MONTREAL, Feb. 10, 2026 /CNW/ - The Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal (MAC) is proud to announce the artists forming the first cohort of Habiter le MAC, a new career development program that places emerging artists at the heart of the Museum as it prepares for the opening of the new MAC at Place des Arts in 2028.
Habiter le MAC: a program that shapes the next generation of artists in Québec
The artists of this program will benefit from a dedicated workspace, financial support in line with professional standards in the field, personalized support from a mentor and the MAC, privileged interactions with the public, opportunities to connect with the Museum's teams, as well as valuable access to a broad network of professionals in the arts milieu.
Habiter le MAC will give a prominent place to emerging artists from across Quebec. Each cohort will welcome two artists from outside Greater Montréal, whose accommodation and living expenses will be covered by the CALQ, in addition to the artist honoraria offered to all cohort members.
Throughout the duration of the program, the MAC at Place Ville Marie will remain accessible to the public through various scheduled educational activities, artist talks and special events.
The artists of the first cohort and their mentor
From May 4 to December 12, 2026, Sierra Barber, Miri Chek, Marly Fontaine, Po B. K. Lomami, Myriam Simard-Parent and Sarah Toung ondo will fully integrate the MAC at Place Ville Marie. These artists, who have ten years or less of professional experience, reflect a range of artistic perspectives and practices rooted in exchanges and interactions with audiences.
They were chosen following a selection process conducted by the Museum and a jury composed of representatives from academia, cultural organizations and artist-run centres, bringing together artch, Caravansérail, Sagamie, Concordia University and the Université du Québec à Montréal.
To accompany this first cohort, the MAC is pleased to appoint Montréal-based multidisciplinary artist François Morelli as mentor. His practice and ongoing commitment to emerging artists echo the spirit of the program.
Quotes
"The MAC is proud to welcome emerging artists at a time when the Museum is entering the final stages of a major transformation. Through Habiter le MAC, we are reaffirming our commitment and responsibility to give emerging artistic voices from Québec a prominent place, while ensuring that they have the right conditions in which to create, reflect, and project themselves into the future. We are excited to see them inhabit the MAC and to open this space for dialogue with the public." – Stéphan La Roche, Director, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal
"I see this residency as an interval, a particular time in an artist's life where anything is possible. This program is a unique opportunity to allow magic in, while trusting yourself and letting your intuition guide you. These artists will have the chance to envision their studio practice differently and to collectively understand interpersonal dynamics and their place in the world on a day-to-day basis. It is an honour for me to support them in this important stage of their professional journey." – François Morelli, artist and mentor for the first cohort of Habiter le MAC
About the mentor
François Morelli
« Born in Tiohtià:ke (Montréal), François Morelli earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Concordia University in 1975. From that point on, his practice has been informed by interdisciplinarity, performativity and relationality. Between 1981 and 1990, Morelli lived and worked in the greater New York area, where he completed a master's degree at the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University (New Jersey), in 1983. He began teaching in 1981 and retired from Concordia University in 2019 after 22 years of teaching. The recipient of numerous grants and residencies, he has performed and exhibited his work since 1977. His gallery representation has been provided in Montréal by Christiane Chassey from 1991 to 2004 and Joyce Yahouda from 2006 to 2017, by the Horodner Romley Gallery in New York from 1993 to 1995, and by Chiguer Art Contemporain in Québec City and Montréal since 2022. He was the recipient of the Prix d'excellence de la Biennale de dessin et d'estampe d'Alma in 1993 and received the Louis-Comtois Award in 2007, the Ozias-Leduc Award presented by the Fondation Émile-Nelligan in 2021, and the Paul-Émile-Borduas Award in 2024. He shares his life with art and design historian Diane Charbonneau, author and artist Didier Morelli, and art and architecture historian Arièle Dionne-Krosnick. »
About the artists
Sierra Barber
« Sierra Barber is an Upper Mohawk / mixed-European artist from Port Dover, Ontario, registered at the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. She holds an MFA in Painting and Drawing from Concordia University (2025) and a BFA in Sculpture and Installation, with a minor in Indigenous Visual Culture, from OCAD University (2015). Her work has been shown at the Woodland Cultural Centre, Stewart Hall Art Gallery, Rimouski Regional Museum and HOEA! Gallery (Aotearoa/New Zealand), as well as in the 7th Contemporary Native Art Biennial (BACA). Her recent solo exhibition, Carrying Stories, was presented at daphne, an Indigenous artist-run centre in Montreal. »
Miri Chek
« Miri Chek is a visual artist and filmmaker whose practice transcends borders. Born in Armenia and having grown up in Jerusalem, she now works between Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang (Montréal) and Yerevan. Her work has been presented worldwide, at film festivals such as Tribeca (New York City), the IDFA (Amsterdam) and the New Images Festival (Paris), as well as in museums such as the Centre Pompidou and the Biosphère in Montréal. Her video performance "Being With" was showcased at the Phi Center during the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019.
