One of the motivations behind my current research project on touring opportunities in Quebec for artists performing original material in English came from a recurring observation: many artists and presenters outside Quebec — and even some within the province — seem to assume there isn’t much of an audience for English-language performing arts experiences outside Montreal.

I’ve never been entirely convinced that’s true.

As part of the touring research project, I’ve been reviewing statistics on cultural participation in Quebec. One report that caught my attention was the Institut de la statistique du Québec’s 2024 survey on cultural, leisure, and entertainment activities.

Among Quebecers who attended at least one professional performing arts event in the previous year, 63% reported seeing performances primarily in French. That’s not surprising.

What was more interesting was that 25% reported attending an equal mix of French- and English-language performances, while 11% reported seeing performances primarily in English.

In other words, more than one-third of performing arts attendees reported engaging with English-language performances to some degree. The findings don’t tell us how many tickets were sold in each language, but they do suggest that cultural participation in Quebec is more linguistically fluid than many people assume.

A surprising disconnect

A different set of findings in the report also caught my attention: the data on participation in the arts among English speakers is paradoxical. Bilingual and English speaking Quebecers were more likely to engage in recreational arts and culture activities — yet less likely to buy a ticket to professional performing arts events.

Bilingual and English-speaking households, and those who spoke languages other than English or French at home, were often as engaged or more engaged than primarily French-speaking households in artistic activities such as music, writing, dance, theatre, and visual arts, both during childhood and as adults.

Bilingual households and households speaking languages other than French were also more likely to visit cultural institutions like museums, art galleries, and exhibition centres than French-only households. People born outside Quebec were more likely to visit these kinds of places than those born within the province..

Taken together, these findings suggest that many English-speaking, bilingual, and new Quebecers are highly engaged in cultural life. They visit museums and galleries. They participate in artistic activities themselves. They actively create, learn, and engage in arts and culture.

Yet when it comes to attendance at professional performing arts events, households that primarily speak English at home report lower participation rates than households that primarily speak French.

This gap is very interesting.

If these audiences are culturally active, why aren’t they showing up at ticketed performances at the same rate? Are English-speaking households attending fewer events overall but concentrating on English-language events? Are they travelling longer distances to attend performances? Are they disproportionately attending events in Montreal? Are they attending amateur/community events rather than professional events? Are they attending festivals instead of standalone ticketed performances?

At this stage, I don’t know the answer. I look forward to finding out.