Arts Alive! Quebec 2025

Marie-Desneiges Duo

Marie-Desneiges Hamel began learning the accordion at the age of seven with Suzie Gagnon (Cirque du Soleil). As an adult, she honed her skills with numerous instructors, including Sabin Jacques, Denis Pépin, Yves Hélie, and Normand Miron. While working as an educational consultant at Université Laval, she performed on stage with Simon Charles Cyr, Rachel Aucoin, and Gaëtan Lefebvre, among others. She has performed at Carrefour mondial de l’accordéon, Festival celtique de Québec, Rendez vous ès Trad, Carnaval de Québec, and Printemps de la musique. Since 2018, the accordionist has devoted herself primarily to La Déferlance, a traditional music ensemble with whom she has toured North America. At the Arts Alive! Quebec festival, she will be accompanied by one of her colleagues from La Déferlance, pianist Mathieu Baillargeon.

Bosko Baker & Band

Bosko Baker is a roots musician blending American music—country blues, ragtime, folk, swing—into what he calls “street swing” or “bozo blues.” Drawing inspiration from legends like Doc Watson, Merle Travis, Big Bill Broonzy, Blind Blake, Jimmie Rodgers, and Mississippi John Hurt, his music combines raw energy with timeless tradition. With a spontaneous stage presence honed from years of busking, Bosko’s shows are where his music truly comes to life—an infectious mix of blues, swing, and folk that speaks to the heart of American roots music. From festival stages to intimate venues, his dynamic blend of storytelling, finger-picking guitar, and a deep respect for tradition makes every show a unique & foot stomping experience that has gained him a loyal following.

Elbé

A painter and artist from Limoilou, Elbé creates to give way to imagination, play, and freedom. At the core of her approach, she questions the relationship we have with performance and control. By returning to a spontaneous gesture, the artist is able to dance on the fine line between chaos and structure, where the reasoned meets the intuitive. Her luminous art pieces are an invitation to awaken our imagination—free and uninhibited—and to celebrate our inner child.

VentDuSud

The ensemble VentDuSud was born out of a desire to bring people together and make them discover the music and cultural riches of Latin America—especially traditional Andean music and psychedelic cumbia from the Amazon.

Gumboot and Body Percussion with Les Malchausées

No need to have instruments to play percussion. Your two hands and the different parts of your body are more than enough! Rhythm games, learning sequences, and guaranteed fun! Whether you’re a dance or music enthusiast, you won’t be able to resist. Come have fun discovering the many ways to do body percussion and gumboot.

As William Shakespeare said, “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players.”

In STAGES: The Theatre of Life, participants will experience and explore how acting and improvisation play an essential role in our everyday interactions and on all the various stages we inhabit, whether at home, at work, at school or at play. Through a series of fun – and mindful – exercises and games suitable for all ages and abilities, participants will learn to let loose, tune in to the world around them and apply the basic principles of improvisation and performance to the theatre of their own lives!

Michael Bourguignon is a stage actor, director and longtime member of the Quebec Art Company, Quebec City’s foremost English-language theatre group. Like his lifelong mentor, Bugs Bunny, Michael is a versatile character actor who dabbles in musicals and overdresses for almost every occasion. When not onstage, he is a teacher, communications consultant, voiceover artist, sometime stand-up comedian, and proud father. In all these roles, he always asks himself, “What would Bugs Bunny do?” Most recently, Michael wrote, directed and produced Break a Leg, a musical whodunit coming soon to Bell Fibe’s TV1.

Fanfaronetta

In the Fanfaronetta band, six musical cooks wander with their instruments and offer a musical tasting menu with Eastern European flavours. A fanfare to be savoured with delight!

Musicians: Pierre Langevin, clarinet / Lyne Goulet, saxophone / Simon Tremblay, trumpet / Kevin Bélanger, euphonium / Louis-René Rheault, sousaphone / Andy Stewart, snare drum

The Arts Alive! Quebec festival started as an initiative by the English-language Arts Network, a not-for-profit organization that connects, supports, and promotes Quebec’s English-speaking artists and art communities. Over the past years, several regions throughout the province have participated in Arts Alive! Quebec. These festivals have featured their local artistic communities with events reflecting local tastes and customs. Arts Alive! Quebec is an opportunity to come together and to celebrate local English-language creativity while building bridges between English-speaking and French-speaking communities.

This project is made possible by the support of the Government of Canada, Desjardins, and Quebecor.