Every year, the province holds “culture day” in which various cultural institutions open their doors to the public in a kind of exposition of what they do and what they offer.
Here in Montreal, the headquarters centre of the domestic broadcaster in French, (Radio-Canada) once again participated this past weekend.
RCI of course was there to highlight our own work.

Rufo Valencia of the Latin-American section interviews some guests in Spanish in our popular mini-studio during the event. (Marie-Claude Simard)

About 4,000 visitors passed through the large building, a great number stopping to learn more about RCI.
A highlight was our little recording booth where people could record greetings to the world and tell a little about themselves, and do so in any of RCI’s five languages, English, French, Spanish, Mandarin, and Arabic.

Listen to what some visitors had to say

Many visitors remembered RCI’s shortwave broadcasts saying it had been an important connection with home, while at the same time knowing that it was also an important and useful method of explaining Canada to the world. Although RCI’s transmitters were dismantled six years ago, that latter goal remains a vital aspect of RCI’s work, now via the internet.

Visitors stopping in front of the RCI setup to learn more about the international service (Marie-Claude Simard)

Of course for visitors it was also the time to meet and speak with many of the French network’s Radio-Canada journalists and some of the stars of various television shows, and also to inspect some of the studios and other parts of the vast building.

The office tower of the main Quebec headquarters rises above the vast complex of news and former production studios of Radio-Canada, where RCI is also located.
Culture Day has been an annual event in Quebec and at Radio-Canada, but this was the last such event for this building which has been sold as the entire remaining operation moves to new and much smaller quarters. (Stephane Batigne-wikicommons)

This was the last such event that will be held in this French headquarters building which has been sold, The entire organisation is preparing to move to new and much smaller quarters in 2020 currently being constructed on the building’s former parking lot.