Festival Accès Asie celebrates Asian heritage and diaspora this May
The 31st edition of the festival showcases Asian artists across Montreal with performances, installations and open mic nights exploring identity and belonging.
Festival Accès Asie marks its 31st year celebrating Asian Heritage Month in Canada, bringing together Asian artists to present the rich diversity of Asian heritage and diaspora across the city.
Since its founding in 1995, the festival has worked to raise Asian voices and overcome the underrepresentation of Asian artistry in mainstream arts. This year's edition featured multiple events across May, each a stage for Asian artists to share personal stories of identity, culture, belonging and migration.
One standout was Open Mic Asiatique on May 9 at the Maison de la culture de Parc-Extension, which drew about a hundred attendees into a lively, intimate atmosphere. Dim lighting, garlands and a cozy arrangement of drums, guitars and keyboards fostered the feel of a small jazz club or local pub. Hosted and organized by Rich Ly and Claudia Chan Tak, the evening featured five amazing Asian artists and open mic participants presenting their cultural identity through music, body movements, dance and spoken word.
Another highlight was Chi Long's "She and the other(s)," directed by Soeurs Schmutt and choreographed by Élodie Lombardo, which played May 15 at Maison de la culture Ahuntsic. The solo performance features Chi Long addressing the deep-down trauma embedded in defining cultural identity among multicultural communities. Autobiographical at its core, the piece encompasses Long's real-life experiences across three distinct cultural backgrounds: her Vietnamese heritage, upbringing in Australia and migration into Quebec, with fictional and borrowed elements to reinforce themes of displacement.
Clothing scattered across the stage served as narrative devices throughout, with Long repeatedly dressing and undressing after each thematic sequence. Dresses, fabrics and avant-garde bodysuits became visual language for migration and cultural transformation.
The festival celebrates the openness and flexibility that allows artist-audience interaction to deepen, creating moments of collective empathy and recognition.