‘Extremely moving to see’: Quebec artists join chorus to save F.A.C.E. School

A dozen well-known artists from Quebec are joining calls to save F.A.C.E. School from being permanently relocated from its downtown location.

Staff, students and parents have organized several protests since Quebec announced plans in April to cancel renovations at the heritage building, saying it could not afford the $375 million it would take to repair the building. Instead, it announced plans to separate the 1,300 elementary and high school students and send them to two different locations.

Today the #SaveFACE Collective released a video, featuring some of the biggest names in Quebec’s art scene, to make the case for why the school should stay where it is.

Composer Yannick Nézet-Seguin said it’s the only fine arts public school of its kind in North America. For singer and television personality Mitsou, the school is a “real big family” that shouldn’t be split up. Singer Gregory Charles said the “spirit of a place matters”.

Collective member Geneviève Guéritaud said artists reached out to them once they heard the news and wanted to help.

“It was extremely moving to see, you know, representatives of Quebec’s, cultural identity reach out to us to help us save this educational model, which is absolutely unique in North America,” Guéritaud said.

Guéritaud’s daughter, Laureline Dodin, says she still remembers her first day of kindergarten at the school 20 years ago.

“It was so, like, enchanting ... I kind of felt like a princess,” she said. “Because this looks like a castle.”

Guéritaud said the new schools won’t have the same facilities, including a 600-seat auditorium that can fit a full orchestra.

“All this would be lost in the new locations. And this is for a school that has the arts at its core as its educational project.”

The bilingual kindergarten, elementary and high school is jointly run by the Centre de services scolaire de Montréal (CSSDM) and the English Montreal School Board (EMSB). EMSB Board Chair Joe Ortona said they are advocating to keep the school at its current location.

“It’s really a one-of-a-kind school and it would really be too bad if you tampered with that,” he said.

The video has been sent to the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville.

“I very much hope that it will move him as much as it did us, and that it will help our cause,” said Guéritaud.