On February 20th, 2026, ARCMTL hosted an event at Chinatown House, a community space run by the JIA Foundation, showcasing two youth-led projects documenting and transmitting community history and heritage. This event was part of the series Owning Our Histories: Celebrating DIY Archives from Queer and BIPOC Montreal–ten free events exploring community-based archiving. The first project was a six-episode podcast from the Black Community Resource Center called “Trains of Thought,”

On March 17, 2026, ARCMTL hosted a panel at QPIRG Concordia called Student Activism Archives: The Challenges and Urgency of Preserving Student Organizing. This event was part of the series Owning Our Histories: Celebrating DIY Archives from Queer and BIPOC MTL, which consisted of ten free events exploring how marginalized communities document themselves. From the Sir George Williams Computer Riots of the 1960s to the 2012 strikes against tuition hikes to

On March 7, 2026, at l’Euguelionne bookstore, poets, writers, and organisers, Faith Paré and Christopher DiRaddo (Violet Hour Book Club) discussed independent queer publishing and literature as a form of community archiving. How do book clubs, small presses, and poetry readings document queer lives and preserve stories that mainstream publishing overlooks? The conversation explored creating spaces for queer anglophone voices in Montreal, navigating the city’s language divide, finding and prioritising

On February 26th, 2026, ARCMTL organized a panel on Queer and BIPOC Community Archiving as part of the series Owning Our Histories, hosted at Concordia’s 4th Space. Moderated by Taïna Mueth, this panel brought together archivists, researchers, and cultural educators from Gay, Lesbian, Chinese, and Caribbean communities to discuss recent projects documenting and preserving their own histories. When mainstream institutions don’t document your community, you document it yourself. This panel explores what

Owning Our Histories: Celebrating DIY Archives from Queer & BIPOC MTL Self-started. Self-made. Self-kept. A series of public events celebrating how Montreal’s queer and BIPOC communities create, share, and preserve their own histories through zines, oral traditions, grassroots collections, and independent publishing. 13 Feb – 29 March 2026 Montreal, Quebec, Canada All activities are free and open to the public. PROGRAMME: (Event descriptions listed below) Feb 13 Owning Our Histories

ZAM Zine Archives Montreal November 12 – 14 2025 The ARCMTL archive centre and Expozine are happy to announce a new international conference on zine archives, Zine Archives Montreal 2025, with this year’s theme: On Our Shelves, On Our Terms. The conference takes place during Expozine 2025, when all of Montreal is abuzz with zine energy ahead of North America’s largest zine and small press fair with over 240 exhibitors.

Frantz Voltaire is currently president of the International Centre for Haitian, Caribbean, and Afro-Canadian Documentation and Information (“Centre international de documentation et d’information haïtienne, caribéenne et afro-canadienne” (CIDIHCA)), which he founded in 1983. Throughout his career, he has made documentaries and published books and articles on Haitian and Afro-Canadian history. He is currently director of the Revue académique d’histoire haïtienne. The following is an edited transcript (translated from the original

Expozine 2023 hosts its first small conference on Montreal’s zine archives and libraries from Nov. 28 – 30, free admission. Challenges in archiving and describing zine collections Nov. 28, 15:00 – 17:00, FARR, Fine Arts Reading Room, Concordia University EV-2.785, 1515 Sainte-Catherine O. (2nd floor). There are many challenges involved in archiving and describing collections of zines, as opposed to more traditional publications. Artists in particular can be very creative

As part of the Festival d’histoire de Montréal 2023, ARCMTL and Afromusée present: Montreal Nightlife from the 1950s to the 1980s Invited guest: Charles Burke, Black Bottom Club Free, Saturday May 13 13h – 17h Afromusée, 533 Ontario E. métro Berri For the Montreal History Festival, come and discover the history of Montreal’s nightlife from the 1950s to the 1980s with the legendary manager of the Black Bottom nightclub, Charles

The New Penelope Café and its era! Call for memories! Open for just a few years in the late 1960s, the New Penelope Café is legendary in the history of Montreal music and nightlife. It was the first independent concert venue in Montreal to feature important names in 1960s rock, blues, folk and jazz, from Muddy Waters and Frank Zappa to Joni Mitchell and Jesse Winchester. It was also a

Expo 67 : Avant Garde! at theCinémathèque québécoise, 335 de Maisonneuve E. (corner St-Denis), Montreal Vernissage and projections, May 19, 17h – 22h. Free ! Exhibit : May 19 – 31. Click here to see the Facebook Event. 50 years ago this month, Montreal hosted the largest gathering of avant-garde art and design ever seen! Expo 67 was the 20th century’s most successful World’s Fair, taking place during a time

Expo 67: Avant Garde! Vernissage, June 1, 17h – 21h; exhibit runs June 1 – 30 2017, Free admission. Casa del Popolo, 4873 St-Laurent. The event is part of the Suoni per il Popolo festival. Join the Facebook event! 50 years ago this month, Montreal hosted the largest gathering of avant-garde art and design ever seen! Expo 67 was the 20th century’s most successful World’s Fair, taking place during a

Montreal literary DIALOGUES Featuring Catherine Kidd, Fortner Anderson, Kelly Nora Drukker, Jean-Luc Bonspiel and Natalie Thibault. In partnership with the Blue Metropolis Festival. $8.00 at the door, Le Divan Orange, 4234 St-Laurent, Tuesday, May 2 2017, 21h-00h. On Facebook. A literary dialogue between Montreal’s past and present, English and French. Poets read literary excerpts set in Montreal itself, from the 1800s to the present day, by a wide range of

POSSIBLES merges art and civic engagement in the perspective of sustainable community development. Once a month throughout the year 2017, POSSIBLES will present the works of 12 artists from various art disciplines in collaboration with 12 creative partnerships in 12 unusual Montreal venues. Possibles 04 will present a new work by Shawn Cotton and Maude Nepveu-Villeneuve, printed by Les Créations de L’Abricot. Featuring readings and live printing! Free ! Thursday

ARCMTL is proud to be a part of the Contre-Culture : existenences et persistances conference.   Montreal’s davinci magazine, Counter-Culture and the Visual Arts 1975 / 2015 Saturday, October 17 at Artexte ( 2 Sainte-Catherine E., suite 301 ) From 15h à 16h: One Hour, One Book: davinci magazine (Montréal 1973-75) by Louis Rastelli, Director, Archive Montréal. From 16h – 17h: Round table: Counter-Culture and the Visual Arts, from 1975

MONTREAL SHOWS 1965 – 1975, Concert Posters, Photos and Ephemera Exhibit, September 16 – 20 2015, ART POP, 3450 St-Urbain. Vernissage: Wednesday Sept. 16. Hours: Sept. 16, 17-20h; Sept. 17-18, 11–20h; Sept. 19-20, 11-18h. SPECIAL GATHERING after exhibit Friday Sept. 18, 8 p.m., and Saturday September 19, 6:30 p.m. at site of former New Penelope Café on the block at 350 Sherbrooke, west corner of Bleury. Click here for the