In 2025, Ausgang Plaza celebrates its 10th anniversary. What was once a Rona store has transformed over the years without ever losing its mission of making art and culture accessible in Montreal. Today, Ausgang Plaza has established itself as a cultural hub through a multidisciplinary program.

At the outset, the project was imagined by two investors: Louis-Charles Houle and Louis-Vincent Houle. Their goal was to establish a contemporary art gallery as well as a clothing boutique on the Plaza.

“It’s a project that began with a contemporary art component, with exhibitions and mural projects, around Montreal’s 375th anniversary. My role was to bring in and develop the event side, to attract promoters [still today]. I’ve always been more involved in programming,” explains Malick Touré, General Director of Ausgang Plaza.

A DJ who previously worked as an artist promoter, he joined the project in 2015 at the request of Louis-Nicholas Coupal, later becoming co-owner and co-founder of ARTGANG.

In 2018, ARTGANG became Ausgang Plaza. A new name that is explained “because there was a break in vision between us and our former partners who were running the shop. We didn’t necessarily share the same vision for the kinds of events we wanted to host or attract, or for the overall direction of the project,” he explains.

Malick Touré says he has always had the ambition to democratize culture, to make it more accessible and diverse, reflecting what he sees as the true nature of Montreal. For him, this vision focuses as much on youth as on intergenerational connections.

This commitment is reflected in the variety of musical, artistic, and cultural offerings at Ausgang Plaza. “It was also important to me that the audience not be only people with money who can afford, say, a $20,000 canvas. I wanted it to be something for everyone,” he says.

Today, the space consists of a multidisciplinary performance venue as well as a pop-up shop at the front. The venue itself is managed by the non-profit organization Ausgang Plaza.

According to Malick Touré, Ausgang Plaza’s programming becomes more diverse year after year.

“At the moment, we have a lot of music-focused events. We also host quite a few dance events, whether contemporary dance, street dance, or competitions. We have a feminist film festival called Les Filministes, which has been with us since its very first year, and we support them every year,” he says, adding that the venue also sometimes hosts conferences or even markets.

The General Director also notes that most of their collaborators are collectives, whether DJs or musicians. “We have Latin nights, nights for the Maghrebi queer community, we have Murga—it’s kind of a salsa event with musicians and DJs [as well as] Laylit, FRIKITON,” he lists.

Over the coming months, several festivals will take place there, including the SPASM Festival featuring short films on October 28, and Coup de cœur francophone, which will present performances by Bilou, Cédric Dind-Lavoie, and Mykalle on November 14, 2025.

In addition to its public programming, Ausgang Plaza also hosts various private events, such as weddings, birthdays, farewell parties, or more corporate events. This decision stems from a desire to be “a bit on all fronts,” to use Malick Touré’s words.

One of the venue’s strengths is—and has always been—its flexibility in adapting to all types of events. “We’ve always been about setting up and taking down a fully modular space,” he says.

The space features a light-colored wall that can be used for projections, while the stage has no fixed location and can be moved according to needs. The venue is equipped with a bar and easily movable furniture, including cabaret-style tables for comedy shows or conferences, for example.

And if the General Director has one wish for the future, it is to continue pursuing their goal “of weaving our community more tightly together, truly building better connections with our community, and trying to increase our production efforts and multiply events.”