Press release
New opportunities open to young graduate dancers thanks to MR³ Montréal Relève
Montréal, March 3, 2009 Now, young graduates from Montréal's dance schools can be introduced to a career with a professional dance company thanks to the financial support of MR³ Montréal Relève, in collaboration with the City of Montréal and the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal. This exciting initiative, called Courant Danse, is one of the new directions for the Fonds Ville-Marie, which is changing its name to MR³ Montréal Relève. MR³ Montréal Relève will be a leading partner of new artists in the world of professional dance.
Obtaining their first professional experience in the dance world is a crucial step that often constitutes the point of departure for a long climb to the summit of this art form. Relève artistique, one component ofMR³ Montréal Relève, will lend a helping hand to newly graduated promising talents by offering them the chance to access their dream.
Through the Courant Danse project, MR³ Montréal Relève will enable five graduate dancers to apprentice in their first professional production, by financially supporting the dance companies that recruit the graduates for this paid internship. The access to additional and unique training will facilitate the dancers' insertion in the professional milieu.
According to Marie-Élaine Normandeau, Executive Director of MR³ Montréal Relève, this project tangibly meets the need to encourage promising young talent to persevere in their efforts to join the professional artistic milieu. Montréal enjoys a solid reputation in artistic dance around the world. If it is up to the young people to ensure the long-term survival of the international cultural outreach of our city, it is up to us to build the bridges that will allow them to take the steps to get there, said Normandeau.
For Michel Leblanc, President and CEO of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, culture and the economy are inseparable for anyone committed to the future of our metropolis. Indeed, culture is a fundamental component of our identity, and we all know its importance as a pull factor for talent in the knowledge economy. Moreover, our ability to integrate the next generation will be decisive to the future of our cultural vitality.
This new area of priority for MR3 Montréal Relève comes in addition to two persistence-in-school and career development projects for the succession of workers who are already receiving its support:
- Student Business Project, which helps prepare a qualified and certified succession for Montréal businesses. Owing to this initiative, thousands of Secondary 3 and 4 students from 16 public high schools have received the assistance of some 415 corporate partners to find their vocation.
- Operation Back to School, an initiative that has brought together more than 2,500 business people from various fields and 100,000 high school students, providing the students with models who have instilled the desire to stay in school and obtain their diploma.
About the MR3 Montréal Relève
MR³ Montréal Relève (formerly known as Fonds Ville-Marie) is a non-profit organization that works with young Montrealers to make them aware of the values of persistence-in-school, thereby fostering the full economic, social, and cultural progress of Montréal. This organization was founded in 1995 as part of the creation of the Société en commandite Stationnement de Montréal, under the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal. Stationnement de Montréal is mandated to manage paid on-street parking and some off-street parking in the City of Montréal.
-30-
Source:
Source: Marie-Élaine Normandeau
Informations : Robert Lupien
Tél. : (514) 845-2257 extension 4233
Cell. : (514) 944-9896