hOOmalh and welcome to the first ever season of Indigenous Theatre at the NAC!

I am so honoured to be able share with you some of the very best Indigenous artists from across Turtle Island and around the world.

Honouring the resilience, strength and beauty of Indigenous women, the works presented this season feature the artistic excellence of some of our most talented emerging and established artists.

The NAC is a gathering place, a place of celebration. Our presence here offers the opportunity to encounter new ideas, hear new songs and stories, and to enter into new narratives.

I wanted to gather artists from the four directions to celebrate their vision and artistry. So this season we are featuring works from coast to coast to coast, presenting Indigenous voices from the Plains, the Arctic, the Pacific, the Atlantic, our urban centres and even the Southern Hemisphere.

During the research phase for the all-Indigenous production of King Lear, we learned that the current site of the NAC was once a place where canoes were built by the Algonquins. When we go on a canoe journey, it takes co-operation and everyone has to pull together. We have to know where we have come from to know where we are, and to determine where we are going.  As Indigenous peoples we are not bridge builders - we are canoe makers. To cross adverse waters requires knowledge, teamwork, resilience, fortitude, strength and courage.  It is fitting then, that for us, the canoe has become a central image in the launch of this new department at the NAC.

Please join us on this journey. I promise it will be an adventure.