In just a few weeks, a monumental event will take place in Montreal Canada, Black and Blue Ball, the circuit party of the year. I had the opportunity to ask some questions of the founding director, Artistic director, DJ/Producer and Cirque Du Soliel Performers. This Festival, promises to be one of the most enormous fundraisers to date. There will be many surprises and lots to see. Just see what these key players have to say about Black and Blue Montreal!

Robert, Founding President
When you and a group of friends had a party in 1991, did you ever imagine that it would have evolved into the event that it has become today?
Hum, no! The firs year was a private party with 600 people by invitation only, with friends and acquaintances mostly from Montreal, Toronto, New York and Boston. But we chose a strategic holiday in North America when no big gay events was taking place at the time, i.e. Canadian Thanksgiving, and U.S. Columbus Day Weekend. We soon realizes that this was a recipe for success, especially when our members swelled to 3,500 in 1992, then 6,000 in 1990 and on, and on!

Why Black and Blue?
Well, my co-founder the late Christian Beaudry and I had traveled quite a bit to other parties such as the Black Party in New York and the White Party in Miami, and we thought, "why not create such an event in Montreal?" For the theme, we thought that Montreal was maybe too urban for a "White Party", but we also wanted to be less "heavy" than just Black, so we thought of adding blue (as in blue jeans) to the black theme (popular color in Montreal, that's for sure). Blue, in Canada is also traditionally the color reflecting our French and bilingual heritage, so it became a good combination for a cosmopolitan urban event with a special name. It has nothing to do with Black and Blue as in S&M or whatever, but it still has that sexy, leather optional jean feel to it, to this day.

What numbers are you projecting for this year?
Attendance/donations
We expect to have a great turn out this year both with Montrealers and out-of-towners, because of the incredible talent line-up. The special theme for the main event is the "Spirit of Louis the 14th" for our 14th edition (a great occasion for spectacular creative elements), as well as the official participation this year of the renowned Cirque Du Soliel, a world first at a gay-oriented event of this of this kind!
With 12,000 participants at the main event, we expect to raise at least 2 million dollars in net revenues for the BBCM Foundation, the Non-Profit group responsible for this event.

How did you become part of the "Circuit"?
In 1992, we were the first to convince the Saint at Large of New York, (Promoter of the Black Party in New York) to officially become a promotional partner of a big gay event outside NYC and wee sent out invitations to all their members. Then, we added many gay sponsors and partners over the years in North America, Europe and Australia. I would say that the Black and Blue festival has a lot of the circuit features but also more, both in terms of programming and in terms of friendly integration with gay friendly components of society. We have typical sexy circuit events like Jock Ball, Leather Ball, and the Military Ball, but we also have cutting edge club events with international talents as well as the main event extravaganza that has many elements that are added on to the circuit base in a fun and interactive way.

There are many other events than just the dance; can you tell us what some of them are?
Oh my God! There are about 50 events during Black & Blue week. We have a lot of social and cultural, even sports events that compliment the dance parties. For example, our annual art exhibition and auction, the VIP cocktails, the brunches, visits in Montreal museums, the special "earth" spiritual happening, the health conference, the tourism luncheon, the swim-o-thon for AIDS, the gay volleyball tournament etc., etc.!

Tell us where and how the proceeds from Black and Blue go?
100% of all proceeds go to the BBCM Foundation, a registered non-profit community organization with a Canadian Federal Charter. This foundation is also the organization responsible for the actual planning, promoting and running of the events. It has a special donation fund (managed by it's board of directors) that distributes contributions on an annual basis to different direct AIDS care groups and gay * lesbian groups, based on requests received and analyzed. The foundation has donated close to 1.2 million dollars so far.

What else do you want our readers to know?
I recommend your readers from out of town to get one of the VIP passes available, in order to experience the festival as a whole and discover our gay-friendly city in a variety of ways. Also, Air Canada has good daily direct connections from Chicago to Montreal, just over an hour flight time. As always in the Montreal tradition while partying safely at all times to rejoice in this huge international celebration of music, dance and tolerance; all for a good cause. To really see the entire scope of the event, people can download our 84 page souvenir magazine from our website, www.bbcm.org.

All the best and welcome to Montreal!!