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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 return of BIG BANG
August 24, 2020In February 2020, excitement was in the air as the BIG BANG Festival returned to the NAC, taking over the building with children and families exploring the fascinating world of music, sound and the arts. This one-of-a-kind festival included imaginative installations, workshops and…
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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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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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The Next Act: The NAC’s 2020-2023 Strategic Plan
August 7, 2020We are releasing The Next Act, our 3-Year Strategic plan, in a period of upheaval for the performing arts that includes the tremendous challenges posed to artists, performing arts centres and venues by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the widespread recognition of the need to eliminate racism…
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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,…
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NAC Superfan: Diane Obam Dallaire
June 26, 2020Diane Obam Dallaire and her seven-year-old son Samuel were recently walking in downtown Ottawa when they caught sight of the National Art Centre’s three-storey digital Kipnes Lantern. Months after the building had closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she felt a pang of sadness. “I miss…
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Conductor Xian Zhang scores with NAC Foundation Supporters
March 31, 2020On Wednesday, February 26, NAC Foundation supporters spent a wonderful morning listening to the NAC Orchestra in rehearsal with conductor Xian Zhang. The Orchestra performed and refined Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 with soloist George Li, Symphony No. 41 (known as “Jupiter”) and Qigang…
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Bryan Cheng Forges His Own Way with a Well-Loved Classic
February 17, 2020Attending open rehearsals is one of the many benefits donors receive when they support performance, creation and learning across Canada through the National Arts Centre Foundation. On the morning of Wednesday January 29, Ottawa-born and raised cellist Bryan Cheng returned to Southam Hall,…
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Five Minutes with Lara Deutsch
January 9, 2020Flutist Lara Deutsch performs regularly with the NAC Orchestra and with orchestras across the country. She is the recipient of many awards, including the Grand Prize of the 2014 National Arts Centre Orchestra Bursary Competition, and is an alumna of the NAC’s Young Artists Program. Lara…
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Zones Théâtrales and Indigenous Theatre Join Forces
January 9, 2020Every two years, the National Arts Centre and venues throughout the National Capital Region celebrate French theatre with Francophone communities across Canada during Zones Théâtrales. Under the artistic direction of Gilles Poulin-Denis, Zones Théâtrales took place from September 9 to 14.…