Journée sans culture is a self-run organisation, managed on a volunteer basis by artists and cultural workers from Quebec. The first initiative of the JSC was a collective event on October 2015 – a day of reflection that doubled as a symbolic strike uniting artists and cultural workers, during which key themes and issues were debated and defined according to our needs. Rather than a strike as a form of refusal, the day marked a collective pause to discuss what most matters to us, and to think about the current state and future of the arts.
The JSC followed up this first assembly, which gathered more than 300 people at Théâtre Aux Écuries, with a series of other projects: A discussion on the place of women in culture titled “Why Women?” at La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse (December 5, 2015), a pointed submission to the recent consultations on the renewal of Quebec’s cultural policy addressing the reality faced by artists and cultural workers (August 2016), a book-length publication assembling contributions produced in the wake of first edition of the JSC (release date October 20 2016), and the preparation of a second event in 2017.
