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Your Scene: Double Dutch
January 29, 2020In 1940, the Dutch royal family fled the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands. They eventually found refuge in Ottawa, where Princess Margriet Francisca was born. Canadian soldiers later went on to liberate the Netherlands at the end of the Second World War. The royal family expressed their…
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Bringing Light to Darkness: Neverending is a tale for our troubled times
January 29, 2020Dragons, giant turtles and a massive spider — what’s not to like. All that and much more is in the production The Neverending Story, coming to the National Arts Centre at the end of January. Jillian Keiley has read a lot of scripts and seen a lot of plays in her career. The head of the…
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Q&A: Sarah Jennings, author, political and cultural journalist, philanthropist
January 29, 2020Q. The update to your 2009 book Art and Politics: the History of the National Arts Centre has new chapters covering the last decade. What changed at the NAC since the first edition? A. There has been a greater emphasis on raising the national profile, more reliance on private fundraising…
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Enriching Communities Through Music
November 7, 2019The Music Alive Program has been one of the NAC’s most far-reaching education initiatives. It connects teaching artists with children and youth in rural, Indigenous and underserved communities in Nunavut, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Atlantic Canada. About 300 events take place…
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Inuit Myths Come Out of the Shadows
November 7, 2019Inuit founding myths are the inspiration for Unikkaaqtuat, a cross-cultural blending of circus arts, theatre, music, and video. The actors, musicians, and acrobats of Unikkaaqtuat perform in a world of shadows and video projections, transporting us to an ancient realm where life did not…
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Q&A: Mani Soleymanlou, director, playwright and actor
November 7, 2019Q. You’ve written a cycle of plays, titled from 1 to 9, which deal with identity. Your latest work is titled Zéro. What prompted this choice? A. Another word for zero in Persian and Arabic is “sefr”, which means “void”. I explored this idea in my first creations: Un, Deux and Trois. With…
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A Meeting Place Between Nations
September 11, 2019The kick-off for the National Arts Centre’s new Indigenous Theatre is the high point of a years-long transformation of the NAC into a welcoming space for Indigenous peoples, particularly the Algonquin Anishnabeg on whose unceded territory the NAC is located. In 2016, the NAC reached out to…
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“Our Stories are Medicine”: Indigenous Theatre Takes Flight
September 11, 2019Indigenous Theatre is here. The highly anticipated inaugural season has taken flight with the Mòshkamo festival, a two-and-a-half week “takeover” of the National Arts Centre, showcasing some of the best Indigenous music, theatre and dance. “In a season focused on themes of…
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The Land: A Gathering Place
September 11, 2019We recognize the Algonquin Nation, on whose traditional, unceded territory the National Arts Centre is located. The NAC is taking to heart the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s call to preserve and promote Indigenous languages and cultures through actions such as creating the first…
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Q&A: Kevin Loring, Artistic Director, NAC Indigenous Theatre
September 11, 2019Q. You’re about to launch the first national Indigenous theatre of its kind in the world. How do you feel? A. I’m excited. I take my position as a sacred trust to the Indigenous storytellers across this land. Q. What do you hope to achieve? A. My hope is that NAC Indigenous Theatre will…
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A Sense of Place
April 12, 2019Urban designers call it “sense of place,” that unique collection of qualities and characteristics – visual, cultural, social and environmental – that make a building warm, welcoming and worth caring about. One of the goals of the NAC’s recent renovation to re-orient its front entrance to…
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Canada at its core: 50 years of the NAC
April 12, 2019The opening of the National Arts Centre was a significant moment for Canadians. On May 31, 1969, 40,000 people flooded downtown Ottawa to see the NAC. Its opening night on June 2 was a grand affair that was covered by national and international media. “Not since Expo 67’s shimmering debut…
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New name for le café
April 12, 2019Later this year, the NAC will retire le café, the name of its restaurant since the 1970s. le café rose to national culinary fame under legendary chef Kurt Waldele, a pioneer in the movement to use local ingredients. le café was among the first to embrace the diverse flavours of Canadian…
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Q&A: Nelson McDougall, NAC Orchestra and Tour Manager
April 12, 2019Q. What are the key numbers around the NAC Orchestra’s 50th Anniversary European Tour (May 10 to 26)? A. Nine concerts, 50 education activities, seven cities, 70 musicians and five Canadian soloists performing the music of six Canadian composers. Q. What’s your role? A. I’m like a “chief…
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Connecting Canada and the World
February 7, 2019The next time you’re in the NAC’s Southam Hall lobby, take a moment to peek through the window of the Hexagon Studio. You might see NAC Orchestra clarinetist Sean Rice teaching his students at St. John’s Memorial University via ultra-high definition video-conferencing technology. Or you…