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.
SAVE THE DATE
10 April 2024
collide: special nightlife policy edition
@ Cafe SAT / 6-10pm / open decks
→ more on Collide
TAKE ACTION
Montreal's economic development and urban habitation commission have opened a public consultation on the city's nightlife policy project.
→ participate in the city’s official survey→ add your voice to the city’s official idea box
→ further reading
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 presented intitial results of the survey at the 2023 MTL Sommet de Nuit, 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 the coming months.
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 all of our advocacy work.
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We presented intitial results of the survey at the 2023 MTL Sommet de Nuit, 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 the coming months.
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 all of our advocacy work.
→ PRELIMINARY RESULTS
At the survey deadline, 106 respondents had given thoughtful, detailed, context-rich, often quite lengthy answers, which FANTOM researchers manually coded into 38 categories.
Queer, trans, and BIPOC respondants shared the same top two concerns:
1. Access to safe venues and event spaces
The most frequently mentioned need across all demographic groups was the access to safe venues and event spaces, with 61% of queer and trans, 58% of BIPOC, and 48% of non-QTBIPOC respondents bringing up this issue when asked in an open question to talk about the challenges they face in Montreal nightlife.
Answers often specified that by “safe” spaces they meant sensitive security, respectful crowds, good dancefloor safety policies. Many of these respondants mentioned experiences of physical harassment and other unpleasant or dangerous experiences with crowds.
2. Greater diversity of events
Queer, trans, and BIPOC groups also shared the same second top concern : greater diversity of events in terms of music genre, lineup diversity, and types of artists featured.
Lack of event diversity was brought up (unprompted) by 43% of BIPOC respondants and 29% of queer or trans respondants. By contrast, for those who did not identify as QTBIPOC, this was only the 8th most frequently stated issue, with only 13% of this group mentioning a need for great diversity of events.
The 3rd highest concern for queer and trans respondants was access to after-hours venues.
For BIPOC respondants, financial accessbility of events was the 3rd highst concern. This was also one of the top concerns for queer and trans people, but very few non-QTBIPOC respondants mentioned financial accessibility.
Concerns about fair compensation for workers and artists, as well as more resources for harm reduction, were other top challenges brought up by queer, trans, and BIPOC groups. Both of these issues did not figure in the top subjects mentioned by non-QTBIPOC respondants.
Survey questions were open-ended, avoiding mentioning any specific issues or concerns to elicit the most candid and diverse answers possible.
As there were no pre-set categories to choose from, if a respondant did not mention a topic, it doesn't necessarily indicate they don't share a certain need or priority, they just did not actively mention it.
︎ A number of direct quotes from the hundreds of open responses are shared anonymously in a highlight on our Instagram page.
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.
MONTREAL’S NIGHTLIFE POLICY IS CHANGING
TAKE ACTION
Montreal's economic development and urban habitation commission have opened a public consultation on the city's nightlife policy project.
→ participate in the city’s official survey→ add your voice to the city’s official idea box
→ FURTHER READING
Montreal Gazette (2023). Is this the end of Montreal's celebrated culture scene?
Billboard (2023). As Montreal Venues Raise Concern About Noise Complaints, Changes Could Be Coming.
FANTOM (2023). Underground nightlife survey.
CTV News (2024). Montreal cuts funding to nightlife organization.
VibeLab (2023). Montreal Creative Footprint Report.
Resident Advisor (2023). Montreal may see 24-hour zones and venues in 2024.
MTL 24/24 (2022). Montréal 24 Hours: An Economic Report on the City‘s Sociocultural Nightlife.
THE
HOUSING
CRISIS
IS A
NIGHTLIFE
CRISIS
WHAT ARE LEASE TRANSFERS?
Lease transfers are one of the last defenses against the displacement of queer, trans, immigrant, BIPOC, and working-class communities—the heart of our city and our nightlife.
When moving out, many Montreal residents will choose to transfer their lease—instead of declining to renew— to prevent their landlord from arbitrarily raising rent on the incoming tenant.
Lease transfers help keep housing costs reasonable for everyone—not just those who rent. They discourage speculation in real estate by making it harder for landlords and investors to rely on rent increases in their perpetual race for higher profits.
Informal lease transfer networks also provide an essential alternative for those facing housing discrimination from biased landlords.
Lease transfers are also a way for us to look out for each other—they have been essential in preventing displacement of queer, BIPOC, immigrant, and working-class communities.
Even the threat of a lease transfer can put renters in a better position to compel their landlords to meet lease obligations and make essential repairs. They are one of the few actions at our disposal before resorting to disconnected tribunals to defend against exploitation and neglect.
→ info on how to transfer your lease here
WHY DOES QUEBEC NEED A RENT REGISTRY?
An official government rent registry would provide access to a unit’s rent history without having to appear before a housing tribunal.
While new tenants have the right to invoke section G of their lease—which compels landlords to disclose the lowest rent paid by the previous tenant in the year prior to the new lease—many are either unaware of their rights or may want to avoid jeopardizing their housing security.
Housing tribunal appearances are publicly logged, and future landlords may refuse to rent to you if they see you have invoked section G.
While landlords are not yet compelled to use it, there is a new non-governmental Rental Registry where tenants can enter their rent—an important act of solidarity with other tenants to help keep landlords in check and help preserve housing affordability across the city.
→ add your rent to the registry
→ learn more about your rights as a tenant
→ FURTHER READING
New Republic (2023). Want a Thriving Arts Scene? Build More Housing.
Mixmag (2023). How the cost of living crisis is impacting DJs and producers.
Cult MTL (2023). The CAQ is attacking artists by ending lease transfers, and artists need to step up.
The Star (2023). Loss of artist studio spaces for housing signals more than lack of affordability; it’s intentional displacement of people.