OFFTA rolls out of the box for its 15th edition
Bold programming which will bring with it surprises
THE SERRE – Living Arts is pleased to unveil the format and programming of the 15th edition of OFFTA, a live arts festival, to be held from May 28 to June 6, 2021, running in conjunction with the Festival TransAmériques (FTA).
After being one of the first festivals to be held in a pandemic context in 2020, OFFTA is re-emerging this year with an edition that will take on a context which will allow the public’s imaginations to go off the beaten track. An event to reinvest in our common spaces and relearn how to be together.
Artists of the 15th edition:
Menuentakuan + HUB Studio
LION LION
marion paquette + clara cousineau
Amélie Dallaire
Marion Lessard
Hanako Hoshimi-Caines
Claude Breton-Potvin – Chantal Dupuis
JJ Houle
Sonia Bustos
François Bouvier
L’orchestre d’hommes-orchestres
Soraïda Caron
William B.B
House of Gahd
Julianne Chapple | Future Leisure
Office for a Human Theatre
Driven by this desire to “come back together but not to “normal”, we imagined a nomadic OFFTA that will infiltrate multiple nooks and crannies of the city to highlight familiar landscapes that we had to abandon. Faced with uncertainty, we have made the decision to leave our interiors momentarily to go to you (and to all those who do not wait for us!). The artists of this 15th edition take the city by storm and offer singular proposals that try to inhabit the unstable and damaged world in which we live. Their actions have been redesigned to anchor themselves in the Montreal context and to glimpse some of the paths that could be taken.
While waiting to fully reintegrate the artistic places that are so dear to us, we will occupy unexpected spaces and places of passage, from Verdun to Rosemont via Pointe-St-Charles and Centre-South. Pencils in hand, we will try to discern the blurred outlines, the sleeper paths and the islets of this cohabitation between the city, the artists and you. All this, to draft an imprecise map that we hope will help us shape the environments.
Excerpt from the editorial “Des milieux hospitaliers,” written by
Vincent de Repentigny, Artistic and General Director and the whole festival team
Happening at locations and online, this year’s program will feature a series of shows, performances, workshops, literary suggestions and festive events that will showcase young creators in the living arts. The Special Little Fun Palace project, which will take place in different parts of the city, will also be added for the duration of the OFFTA. A space for encounters with multiple configurations, this travelling caravan imagined in 2018 by the Italian company Office for a Human Theatre (OHT) re-registers living art in the heart of public space by provoking impromptu encounters and is fiercely joyful.
As of today, the festival passes are available for purchase and the artists’ projects and the schedule can be discovered on the website offta.com. Starting May 10, pass holders will be able to access the festival’s online booking platform to choose their activities.
Four passes, all offering access to all the programming, are offered: the $25 access and the solidarity passes at $45, $65 and $85, which offer a donation of $20, $40 or $60 respectively to the festival. One third of the pass revenue will be donated to the programming artists in order to enhance their cachet. Thus, the commitment of festival-goers will support the festival, as well as the artists who are presented there.
The continuation of this 15th edition of the festival is in line with the recommendations for social distancing and the public health guidelines issued by the various public health authorities. Compliance with these recommendations and guidelines is essential to prevent the spread of the virus, and we ask festival-goers to apply them at all times.
#offta2021
