{"id":4888,"date":"2009-11-26T01:34:49","date_gmt":"2009-11-26T06:34:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingmontreal.ca\/?p=4888"},"modified":"2013-01-21T11:29:57","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T16:29:57","slug":"the-etat-durgence-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/11\/26\/the-etat-durgence-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u00c9tat d&#8217;Urgence Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"500\" height=\"352\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"FlashVars\" value=\"i=I0000_1YrBp6Pm7s&amp;b=1\" \/><param name=\"allowScriptAccess\" value=\"always\" \/><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/www.photoshelter.com\/swf\/imgWidget.swf\" \/><param name=\"flashvars\" value=\"i=I0000_1YrBp6Pm7s&amp;b=1\" \/><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" \/><embed type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"500\" height=\"352\" src=\"http:\/\/www.photoshelter.com\/swf\/imgWidget.swf\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" flashvars=\"i=I0000_1YrBp6Pm7s&amp;b=1\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n<p>The free food, clothing and entertainment are certainly highlights of <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.atsa.qc.ca\/pages\/accueil.asp\"><em>\u00c9tat d&#8217;Urgence<\/em><\/a><\/em> for many people in need but, for those who sleep on the streets, the greatest gift may be the right to stay the night in Berri Square. The site has long been an assembly place for marginalized people but, after being given park status in 1993, a curfew was imposed between midnight and 6am. A further bylaw in 2006 banned dogs from Berri and Viger Squares, which some interpret as a blatant message that street kids are unwelcome in these public spaces. Many homeless and marginalized people have been pushed to more isolated living conditions, further from the organisations that help them.<\/p>\n<p>But during the 5-day \u00c9tat d&#8217;Urgence event, which is in its 11th year, all are welcome to inhabit this public space. There were even a few camping tents pitched on the outskirts of the activity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe space should be shared by people of all different socio-economic groups,\u201d says Pierre Allard, one of the event&#8217;s organizers. \u201cWe don\u2019t want Berri Square to become exclusively a place of distress.\u201d (Also check out our <a href=\"..\/2009\/11\/25\/etat-durgence\/\">interview<\/a> with co-organizer, Annie Roy.)<\/p>\n<p><object width=\"500\" height=\"352\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.photoshelter.com\/swf\/imgWidget.swf\"><\/param><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\"><\/param><param name=\"FlashVars\" value=\"i=I0000OeiETZhh.Ws&#038;b=1\"><\/param><param name=\"allowScriptAccess\" value=\"always\"><\/param><embed src=\"http:\/\/www.photoshelter.com\/swf\/imgWidget.swf\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" allowScriptAccess=\"true\" FlashVars=\"i=I0000OeiETZhh.Ws&#038;b=1\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" width=\"500\" height=\"352\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n<p>When I dropped by yesterday evening, there were about a hundred people &#8211; mostly homeless &#8211; braving the drizzle to enjoy some live music. It was nice to see those familiar faces basked in firelight, grooving to the music, swapping cigarettes, and grinning in awe at the fire dancers, rather than shaking paper cups for change.<\/p>\n<p><object width=\"500\" height=\"352\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.photoshelter.com\/swf\/imgWidget.swf\"><\/param><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\"><\/param><param name=\"FlashVars\" value=\"i=I0000YQ3mskwMNHM&#038;b=1\"><\/param><param name=\"allowScriptAccess\" value=\"always\"><\/param><embed src=\"http:\/\/www.photoshelter.com\/swf\/imgWidget.swf\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" allowScriptAccess=\"true\" FlashVars=\"i=I0000YQ3mskwMNHM&#038;b=1\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" width=\"500\" height=\"352\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n<p>With the occasional audience member walking in on a performance or being gently ushered off-stage by the event&#8217;s volunteers. More than many other festivals around town, I found that <em>\u00c9tat d&#8217;Urgence<\/em> had a fun mix of chaos and respect with a good chance of random interaction (I even made a new facebook friend).<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s worth dropping by, especially around 8pm each evening for the fire dancers (observing the crowd&#8217;s reaction was even better than watching the girls). For night-owls, there is a snack served at 2am. For those not prone to leaving their comfort zone, think of it as a rare chance for an urban camping trip.<em> \u00c9tat d&#8217;Urgence <\/em>is on-going until Sunday &#8211; check the <a href=\"http:\/\/atsa.qc.ca\/projs\/eu09\/uk\/motatsa.html\">schedule<\/a> for music, theatre, story-telling, and more.<\/p>\n<p><object width=\"332\" height=\"520\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.photoshelter.com\/swf\/imgWidget.swf\"><\/param><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\"><\/param><param name=\"FlashVars\" value=\"i=I00009LDGQt6IUZI&#038;b=1\"><\/param><param name=\"allowScriptAccess\" value=\"always\"><\/param><embed src=\"http:\/\/www.photoshelter.com\/swf\/imgWidget.swf\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" allowScriptAccess=\"true\" FlashVars=\"i=I00009LDGQt6IUZI&#038;b=1\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" width=\"332\" height=\"520\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n<p>All photos by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.photoshelter.com\/img\/pixel.gif\">Tristan Brand<\/a>, used with permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The free food, clothing and entertainment are certainly highlights of \u00c9tat d&#8217;Urgence for many people in need but, for those who sleep on the streets, the greatest gift may be the right to stay the night in Berri Square. The site has long been an assembly place for marginalized people but, after being given park<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/11\/26\/the-etat-durgence-experience\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;The \u00c9tat d&#8217;Urgence Experience&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5022,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7830,7832,11,7839,3537],"tags":[3267,147,1321,4593,48,4592,16,49,3268,4594],"class_list":["post-4888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-communication","category-culture","category-events","category-neighbourhoods","category-parks","tag-annie-roy","tag-art-culture","tag-berri-square","tag-berri-squares","tag-downtown","tag-free-food","tag-intervention","tag-squares-and-parks","tag-pierre-allard","tag-viger-squares"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The \u00c9tat d&#039;Urgence Experience - Spacing Montreal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/11\/26\/the-etat-durgence-experience\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The \u00c9tat d&#039;Urgence Experience - Spacing Montreal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The free food, clothing and entertainment are certainly highlights of \u00c9tat d&#8217;Urgence for many people in need but, for those who sleep on the streets, the greatest gift may be the right to stay the night in Berri Square. 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