9th edition of the artch festival

The 9th edition of the artch emerging arts festival will take place from October 15 to 18, 2026, at Espace Transmission for the first time. This unique venue was co-founded by Clara (a visual artist from artch’s 2019 cohort), Alexis, Lucie, and Yannick Cousineau. This former garage has been transformed into a place of gathering for Montreal’s artistic community, at the intersection of art, architecture, and community engagement. By taking up residence in this new space, artch reaffirms its long-standing partnership with local artists and unveils a renewed vision, one that is closer than ever to the realities and aspirations of its community.

With this new location, the festival will put on an unique edition that focuses on the artist’s studio. Artists’ workplaces are the spaces that house one’s practice and where creation materializes itself. These generous studios, where ideas and gestures flourish, represent the hours of work and creation leading to a final result. As an iconic site of artistic creation, the studio holds a mythical place in our collective imagination. Through this edition, we invite you to recognize their existence and to discover new ways of sharing and passing on artistic knowledge.

Through workshops, talks, and public activities, this edition of artch invites you to explore the artist’s studio as a site of learning, sharing, and contextualization. Free and open to all, artch is the perfect opportunity to discover emerging contemporary art from Quebec, meet artists and other passionate professionals, attend performances, take part in workshops, and perhaps even kickstart your own art collection.

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Meet the artists of the 9th edition 

We are thrilled to introduce the artists of the new cohort!

This year, artch welcomes: Amed Aroche, Chase Martin, Danan Lake, FERN, Gaëlle Legrand, Janna Elizbarova, Joss D’Alton, Laurent Viau-Lapointe, Lou Bou, Lucy Gill, Majorie Labrèque-Lepage, MILE, Patricia Langevin, Petite Faim, Pierre-Olivier Déry, Renée Edmona Mathews, Saba Sharifi, Scorli, Vân Thúy Lê, and Yasmeen Dajani. 

With practices ranging from wet-collodion analog photography to performance art, including installation sculpture and multimedia, the 20 artists in this cohort represent the vanguard of emerging contemporary art in Quebec.

A FORMATIVE JOURNEY

Each of the 20 artists received a $3,000 grant, along with 48 hours of complimentary training in artistic entrepreneurship. From June to July, they participated in workshops covering a wide range of topics, such as pricing artwork, writing grant proposals, and producing an exhibition.

The 20 artists also benefit from mentoring, networking opportunities, and a prime showcase to present their work to the public. Since its launch, the artch program has supported the careers of more than 185 artists, many of whom have gone on to succeed regionally, nationally, and internationally.