Fédération pour les Arts Nocturnes comprenant les Travailleur·euses et Organisateur·ices de Montréal
FANTOM is a non-profit collective created by and for queer/trans/BIPOC/ally underground nightlife and after-hours artists, workers, and organizers in Tiohtià:ke / Montreal.
FANTOM’s mission is to ensure the safety, sustainability, and solidarity of a thriving alternative nightlife culture through collective action, policy analysis and advocacy, as well as the creation of tools for knowledge and resource sharing.
FANTOM relies on community input via surveys, meet-ups, and working groups in order to guide projects and set priorities. We organize cross-community meetings as platforms for accountability, consensus building, and generating new relationships and opportunities for collaboration.
FANTOM relies on community input via surveys, meet-ups, and working groups in order to guide projects and set priorities. We organize cross-community meetings as platforms for accountability, consensus building, and generating new relationships and opportunities for collaboration.
UP NEXT
2 november 2023
collide: nightlife before dark
@ cafe SAT / 6-10pm / open decks / solidarity networking
→ all events + details
CALL FOR RESOURCES
If you know of resources or organizations in Montreal or other cities/ countries, please send them our way so we can collaborate and build off existing work!
we want to hear about:
→ organizations that promote safety/ inclusivity within nightlife or beyond (like GRIP and PLURI)
→ books/ zines / guides about safer dancefloors, safer event design, intervention strategies, etc
→ unions or guilds for performers, pay scale recommendations, legal resources, etc
→ platforms that encourage accountability within a community or other network
→ any other resource we should include in an online directory for nightlife organizers, workers, and artists - even if from another city/ country/ sector
PROJECTS
COLLIDE : NIGHTLIFE BEFORE DARK
Collide is an all-evening event co-hosted by Studio ZX and FANTOM, intended to serve as a shared and open space for the many scenes that make up Montreal nightlife to meet, find common ground, and build lasting ties of solidarity—regardless of experience level or other barriers.→ more on Collide
GUIDEBOOK FOR ORGANIZERS
Compiling a guidebook of community-determined best practices for safe and accessible nightlife events, along with protocols for inclusivity, sensitivity, equitable compensation, and fair treatment of workers and artists.
ONLINE RESOURCE HUB
We know that there are so many resources and organizations that already do good work - we want to be able to share these via an online resource centre where new nightlife organizers/ workers/ DJs/ performers/ partygoers can find out about them.
SERIES ON THE HISTORY OF MONTREAL UNDERGROUND NIGHTLIFE
Producing video and other documentary media that records the untold histories of underground nightlife in Montreal, helping contemporary communities situate themselves within a broader narrative and to understand the impacts of historical shifts in policy and socioeconomic displacement on their present context.
APP FOR SAFER EVENT SPACES
Developing a web and mobile app to allow nightlife artists, organizers, workers, and community members to lookup, review, and share information about venues and other event spaces, with the goal of improving transparency and communication within an often exploited and marginalized community, as well as holding venue operators accountable with respect to standards of safety, accessibility, inclusivity, and equitable compensation. The app will be modelled around the needs of queer, trans, and BIPOC individuals and communities.
COMMUNITY-OWNED EVENT SPACES
Establishing programs towards the proliferation of not-for-profit or cooperative community-owned and -operated spaces to host workshops, classes, and meetings, as well as offering safe and well-resourced venues for queer/trans/BIPOC communities to organize nightlife events while ensuring self-sustainability and community reinvestment.
COMMUNITY CONSULTATION
FANTOM’s first survey closed February 28, 2023, with 106 participants giving detailed responses as part of our strategy to assess to needs of queer, trans, and BIPOC nightlife artists, organizers, and workers in Montreal’s underground.
We plan to start releasing results in April, highlighting common themes from all of the input we've received from those who took a moment to share their dreams and concerns with us.
A full report will be published in June.
We are currently establishing open working groups centred around the key themes identified by the survey. The outcomes of these conversations will form the basis for our guidebook and our first year of advocacy.
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We plan to start releasing results in April, highlighting common themes from all of the input we've received from those who took a moment to share their dreams and concerns with us.
A full report will be published in June.
We are currently establishing open working groups centred around the key themes identified by the survey. The outcomes of these conversations will form the basis for our guidebook and our first year of advocacy.
→ PRELIMINARY RESULTS
︎ A number of open responses are shared anonymously in a highlight on our Instagram page.
According to the responses so far from organizers, artists, workers, and participants from across Montreal’s nightlife communities, the biggest unserved needs are:
- Access to safe event locations with better security
- More permits for afterhours venues and events
- More harm reduction spaces and resources
So far, the top concerns stated by these groups are:
- Events being shut down early
- Harassment of attendees
- Lack of collaboration within the community
OUR
HISTORY
FANTOM was founded in 2022 in response to a groundswell of frustration among workers, performers, organizers, and other members of Montreal’s queer/trans/BIPOC/ally nightlife communities experiencing violence, harassment, exploitation, and misrepresentation. Taken together, these experiences were clear threats to the continued viability of underground and alternative nightlife in Montreal. Incorporating FANTOM as a not-for-profit organization in Quebec was the first step towards being able to better understand and respond to these threats through collective action.