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Jim and Pat Whitehead – Patrons, performers
December 2, 2020It was love at first sight — almost! Jim Whitehead first met his wife Pat almost 80 years ago when they were children. “Pat came to visit relatives in Orangeville, Ontario, where I lived at the time and we became friends.” Years passed, both married other people and, when they by chance…
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Donor profile: Barb Newbegin
December 2, 2020Barb Newbegin says it well: “You have to pay it forward.” That philosophy is why she volunteers and is so generous to the organizations she cares about. It is also why she has remembered the National Arts Centre Foundation with a gift in her Will. Born in Calgary, Barb lived in various…
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Bob and Marian Cumming – Patrons par excellence!
December 2, 2020“We’d be absolutely lost without the National Arts Centre!” And when you speak with Marian and Bob Cumming, you know they mean exactly what they say. The Cummings’ association with the NAC goes back 50 years to its very first performance. Eagerly anticipated, they were delighted by the…
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A Grand Success for Canadian Theatre Companies Across Canada
December 1, 2020This past summer NAC English Theatre created Grand Acts of Theatre to re-ignite creativity, bring hope, and lift the spirits of theatre artists and performing arts lovers from across the country. Co-curated by English Theatre Artistic Director Jillian Keiley and Sherry Yoon, Artistic…
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Discovering Common Ground Through Dance
November 4, 2020Over the past many weeks and months, the NAC Dance team has been working hard to offer programs aimed at keeping dance at the forefront of people’s minds and hearts. Now in its third year, the NAC Dance Visiting Dance Artist program is doing just that. The Visiting Dance Artist program is…
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Young Musicians Receive World Class Instruction from their Living Rooms
October 1, 2020The thing about music auditions is that it doesn’t matter whether you are playing for a jury in-person or via Zoom, the nerves can hit you just the same. Throughout the spring, in homes throughout the country and around the world, exceptional young musicians who were set to participate in…
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History in the Making: Impact Report 2019-2020
August 24, 2020Looking back on the NAC’s 2019–2020 season, one word rises to the surface of my mind: gratitude. Yes, the season was unsettling, challenging and so much more, but the events of 2019–2020 shone a wonderful light on all that we have to be thankful for. Almost immediately after our stages…
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The inaugural season of Indigenous Theatre
August 24, 2020Mòshkamo Indigenous Arts Festival officially launched on September 14 with an emotional canoe voyage on the Rideau Canal to the National Arts Centre, hosted by the Algonquin Anishinabeg Nation to the National Arts Centre. Sixty Indigenous leaders, artists, and community members from across…
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The NAC Orchestra Romances Listeners with a Quartet of Recordings
August 24, 2020Under the direction of NAC Orchestra Music Director Alexander Shelley, the NAC Orchestra released new recordings in the spring of 2020 featuring Romantic music by Clara and Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms. The first album, Darlings of the Muses, included improvisations inspired…
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From Pirouettes to Floor-flips, Dance Education Helps Aspiring Young Dancers Perfect their...
August 24, 2020With the help of your generous donations, young dancers had incredible and diverse learning opportunities through NAC Dance Education & Outreach during the first months of 2020. When Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s (RWB) Wizard of OZ was in town, 17 intermediate and advanced dancers from…
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Our Amazing Donors: Together, we’re shaping the future of the performing arts...
August 24, 2020Of over 4,500 Donor's Circle members in 2019-2020, we are grateful that 31% of you have chosen to support the NAC on a monthly basis. Monthly giving provides a strong foundation for our artistic disciplines to plan and program with confidence, ensuring the performing arts you love will…
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Something for Everyone at Your NAC
August 24, 2020Before the doors closed in March, the NAC’s public space programming thrived in the many ways we’d hoped they would. Since the “new” NAC opened its doors in 2017, our public spaces have provided a unique opportunity to engage with Ottawa and all its communities in new and exciting…
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Canada’s Digital Stage
August 24, 2020#CanadaPerforms was initially launched on March 19 by the National Arts Centre and its founding partner, Facebook Canada. The short-term relief fund helped ease the financial strain for 700 professional Canadian artists and published authors impacted by the closure of performance venues and…
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NAC English Theatre Brings Together Artists and Audiences to Reimagine Theatre for...
August 24, 2020As part of its response to the escalating climate crisis —and in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic— the National Arts Centre hosted an extraordinary three-day/three-country digital experiment to explore how artists and arts institutions can rethink their practice and programming in…
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NAC Superfan: Ken McKinlay
July 17, 2020Ken McKinlay has been coming to concerts at the National Arts Centre for more than 28 years. He sees at least 30 performances each season. Ken is the NAC Orchestra’s number one fan. “I’m missing the Orchestra like crazy,” says Ken, who last saw the NACO perform Mozart on February 26,…
