In 1960, Jean Lesage’s newly elected liberal government wanted to focus on culture to assert Quebec’s identity. To do so, he created the Ministry of Cultural Affairs in 1961, which handed out several grants to financially support Quebec artists and their work. These measures helped revive Quebec’s artistic community, bringing Québécois together through their common culture, fuelling the Quiet Revolution.
French-language music was very popular in Quebec, where many young emerging artists sang about their love for their province and their identity. These young Quebec singer-songwriters were called chansonniers and several famous artists emerged from this new artistic wave: Gilles Vigneault, Pauline Julien, Robert Charlebois and Claude Léveillé among them. Quebec’s special relationship with France greatly contributed to the rise in French-language music, both inside and outside of the province.
Artistic works were also very popular in Quebec theatres. Young authors gained considerable popularity by writing plays that revealed the unique daily lives of thousands of Québécois. One of these budding artists named Michel Tremblay made a name for himself in 1968 by writing one of the most striking plays of the era called Les Belles-soeurs. This play features characters who express themselves in joual, a uniquely Québécois dialect of Canadian French.
The government invested in cultural venues to give the public better access to these new artistic movements. Several performance halls were built and modern artwork was displayed in public buildings. Radio and television were also becoming more popular, and were used to broadcast new Quebec art projects to a larger audience.
Many facets of Quebec’s culture thrived between 1960 and 1970. Quebec expressed its rich culture through cinema, theatre, music, literature and painting, crystallizing the Québécois identity at home and abroad.