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The Spirit Horse Returns: A Fun Afternoon of Artmaking with Rhonda Snow
March 14, 2024The NAC’s Canal Lobby was a creative playground for audience members of all ages on February 11, preceding the NAC Orchestra and NAC Indigenous Theatre’s sold-out performance of The Spirit Horse Returns. Anishinaabe artist and Ojibwe horse breed expert Rhonda Snow delighted patrons with…
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Championing Francophone creativity
March 14, 2024In recent months, the National Creation Fund, fuelled by donors, has played a pivotal role in amplifying the voices of Quebec artists and propelling their creative endeavors to new heights. Projet Polytechnique Since November, the documentary theatre company Porte Parole has been touring…
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From the ice to the stage: Sean St. John’s journey to empower...
January 23, 2024Question: What do sports, the performing arts and the National Bank of Canada have in common? Answer: Teamwork, community, the desire to empower youth, and Sean St. John. Sean is an Ottawa-born descendant of Irish, French, and Mohawk First Nations heritage. He is also an Executive Vice…
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Dance for Every Body
January 12, 2024Siôned Watkins, NAC Dance Education Associate and Teaching Artist, is making dance accessible for all. A former professional dancer, she is grateful to have made the leap from performing on the NAC stage to working for the NAC to promote, celebrate, and share the gifts of movement and…
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A Life-Changing Gift
January 12, 2024Devang Ghosh, a third-year Carleton University student, celebrated an important anniversary when he attended Handel’s Messiah at the NAC in December—it was the very first NAC performance he saw a little over a year ago. “That evening sparked a love for the performing arts within me,” he…
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99 and counting…
January 12, 2024Maryse Robillard has been a part of the fabric of the National Arts Centre for over 50 years! She turns 100 this February, so we thought it would be a good moment to celebrate her as a volunteer extraordinaire, a long-time loyal donor, and a member of the Emeritus Circle. Maryse knows…
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Margarete Mrak: A gift that transcends time
December 18, 2023Margarete Mrak, the beloved matriarch of the Mark Motors Group, passed away on October 30, 2023, eleven years after her husband, Louis. Among the many gifts she leaves her children, including the qualities of grace, integrity and acceptance of people and circumstances, is an appreciation…
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Creation: bringing new Canadian works to the stage
August 15, 2023Donor support of the National Creation Fund provide the time, space and resources for performing artists to bring new works to their full potential. I Forgive You was created in response to a violent homophobic attack that left choral director Scott Jones paralyzed from the waist down in…
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Professional pathways: Learning opportunities for artists and arts professionals
August 15, 2023This year, 46 talented young artists from around the world came together for the annual NAC Orchestra Mentorship Program – a unique, three-week professional development program for emerging orchestral musicians, conductors, and librarians. NACO musicians served as principal faculty,…
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Sector Recovery: cross-Canada partnerships, co-productions, and touring
August 15, 2023It was full speed ahead for Mani Soleymanlou's first NAC French Theatre season as Artistic Director. Un. Deux. Trois., an epic performance written and directed by Mani, opened at the NAC in September 2022 before going on tour to eight other Canadian cities—Sudbury, Toronto, Montréal,…
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Donald Meakin — Grateful Memories
April 17, 2023Memory is a wonderful thing, and for Don Meakin the many performances he has enjoyed at the National Arts Centre over the years have enriched his bank of memories tremendously. And he is profoundly grateful. From a young age Don valued creative arts such as painting and writing poetry and,…
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A Special Summer at Your NAC
September 29, 2022This past summer the NAC’s stages and spaces came alive with shows for every type of audience. Canada’s diverse communities saw themselves represented through blockbuster musicals, one-person plays, dance troupes, and music from all corners of the country. With more than 200 shows, there…
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A Special Gathering in the Land of Pop
September 29, 2022“I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know the women in the Global Network of Women and Non-Binary Producers for the last year over Zoom,” said Erin Costelo, an award-winning producer from Halifax, Nova Scotia. “Our in-person meeting in Sweden was so much more inspiring than I could have…
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Learning Side-by-Side with the NAC Orchestra
September 29, 2022Thanks to your generous support, the inaugural NAC Orchestra Mentorship Program was an outstanding success! From May 31 to June 17, forty-nine talented emerging and early career professional orchestral musicians from Canada, the United States, Taiwan, China, Germany, and Mexico took part in…
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Dancers in the Sky
February 14, 2022The Kipnes Lantern is often referred to as the NAC’s “Fifth Stage”, and rightly so. The Lantern, named after longtime NAC Foundation donors Dianne and Irv Kipnes, is a signature feature of the NAC’s architectural rejuvenation. Since 2017, the Lantern has served as a beacon for the…