The artist has received funding from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts du Québec (CALQ), the Conseil des arts de Montréal (CAM), and the Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQSC). She has also collaborated with the National Film Board of Canada alongside Edith Jorisch on Plastisapiens and received support from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation for the production of her documentary Fresh Air Exhaustion in 2025. »
Marly Fontaine (artist from Côte-Nord, supported financially by the CALQ, partner of the Habiter le MAC program)
« Marly Fontaine is an Innu woman from the community of Uashat Mak Mani-utenam. A graduate in Visual and Media Arts from UQAM, Fontaine focuses her creative work on raising awareness of the realities and histories of First Nations, which remain largely unknown. As early as 2017, her works sparked strong reactions. Since the publication of Ma réserve dans ma chair – l'histoire de Marly Fontaine, she has worked as a speaker, using her testimony to demonstrate both her community's resilience and her own. She has since completed a master's degree in Museology and Arts Practice at the Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO), highlighting Innu oral tradition both in her artistic practice and in her research approach. She is the first person to submit a master's thesis orally at UQO. She is continuing this approach through a PhD in Innu arts and oral culture, begun in fall 2025, with the support of the Fonds de recherche du Québec. »
Po B. K. Lomami
« Po B. K. Lomami (Pauline Batamu Kasiwa Lomami) is a non-disciplinary artist-researcher, educator and cultural producer. Born into the Congolese diaspora in Belgium, they have been living in Tiohtià:ke–Mooniyang–Montreal since 2017. Lomami's artistic practice explores rage and failure, focusing on the displacement of work, becoming, subjectivity and possible collective futures. Interested in the space between action and inaction, they interrogate people, institutions and themselves through affect, strength, absurdity, the everyday and data.
Lomami holds a bachelor's (2011) and master's (2014) in Management Engineering from the University of Namur, a graduate diploma in Communication Studies (2022) and a master's in Studio Arts – Intermedia from Concordia University (2025). However, their interventionist practice has developed outside of institutional educational contexts. »
Myriam Simard-Parent
« Myriam Simard-Parent is a visual artist working in wood sculpture. She was born in and currently lives in Montreal. She creates her works using traditional craft techniques such as direct carving, turning and various methods of joining wood. Her works, made from native wood species and recycled materials, reveal a sensitivity to the colours and textures inherent in the medium. With a stylized and often humorous approach, Simard-Parent depicts and reinterprets elements from everyday life and memory such as clothing, food, animals and more. Through her practice, wood becomes a space for reflection on our relationships with objects, living beings, popular culture and the role they play in shaping our identities.
Holding a master's degree in Sculpture and Ceramics from Concordia University, Myriam Simard-Parent has exhibited widely in solo and group shows across Canada, France and the United States. Recent solo exhibitions include Parc à chiens at Caravansérail (Rimouski, 2024) and Mai(s) encore at Collectif Bonus (Nantes, 2024), following a creation residency. »
Sarah Toung ondo (artist from Québec, supported financially by the CALQ, partner of the Habiter le MAC program)
« Of Franco-Gabonese origin, Sarah Toung ondo grew up in France and Gabon, which strongly shaped her artistic practice. After studying design and art history, she pursued studies in social and historical anthropology, completing a master's degree at the University of Toulouse II. It was during her academic research that she discovered the artistic community in the Québec region – nionwentsïo territory – and decided to settle there. Also a graduate of the Maison des métiers d'arts de Québec in textile construction, Toung ondo is a versatile artist who enjoys exploring different mediums to examine the connections between art, intimacy and society through the lens of cultural hybridity. »
Learn more about the Habiter le MAC program by visiting the dedicated page on the MAC website.
Related press releases:
- The Musée d'art contemporain announces the creation of Habiter le MAC, a program supporting emerging artists
- The MAC and the CALQ join forces to support Québec artists
The program's visuals and artist portraits are available for download in the press folder.
Acknowledgments
The Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal (MAC) is a Crown corporation subsidized by the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec. It also receives financial support from the Government of Canada and the Canada Council for the Arts. The Museum would also like to thank its Foundation and the many partners and donors who contribute to its success.
The Habiter le MAC program is made possible thanks to the generous support of Les Printemps du MAC. The MAC also wishes to thank the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ) for its crucial financial support, which is given directly to artists as part of a long-term partnership supporting the vitality of Québec's creative sectors.
About the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal (MAC)
For more than 60 years, the MAC has brought together local and international artists, their works and a variety of audiences to celebrate art as an essential aspect of life in Montréal and Québec. The museum's headquarters, located in the heart of the Quartier des Spectacles, is currently undergoing a major architectural transformation. The MAC has temporarily relocated to Place Ville Marie, another iconic location in downtown Montréal. The MAC at Place Ville Marie offers a variety of programs for the general public as well as for school and community groups. Learn more at www.macm.org/en.
SOURCE Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal
Media relations: For more information or to schedule interviews: Livia Belcea, Public Relations Officer at the MAC | 514 847-6210, [email protected]
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