Montreal Cultural Calendar

Le MC Challenge End Of The Weak / La fin des faibles a été lancé en 2000 à New York. Il célèbre cette année ses 15 ans de présence au Québec. Présent dans plusieurs pays sur 5 continents, il s’impose comme une référence internationale.
À la différence des battles traditionnels, le MC Challenge se veut un anti-battle : ici, pas d’insultes ni d’attaques personnelles, mais une mise en valeur du talent, du respect et de la créativité des artistes.
Chaque année, une finale internationale couronne une championne ou un champion du monde. Le concept a également été adapté pour la télévision avec La fin des faibles, diffusée sur Télé-Québec.
La compétition se décline en 5 épreuves qui mettent en lumière toutes les facettes de l’art du rap :
• Le texte libre
• L’a cappella
• L’improvisation
• Le MC vs DJ
• Le cercle
Les performances sont évaluées selon 5 critères objectifs :
• Les paroles et la qualité du texte
• La créativité et l’originalité
• La présence scénique et le charisme
• Le flow et le débit
• L’interaction avec l’environnement
Qui saura se démarquer et décrocher sa place en finale nationale?

CISM 89.3 FM, University of Montreal’s college radio station, is coming down from its mountain perch for one evening only! Host Léonie Cabrol (L’échooo des luttes) will be live from l’Esplanade tranquille for the occasion, welcoming some of her favorite feminine artists from the 2026 programming.

Jellicle Cats come one come all, Jellicles return to the Jellicle Ball! 2026 is the year Cats: The Jellicle Ball goes to Broadway, and all good things come in threes; we are excited and proud to present the the 3rd installment of the Jellicle Kiki Ball: Now & Forever! With newfound inspiration and new categories yet to be explored in Montreal, you're in for a cat-tastic time.
Will you be the Jellicle Choice this year, and be reborn in the Heaviside Layer?
(…fine. If we must address the 2019 movie, we're doing so with a twist!)
Walkers Registration:
https://forms.gle/oZZMxQwghjEzfhwt8
Lip Sync Registration:
https://forms.gle/EbmyBWqXUzRZfSw89
Trans community discount registration:
https://forms.gle/GLvsCkDQUdvcCQgu6
CATEGORIES
Beginners Performance
(🏆)
Bring it in a country Western look.
Beginners Runway
(🏆)
Bring it in a 1970s look.
500$ GP Designers Delight
(🏆)
Bring a design based on any Hanna-Barbara feline character (with a reference).
Face
(🏆🏆🏆)
Bring it as Luna (FF), Artemis (MF) or Diana (GNC) from
Sailor Moon
, with a crescent moon accessory.
Realness
(🏆🏆)
Bring it as a
Cats (2019)
cast member (with a non-
Cats
reference).
Runway
(🏆🏆🏆)
Bring it in a look inspired by
Josie & the Pussycats (2001)
with a reference.
Comm vs Comm
(🏆) For your 10s,
bring a chant incorporating a quote from
The Lion King
movie or stage musical.
Hands Performance vs. Arms Control
(🏆🏆) Inspired by the 90s cartoon
CatDog
,
Arms Control: Bring it as Cat; Hands Performance: Bring it as Dog.
Lip Sync
(🏆)
Bring it in a cat-themed lip sync performance (for your 10s, you may choose a song from any BROADWAY musical, or any cat-related song (be it by title or artist).
Performance
(🏆)
Bring it as a nekomimi.
Old Way vs. New Way
(🏆🏆)
OW: Cat in the Hat; NW: Thing 1 & Thing 2
Bazaar
(🏆)
Bring it as a feline sidekick, with a reference.
Body
(🏆🏆)
Choose a sports team whose mascot is feline, and bring it in the team’s colors, with a reference.
Sex Siren
(🏆🏆)
Bring it in a nude illusion with leather accessories, in honour of the Canadian Sphynx.
MC -
Silk
Pinklady
,
The GNC voice of the Canadian Ballroom scene since their 2022 debut, Silk Pinklady has commentated over 30 balls all across Canada, hosted workshops, and has mentored many commentators to their own grand prizes and OTY Awards
DJ Pleasure (Legendary Canadian Father Pleasure Juicy Couture)
DJ Pleasure is one of this generation’s phenomenal DJs. He is multi-talented and versatile with more than meets the eye. Pleasure grew up in Scarborough, Ontario. His love for the arts started at a very young age where Pleasure nurtured a sincere passion for music.
In the Ballroom scene, Legendary Canadian Father Pleasure Juicy Couture is recognized as the first Canadian Legend of European Runway in Canadian ballroom culture. As a respected leader and Father of the Canadian chapter of the Iconic Kiki House of Juicy Couture and integral member of the Toronto Kiki Ballroom Alliance, he shaped the elegant, expressive runway style that defines the category today.

Présenté par

Sunken Cages
is the solo-project of Indian-born drummer/electronic music producer Ravish Momin. Inspired by Mumbai’s Street drumming ensembles and global rhythms, he creates tracks using live-looped percussion arrangements and pre-composed melodies. Get your dancing shoes laced!
Bilingual, Montreal-based experimental synth duo,
Jardin botanique
(Kate Bundy and Jean-Guillaume Bastien) blends organic and synthetic sound worlds with an exploratory approach, playful improvisation, and intuitive collaboration. Treating music as a living ecosystem shaped by growth, decay and care, this project is a feast for your ears.
In Hajia Maa’s current artistic universe, what is tantamount is the exploration of music, wellness and fashion, a space where meditative chant, experimental soul, and ambient soundscapes offer a perspective on rituals of care for the body and spirit. Her project
Secondsight
invites deep listening, rest, and embodied spiritual intimacy. Expect aural-visual delight!
Cyclepunk Warrior Bard
Abdul Lateef aka The Distractor
is a versatile artist blurring the lines between beatboxing, progressive metal, hip hop, funk and drum n bass and beyond. His signature instrument is the Lethelium a 24-string 2-octave instrument played with sticks, fingers and violin bows. Other bike-based instruments include the coolerdrum and rim drum and Miscellaneum Studios’ Distraction Machine, a music-based cyclepunk video game and musical sequencer.

With
IFO Productions
True self-destruction.
Cicada
is dark, left-of-center hardcore howling from beneath the weight of the empire. Based in Richmond, VA.
THE NOT
are aural assault - fuzz washes over everything like a rainstorm, tying the songs together with the sounds of broken glass and sirens. The lyrics are blunt, political and vicious, and the rhythm section is locked to the churn. Their final showing. Noise not music.
Uzu
is a Montreal-based band that blends elements of post-punk with dark, melodic, mid-tempo punk, infused with an incisive energy reminiscent of Siekiera. Their lyrics, sung in Arabic, are poetic and personal, while also conveying political messages about exile, colonization, and self-management.
Muscle Memory
: FASTCORE.