Culture - Maison du village

The current vocation of La Maison du village Exhibition Centre, is the promotion of the visual arts, and is the continuation of a long tradition implemented by artists and craftspersons who came to live in Val-David in the 1960s.

This group of youthful visionaries, always highly enthusiastic and active, who are still an integral part of this organization today and who have helped to attract others over the years, have transformed what was once a peaceful agricultural hamlet into an artistic haven.  In the 1970s, there was a Marché des artisans, at which artists and craftspersons offered courses for youth and the general population.

At the beginning of the 1980s, they formed an association known as Les Créateurs associés.  A small house was purchased on de l’Église and would eventually house two exhibition rooms and a boutique.

In addition to organizing major exhibitions for their members, as well as for artists outside the region, Les Créateurs associés, who numbered some fifty members, organized art festivals in summer, symposiums for painting and sculpture and tours with visits to local workshops.

When the group disbanded in 1993, Council decided to take on a broader cultural mandate.  The Conseil culturel et communautaire of Val-David, a non-profit organization, took over from the Créateurs and began steering the destiny of the exhibition centre, which became known as La Maison du village. Major financial and technical support was supplied, with the Municipality dedicating an annual budget which reached as high as $100,000 in 1999. It was a tangible sign of a clearly expressed will to ensure that the Municipality would take its place on the artistic stage of the province.

Between 1993 and 1999, the Conseil culturel et communautaire continued the long tradition, by presenting some forty visual arts exhibitions, several of which were truly major events, combining diverse forms of visual arts with other forms of artistic expression such as poetry and music, with other activities added on, such as animation, shows and conferences.

Council established the objective of ensuring the free promotion of the region’s artists and craftspersons, not only at the local and regional levels, but also national and international. Thus an ambitious project was conceived in 1995 for a multifunctional centre, which would use more modern technologies. 

A major exhibition was organized to celebrate La Butte à Mathieu, and it was on permanent showing from 1998 to 2001. The La Maison du Village Exhibition Centre website has put together an impressive database covering all the artists and craftspersons from all disciplines from around the region. 

In 2001, the building housing the exhibition centre was completely renovated, and now has the most magnificent open-plan exhibition spaces.  This space, with its enormous potential, provides the Centre with even greater possibilities in terms of the exhibitions it can hold, and positions it advantageously among the network of Laurentian exhibition centres.

In 2002, a triennial action plan was launched, and its numerous stages aim at the excellence of presentations and the setting up of programs for the public: guided tours and interpretation services, educational programs in line with the ministère de l’Éducation school program, etc. Cultural action events and special events will round out the programming with an eye always kept on professionalism and with a view to appealing to a wider public.

A climate control system installed in 2004 now provides better control of conditions in the exhibition areas, providing a wider range of possible exhibitions, including the loan of artefacts from other institutions such as museums.

The up-to-date facilities and respect for standards means the Centre can now apply for recognition as an exhibition centre.  An application was completed and submitted to this end to the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications in fall 2006.  Everything is thus slowly falling into place…

Please see www.culture.val-david.qc.ca to find out about the programming.