My time to explore Montreal proper was limited. I walked during the lunch hours of the conference, and in the early evenings before attending circus performances. Happily, hat limitation ensures that I will return soon to this enchanting city to do some serious exploration.

That said, here are some pictures of the modern core of the city, including a museum district that also has performance halls.

Next are the distinctive gables that you find in the older neighborhoods, including the one where I lodged in a lovely if slightly dilapidated apartment near Square Saint Louis.

Finally, there are the circus-related buildings in the neighborhood of Saint- Michel. Cirque de Soleil has its (architecturally truely uninspired) headquarters there.

It is the most diverse neighborhood of the city, and indeed one of the poorest in Canada. 40% of the adult population do not have a high school diploma, nearly half of children live below the poverty line, unemployment rate is 14%, and half of the residents are immigrants. Cirque de Soleil used to be a generous neighbor, supporting many local causes until it was bought out by US and Chinese investors. Here is what’s reported to be happening now in the name of profitability.

What happened before, though, was a stroke of creative genius: 20 years ago, Cirque du Soleil and other major circus players, the National Circus School and the En Piste circus arts national network, city and community partners came together to build the Cité des arts du cirque with TOHU, a non-profit organization whose aim was to create the world’s biggest international circus community. “The goal was to build a critical mass of infrastructure for creation, training and dissemination in the field of circus arts in the same location. The name was chosen to represent something dearly intended: It is derived from the French expression tohu-bohu, which alludes to the chaos and energy that precedes renewal and transformation.“

Tohu’s building is a green building, LEED certified, surrounded by vegetable gardens. The 360 degree hall is a marvel, with a capacity for 1200 spectators; the building also has spaces for art exhibits, meetings and so on. TOHU puts on the annual Circus Festival that presents circus activities throughout the city, on the streets and in different venues.

And here are glimpses of the circus school.

Music today features Snarky Puppy, a jazz collective slated for the International Jazz Festival at Montreal. I chose a tune from their new album Immigrance, in honor of the the Saint-Michel neighborhood.