FANTOM is a non-profit collective created by and for queer/trans/BIPOC/ally underground nightlife and after-hours artists, workers, and organizers in Tiohtià:ke / Montreal. FANTOM’s mission is to ensure the safety, sustainability, and solidarity of a thriving alternative nightlife culture through collective action, policy analysis and advocacy, as well as the creation of tools for knowledge and resource sharing.


FANTOM relies on community input via surveys, meet-ups, and working groups in order to guide projects and set priorities. We organize cross-community meetings as platforms for accountability, consensus building, and generating new relationships and opportunities for collaboration.

︎︎︎

TAKE ACTION

→ sign the Quebec National Assembly petition to prevent the CAQ from taking away tenants' right to lease transfer

The petition also calls for an official government rent registry to prevent landlords from making illegal rent hikes

Signing Quebec National Assemmly petitions takes two steps—after submitting on their website, check your email  and click their confirmation link, otherwise your signature will not be recorded.

The petition closes December 13. Link here

CALL FOR RESOURCES

If you know of resources or organizations in Montreal or other cities/ countries, please send them our way so we can collaborate and build off existing work!

we want to hear about: 

→ organizations that promote safety/ inclusivity within nightlife or beyond (like GRIP and PLURI)

→ books/ zines / guides about safer dancefloors, safer event design, intervention strategies, etc

→ unions or guilds for performers, pay scale recommendations, legal resources, etc

→ platforms that encourage accountability within a community or other network

→ any other resource we should include in an online directory for nightlife organizers, workers, and artists - even if from another city/ country/ sector

PROJECTS

COLLIDE : NIGHTLIFE BEFORE DARK

Collide is an all-evening event co-hosted by Studio ZX and FANTOM, intended to serve as a shared and open space for the many scenes that make up Montreal nightlife to meet, find common ground, and build lasting ties of solidarity—regardless of experience level or other barriers. 

→ more on Collide

GUIDEBOOK FOR ORGANIZERS

Compiling a guidebook of community-determined best practices for safe and accessible nightlife events, along with protocols for inclusivity, sensitivity, equitable compensation, and fair treatment of workers and artists.

ONLINE RESOURCE HUB

We know that there are so many resources and organizations that already do good work - we want to be able to share these via an online resource centre where new nightlife organizers/ workers/ DJs/ performers/ partygoers can find out about them.

SERIES ON THE HISTORY OF MONTREAL UNDERGROUND NIGHTLIFE

Producing video and other documentary media that records the untold histories of underground nightlife in Montreal, helping contemporary communities situate themselves within a broader narrative and to understand the impacts of historical shifts in policy and socioeconomic displacement on their present context.

APP FOR SAFER EVENT SPACES

Developing a web and mobile app to allow nightlife artists, organizers, workers, and community members to lookup, review, and share information about venues and other event spaces, with the goal of improving transparency and communication within an often exploited and marginalized community, as well as holding venue operators accountable with respect to standards of safety, accessibility, inclusivity, and equitable compensation. The app will be modelled around the needs of queer, trans, and BIPOC individuals and communities. 

COMMUNITY-OWNED EVENT SPACES

Establishing programs towards the proliferation of not-for-profit or cooperative community-owned and -operated spaces to host workshops, classes, and meetings, as well as offering safe and well-resourced venues for queer/trans/BIPOC communities to organize nightlife events while ensuring self-sustainability and community reinvestment.

COMMUNITY CONSULTATION

→ PRELIMINARY RESULTS

︎ A number of open responses are shared anonymously in a highlight on our Instagram page.

According to the responses so far from organizers, artists, workers, and participants from across Montreal’s nightlife communities, the biggest unserved needs are:

1. Access to safe event locations with better security
2. More permits for afterhours venues and events
3. More harm reduction spaces and resources

So far, the top concerns stated by these groups are:

1. Events being shut down early
2. Harassment of attendees
3. Lack of collaboration within the community

OUR
HISTORY

THE
HOUSING
CRISIS
IS A
NIGHTLIFE
CRISIS

TAKE ACTION

→ sign the Quebec National Assembly petition to prevent the CAQ from taking away tenants' right to lease transfer

The petition also calls for an official government rent registry to prevent landlords from making illegal rent hikes

Signing Quebec National Assemmly petitions takes two steps—after submitting on their website, check your email  and click their confirmation link, otherwise your signature will not be recorded.

The petition closes December 13. Link here

WHY DOES BILL 31 MATTER?

Bill 31, the CAQ’s bid to end lease transfers, is a direct attack on our art & communities. Creative experimentation has been able to flourish in Montreal over the decades due in large part to the city’s relatively affordable rent. 

Lease transfers help keep housing costs reasonable for everyone—not just those who rent.  They discourage speculation in real estate by making it harder for landlords and investors to rely on rent increases in their perpetual race for higher profits.

Lease transfers are also a way for us to look out for each other—they have been essential in preventing displacement of queer, BIPOC, immigrant, and working-class communities.

Even the threat of a lease transfer can put renters in a better position to compel their landlords to meet lease obligations and make essential repairs. They are one of the few actions at our disposal before resorting to disconnected tribunals to defend against exploitation and neglect.

If Bill 31 is adopted, it will officially give homeowners the right to refuse a lease transfer without bearing the onus of just cause. The proposed changes will enrich landlords, encourage evictions, and eliminate one of our last weapons in the fight against rampant gentrification & rent hikes across Montreal.  

In addition to exacerbating homelessness and other forms of precarity, an end to lease transfers would spell the end of affordable housing in Montreal—ringing the death bell for some of Montreal’s most vibrant and innnovative artistic communities.

Montreal is the only city in Canada with more renters than homeowners, and unsurprisingly, underground artists and other essential creative workers are among the most likely to find themselves renting.

Higher cost-of-living will directly undermine the freedom of independent creators and organizers to work outside of business-oriented frameworks.

When artists are forced to prioritize the bottom line because they cannot find affordable rent anywhere in the city, the connections between social movements and the arts are also undercut. damages the accessibility of scenes, as well as possibilities for experimentation and diversity essential to an innovative nightlife scene.

Like so many cities at the mercy of unchecked speculation, Montreal risks becoming a lifeless cultural relic. Rising housing costs have been displacing artists, immigrants, and working-class communities for decades—but it’s not too late to stop the city from becoming another San Francisco.

The story of an artistic golden age never starts with a housing crisis, but it too often ends with one.

If you're an artist, an organizer, a student, a tenant, an immigrant—or simply enjoy underground & alternative nightlife—now is the time to show up.

→ sign the petition now

→ FURTHER READING

New Republic (2023). Want a Thriving Arts Scene? Build More Housing. 

Mixmag (2023). How the cost of living crisis is impacting DJs and producers.

Cult MTL (2023). The CAQ is attacking artists by ending lease transfers, and artists need to step up.

The Star (2023). Loss of artist studio spaces for housing signals more than lack of affordability; it’s intentional displacement of people.