MONTREAL.- The Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal welcomed the announcement of $18.85 million in financial commitment made by Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage, giving the green light to the museum’s major renewal project put forward in 2011. This funding envelope is matched by the $18.85 million in support also confirmed today by Hélène David, Acting Minister of Culture and Communications of Québec, and completes the public portion of the funding necessary for the MAC’s renewal. The project will allow the Musée to carry out its mission even more fully and vigorously, and will bolster its role as Canada’s premier museum of contemporary art.

The renewal of the MAC will bring a real burst of fresh energy to the Musée and to its ever growing public. It will enhance visitors’ connection with contemporary art by expanding the spaces devoted to displaying the Permanent Collection and improving educational and other related services offered. Visitors will also have direct access to the museum through new entrances from Place des Arts and Place des Festivals. The project will further enable the MAC to boost its self-generated revenue and be fully integrated into the new Quartier des Spectacles dynamic by linking Place des Arts with Place des Festivals.

According to Alexandre Taillefer, Chair of the Musée’s Board of Trustees, “the MAC renewal is a unifying project that will have a significant positive impact for Montréal and for Québec and Canadian artist communities. I personally pledge to rally the different business communities and see this project through, and I am delighted to be able to count on the firm commitment of the governments of Canada and Québec to achieve this goal.”

“Thanks to the efforts expended by the MAC in recent years to give new vigour to its presence and to the exhibitions and activities it provides, we can sense tremendous fresh enthusiasm for contemporary art. With our renewal project, we will now be able to offer the public a place worthy of their expectations,” adds John Zeppetelli, Director and Chief Curator of the Musée. “Montréal will finally have a gem equal to its ambitions, its reputation and its artistic importance.”

The country’s largest public museum dedicated solely to promoting and preserving contemporary art, the Musée has holdings of nearly 8,000 works that form a rich collective heritage. However, only 1.5% of this collection is on view, for lack of space. The MAC renewal project will both allow the museum to display a larger proportion of these works and ensure its continuing vitality in the coming years.