A converted church on the Magdalen Islands is becoming a cultural hub for the community
CBC
With its spire and cross intact, the Notre-Dame-de-la-Visitation church in the village of Havre-Aubert on Quebec's Magdalen Islands still looks like a place of worship from the outside.
But any visitor who steps inside quickly notices that the space has taken on a new, different life.
The high, pitched ceiling and many rows of pews date from the building's original use as a space for community worship.
But the entire front of the church has been turned into a stage, with lighting rigs running up the walls.
It's part of the church's conversion into a performance and rehearsal space for circus acts, as well as music and dance shows.
That conversion began last spring after the community accepted Jeannot Painchaud's proposal to make a place for collaboration in his hometown, to be used by local and visiting artists.
Painchaud is an acrobat and co-founder of the Montreal circus company Cirque Eloize. He saw an opportunity while visiting home, when he was staying in a house right next to the church and learned it was for sale.
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