Community projects
Current projects
Partnership with Bordeaux prison
Since 2021, Orchestre de l’Agora has been presenting a series of monthly concert-workshops (approximately 11 per year) for men incarcerated at the Montréal Detention Facility (Bordeaux Prison). Through classical music and occasionally other repertoires, these sessions offer a genuine moment of pause, reflection, and introspection, where art becomes a lever for well-being.
Music Creation Workshops with Espace Transition
The Music Creation Workshops with Espace Transition (CHU Sainte-Justine) project is an innovative mental health program that uses the arts to promote youth well-being.
Mentorship at Musique à l’Unisson
Musique à l’Unisson is a program that provides music lessons to elementary school students in Pointe-Saint-Charles and Villeray. Driven by a mission of accessibility, the initiative promotes inclusive, collective, and caring learning.
Earth Gala
The environment is a social issue that resonates with the mission of the Agora Orchestra. That is why Agora organized an Earth Gala in 2020, which raised $138,000 for Earth Day, Nature Conservancy of Canada, and the Sierra Club.
Concerts-workshops for the geronto-psychiatry service
Orchestre de l’Agora collaborates with the geriatric psychiatry department of the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal (IUSMM), in partnership with Dr. Katerine Rousseau, a geriatric psychiatrist, working with patients living with psychiatric disorders and/or cognitive impairments.
Concert workshops in long-term care facilities with La SAMS
Orchestre de l’Agora partners with La SAMS (Société pour les arts en milieu de santé) to offer monthly concert-workshops for residents in CHSLDs (long-term care facilities). Grounded in listening, dialogue, and care, these musical encounters bring comfort and a sense of calm to people in vulnerable situations.
The Fox Forest
Discover the sounds of the symphony orchestra through a musical tale in 15 movements, where each instrument has its own solo. Then play the themes on reed instruments accompanied by the Agora Orchestra.
Past projects
Espace Transition at Sainte-Justine Hospital
Since 2019, the Agora Orchestra (OA) has been collaborating with Espace Transition (ET), an organization affiliated with Sainte-Justine University Hospital Centre. ET is an innovative performing arts rehabilitation initiative conceived by Dr. Patricia Garel to help adolescents and young adults struggling with mental health issues.
Illustrated music
The Orchestre de l’Agora and its conductor Nicolas Ellis have developed a series of illustrated videos—entitled “Ellistrations”—featuring endearing characters and musicians from the orchestra. The well-thought-out narrative structure has been fine-tuned with the aim of introducing students to classical music and encouraging them to explore this world they are all-too-often unaware of.
Special activities
Montreal 21K
For the past three years, this event has been both a team-building exercise and a major fundraiser for the Orchestra. Once again this year, we hope to mobilize as many participants as possible in the Agora team.
