30th Journées de la culture brings 2,500 free events across Quebec this weekend

Quebec's 30th Journées de la culture runs Friday to Sunday with 2,500 free activities across the province. The festival's theme is "La culture fait du bien" — culture does good.

Ambassadors Mathieu Lafontaine (Claude Cobra, leader of rock band Bleu Jeans Bleu) and Sophie Fouron are promoting the event, which Bleu Jeans Bleu created a song for this year. Both spoke about formative cultural moments in their youth: Lafontaine attended a school theatrical production as a teenager and found himself unexpectedly drawn in, while Fouron was taken to Diane Dufresne's "Magie rose" concert at Stade olympique in 1984 — the first woman in Quebec to perform a show of that scale at the stadium.

Lafontaine sees cultural outings as moments that create lasting memories: "You choose a time slot to experience something with someone. Culture that brings people together is about that. You make memories. You live a moment that exists that one time. For life, with that person, you have a little: 'Remember?'"

Fouron, who sings in choirs, dances with a group called the Dancing Grannies, and has belonged to the same book club for 25 years, plans a full cultural calendar in retirement. "I have cultural activities that inhabit me, that follow me, that I'll continue. That's what will keep me healthy," she said.

Among the weekend's offerings is "Cuisine ton quartier," an audio walk through parks in different Montreal neighbourhoods organized by ATSA – Quand l'art passe à l'action. The activity features voices of immigrants and other community members.