Canadian Heritage investing $4.75M to create largest Afro-Canadian cultural centre in the country

Canadian Heritage investing $4.75M to revitalize former École des Beaux-Arts building in Montreal.

The Department of Canadian Heritage will invest almost $5 million to revitalize the former Ecole des Beaux-Arts building in Montreal.

The site will become largest Afro-Canadian cultural centre in the country.

The Montréal Afro-Canadian Cultural Centre has secured a $4.75 million investment from Canadian Heritage to renovate and expand the building at 3450 Saint-Urbain near Sherbrooke Street West to create a hub for Black community organizations says executive director Allen Alexandre.

“It is very unique. It’s both on the heritage but also on the artistic front. And it would be combining all of this into one venue that really celebrates both the history but also the culture and the art of Black Canadians.”

He says the total federal budget adds up to $21.5 million with the City of Montreal also contributing.

“The city has invested just under half a million dollars, and we keep working with them to find other ways to support this project,” says Alexandre, who adds that the centre will also have to fundraise $5 million in order to fulfill the plans of a library, archives, art studio and live venue.

When the project was initially announced on May 16, 2024, Steven Guilbeault, the federal minister of Environment and Climate Change said the new centre would be carbon neutral.

“It’s going to be one of the greenest buildings of its kind,” he said at the time.

The Montréal Afro-Canadian Cultural Centre team has been working on this plan for four years. A plan, Alexandre says, that comes from the community itself.

“Many organizations that are very happy to see there’s something like this happening in the city.”

He says the revitalization of the building begins this summer.

“Hoping to break ground as soon as the city approves everything. We’re hoping over the next couple of months,”

The centre is slated to open in 2027.