FEATURED
With the rise of streaming services trading the security of physical media for the convenience of instant access, preservation has become a hot topic. Everyone is feeling regret for not hoarding things like tickets or CDs. Thankfully, organizations like ARCMTL exist.
In the 1920s Mikao Usui invented (or discovered) Reiki. An energetic healing modality, what made Reiki different was that it allowed the practitioner to act as a channel for universal energy instead of tapping into their own energy, thus taking less out of the healer, and by extension, allowing for more healings.
Squat The City! How to Use the Arts for Housing Injustice by Norman Nawrocki is not a book that can be easily categorized. It’s not just a how-to book where each chapter outlines step-by-step instructions.
HOT SIX
Just when you're starting to jones for more laughs, the World's Smallest Comedy Night crew are swooping in to save the day with The World's Smallest Comedy Festival! As they embark on their third edition, it's clear this is becoming a staple on the comedy scene.
Imagine a Pride without any compromise. That’s what the organizers of Wild Pride have dreamed of, and that’s what is taking place starting July 30th. Moving away from the usual Pride commodification of queer pride and queer joy that view our communities as a market to take advantage of every year, Wild Pride is radical, anti-colonial, anti-capitalist, and anti-corporate.
Before smoke from the prairie wildfires choked out the blue summer sky, I waited behind the Gothic gates to the Mount-Royal cemetery. My friend, Andrew, quickly arrived, and I began loudly pronouncing that we needed a spot as close to the stage as possible.
Tucked upstairs on the ever-touristy St. Paul Street in Old Montreal, is one of the safest comedy rooms in town. Well, sort of. On the surface, Saanya Nanda’s monthly The Heckling Show would be the last thing most people would call safe; the name says it all, and every month comics take the stage knowing exactly what they're in for.
On Sunday, June 22, 2025, friends, art lovers, and curious passersby gathered in Jeanne Mance Park for the fourth edition of Art O’Rama, a collective art market where local artists and designers sell their wares.
“It’s impossible to live here [Pointe-Saint-Charles] and not get sucked into the culture,” says Jules Rodschat, who moved to the neighbourhood nestled in the borough of Le Sud-Ouest in Montreal in 2024.
feature fridays
Candice Ann is a book lover, serial hobbyist, and writer based in Montreal. She is the Editor-in-Chief at Forget The Box. She holds an English degree that led to a career in marketing, but she is currently pursuing a master's degree in Information Studies with the goal of becoming a librarian, so she can work surrounded by dusty pages for the rest of her days.
LFCD is a Montréal-based artist whose skills lie in the reconstruction of materials and conveying ideas and issues circling our modern time such as environmentalism, politics, and activism through their artworks.
Born in the '90s in Barcelona, Spain, and with Montreal deep in his soul, Swiim is a multidisciplinary artist who blends music and visual art to create immersive experiences. Known for his ambient beats, downtempo electronic tracks, and boom-bap hip-hop, he’s also a rapper and film composer.
Foster Gareau is a queer montreal-based, French-Canadian poet, bibliophile, sentimentalist and recovering alcoholic. He is currently serving as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Soliloquies Anthology for the 2025/2026 academic term.
Fringe Reviews 2025
Andrew Jamieson reviews Frankencéline, Cracks, MEAT FACTORY: MOMMY, Mr. Potts, and POZ for Forget The Box’s coverage of FringeMTL 2025.
Bailey B. Carter reviews Thespis, boKa, BRAIN, Creatures of Habits, and Mouse Trap! for Forget The Box’s coverage of FringeMTL 2025.
Candice Ann reviews 0z, Cheers!, Quickshot, ROBERT WILL SHOW YOU THE DOOR (Tales of Being Fired), and The Total Veronica Experience for Forget The Box’s coverage of FringeMTL 2025.
Dawn McSweeney reviews 100mLs or Less: Confessions of a Pat Down Expert, Evie and Alfie: A Very British Love Story, Harlem of the North, Heterochromia, and The Biscuiteater for Forget The Box’s coverage of FringeMTL 2025.
DJ Fraser reviews A Paisley Mind, Colonial Circus, Plan V: The Rise of Reverence, Shuttlecock, and The Heterosexuals for Forget The Box’s coverage of FringeMTL 2025.
Tara McGowan-Ross reviews Recant, A Love Unbecoming, Helena 2; or, The Island of Eden, Horse Girls, and Kill 'em with Kindness for Forget The Box’s coverage of FringeMTL 2025.
ARCHIVE
Well, here we go again. The Société de développement Angus (SDA) just announced a $160 million, 12 floor development project for the corner of St-Laurent and St-Catherine, the heart of Montreal’s historic Red Light District and current Quartier de Spéctacles.
Ever see the slacker classic Joe’s Apartment? That’s the one with Jerry O’Connell starring alongside some well trained cockroaches as a mid west boy in his first foray into quasi-manhood in NYC, conveniently landing a rent controlled apartment, subsequently discovering his landlord is trying to kill him off so they can tear down the building and put up a maximum security penitentiary.
It looks like the independent burlesque, fetish and drag artists who call the second floor of Café Cleopatre on St-Laurent their artistic home will be able to continue doing so, at least for a while.
REACH OUT
We want to know what you’re doing! Artists, write to us about your exhibitions, events, releases!
Forget The Box is by Montreal, for Montreal.