At the National Arts Centre, we like to say that “Canada is our stage,” a statement that underlines our commitment to work with artists and arts organizations across the country to build a national stage for the performing arts. The Scene festivals are a perfect illustration of that commitment.
This week Ontario Scene opens, and will showcase 600 of the best established and emerging artists across this province. It’s the seventh in a series of festivals that began in 2003 which shine a national spotlight on a different region of the country every two years.
Audiences in the national capital region have discovered artists from every corner of the country including: Atlantic Scene (2003), Alberta Scene (2005), Quebec Scene (2007), BC Scene (2009), Prairie Scene (2011), Northern Scene (2013) Ontario Scene (2015) and the planned month-long celebration of Canada Scene (2017) to celebrate Canada’s 150th Anniversary.
The Executive Producer of the Scene Festivals, Heather Moore, says that audiences will discover that “Ontario is a place where artists blur artistic boundaries—merging film with live performance to create award-winning theatre like Post Eden, and the blending of classical music with dance, theatre, and video to create the evocative new works like Century Song.”
Audiences will be able to discover and re-discover artists like Shad, Daniel Lanois, Molly Johnson, Ron Sexsmith, Peggy Baker, Basia Bulat, or see the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony create a mash-up of music and technology in their concert, Quantum: Music at the Frontier of Science.
It’s an exciting look at Canada’s most populous province.
