Francophone arts festival reflects on decades of success

For the last five decades, La Nuit sur l’etang has been celebrating the complexity between francophone and anglophone communities.

Wednesday, the group launched a look-ahead for 2023, while taking time to look back at the success it has had so far.

Since the 1970s, the artistic culture of northern Ontario has been highlighted through the organization. Wednesday, it was a celebration of past, present and future and how members have grown within the community.

“Younger people will see this and say, hey, I can learn all kinds of things, I can be involved in the background, I can be a president, I can be an artistic director, I can learn the craft,” said board member Gino St. Jean.

Organizers decided to create ‘a night on the pond’ in 1973, and since then, they say the artistic performances have really evolved.

Marcel Vaillancourt of La Nuit l’etang said the first performers created something new.

“A fusion of different cultures and experiences’ said Vaillancourt.

Dozens of performers have launched their careers from the platform. Some have also used it to grow in other industries.

“We carry each other on our back with diverse, different subjects that aren’t necessarily music but we carry that over everywhere,” said performer Meagan Bigras.

“And (there’s) so much support in the French community,” said Michel Roux, another performer.

Group members said programs like this give the French community in northern Ontario a voice.

“It gives them a purpose, and especially today, I think we need all that,” said St. Jean.

“It just makes me happy to hear people out there singing. It’s very important in life, I think, for everybody.”

This year’s edition takes place at Place Des Arts on March 24 and March 25 at College Boreal.