Hey Edmonton, where's your entertainment district?

Hey Vancouver, where's your Bixi and has it become part of the culture of the city?

Hey Toronto, are you building any urban spaces downtown?

Hey Edmonton, where's your MuvBox?

Hey Ottawa, where's your provincial library?

Hey Winnipeg, where's the art in your subway? (Where IS your subway?)

 

All cities lack something. Some of those cities have things Montreal doesn't have. But to say Montreal is not a cultural capital is ignorant.

Edited May 24, 2010 by Maisonneuve

[MartinMtl]

La mauvaise foi du Macleans est évidente. Prenons, par exemple, leurs chiffres sur le pourcentage de gens qui ont payé pour assister à une performance artistique. Toronto et Montréal arrivent pratiquement à égalité: 36.1 pour Toronto versus 35.9 pour Montréal. Et pourtant, le magazine choisit de pointer le doigt vers Montréal. Dans la colonne du pourcentage de gens qui ont dépensé pour la lecture, Toronto recueille seulement 68.7, alors que Montréal obtient un meilleur score de 71.5. Alors pourquoi ne pas avoir fait un article du genre: «Why does Montreal AND Toronto do so poorly?»

Pour ce qui est des dépenses au musée, c'est franchement ridicule. Tiennent-ils compte du fait que la collection permanente du Musée des Beaux Arts de Montréal est gratuite? Tiennent-ils compte du fait que Toronto vient de réouvrir en grande pompe ses plus grands musées après de vastes travaux d'agrandissement (ce qui a sûrement contribué à booster les chiffres).

 

La Grande Biliothèque est la bibliothèque la plus fréquenté du pays, beaucoup plus que celle de Toronto et plus encore que celle de Paris! Mais, évidemment, ils ne vont pas en parler dans l'article. Pas plus qu'ils ne vont parler du Piknic Électronique (5000 amateurs de musique électro chaque dimanche, avec les meilleurs DJs du monde). Ce sont deux exemples, très différents, de l'effervescence de la culture à Montréal, d'un spectrum (lecture) à l'autre (rave). Aucune ville au Canada ne peut rivaliser avec l'ofre culturelle de Montréal, même pas Toronto. Alors ils sont jaloux. C'est aussi simple que ça.

[Cataclaw]

Blah blah blah blah blah

 

The anti-Montreal fools at Macleans can spew all the crap they want. That won't change the fact that Montreal is Canada's cultural center.