Canada is Our Stage includes a strong new emphasis on creation and the development of an Indigenous Theatre Department  

March 24, 2016 – OTTAWA (Canada) – With the National Arts Centre’s exciting architectural rejuvenation project well underway, the NAC today unveiled details of its strategic plan for the next five years. Entitled Canada is Our Stage: 2015−2020, the strategic plan announces the development of a new Department of Indigenous Theatre, a game-changing emphasis on Canadian creation to help artists and arts organizations across Canada create ambitious new work, and a focused effort to make the NAC a more national organization for Francophones.

“The major goals in this strategic plan, including our new focus on Canadian creation, developing an Indigenous Theatre department, and a renewed commitment to French Canada, are ambitious initiatives, but we are confident that we can make them a reality,” said NAC President and CEO Peter Herrndorf.

“Under the leadership of President and CEO Peter Herrndorf, the NAC has grown into a thriving arts institution that is collaborating with artists from every part of Canada,” said NAC Board Chair Adrian Burns. “With this strategic plan, the National Arts Centre is entering into another very exciting era.”

The strategic plan contains many ambitious initiatives on behalf of artists and arts organizations across Canada. Here are some of the highlights:

A NEW FOCUS ON CREATION

The NAC will place a game-changing emphasis on Canadian creation to help artists and arts organizations across Canada create ambitious new work for national and international audiences. The NAC will invest in research and development, workshopping and residencies for new works in music, dance and theatre. The NAC will also invest in new work that has had a first run, but that needs to go “back into the lab” before it can be remounted and showcased successfully.

The NAC Foundation is committed to generating an entirely new level of fundraising to support these efforts.  With this kind of venture capital or “risk’ money, the NAC will provide artists and arts organizations across Canada with the resources they need to produce compelling new work that will resonate with national and international audiences.  

“Through major gifts from philanthropists and corporate donors, the National Arts Centre will pave the way for a new model in creation in this country,” said NAC Foundation CEO Jayne Watson.   “It’s a model that will give artists and arts organizations across Canada the time and resources that great work requires, and that gives our artists a chance to achieve the kind of international success they have long deserved.”

INDIGENOUS THEATRE

In 1969, the National Arts Centre opened its doors as a performing arts centre with a resident orchestra, and outstanding performances in music, dance and theatre. The NAC was unique not only because it was multidisciplinary, but also because it was bilingual. Structuring the organization with English Theatre and French Theatre departments, in accordance with

Canada’s two official languages, was also an expression of how Canada viewed itself at that time.

Today Canada is learning to see itself differently.

In 2017, the NAC will appoint its first-ever Artistic Director of Indigenous Theatre, and in the fall of 2019 – the year of the NAC’s 50th anniversary –  the NAC’s new Indigenous Theatre Department will launch its first full season of programming, reflecting a fuller story of Canada to Canadians.

“The story of Indigenous People in Canada is the longest, most dramatic saga in our history, and it continues today,” said Sarah Garton Stanley, Associate Artistic Director of English Theatre. “Audiences need to hear that story. It is part of who we are.”

“Indigenous theatre artists have always sought to share our work,” said Michael Greyeyes, Artistic Director of Signal Theatre. “This desire to share, create, and build has led us to this present moment, and I'm gratified that other Canadian artists and administrators stand in support of the creation of this new home for Indigenous theatre.  Our work requires a national stage, and this idea will allow these many voices a place, informed by our history and traditional ways of knowing, to gather and swell.”

The NAC has been building its relationships with Indigenous artists over the past decade.

Former English Theatre Artistic Director Peter Hinton was an ardent champion of Indigenous theatre, ensuring its presence in six successful seasons with works such as Copper Thunderbird by Marie Clements (2007), The Ecstasy of Rita Joe by George Ryga (2009), Where the Blood Mixes by Kevin Loring by former NAC Playwright-in-Residence (2010) and Night by Human Cargo (2010) and the all-Indigenous production of King Lear directed by Peter Hinton (2012). 

This tradition has been carried forward by English Theatre Artistic Director Jillian Keiley and Associate Artistic Director Sarah Garton Stanley, who have facilitated an important conversation on Indigenous theatre in Canada through The Summit, The Study and The Repast – major gatherings of Indigenous and non- Indigenous artists from across Canada. In addition, the NAC has worked closely with Indigenous artists and communities through its Music Alive Program in western and northern Canada, and the NAC’s national Scene festivals have showcased hundreds of First Nations, Métis and Inuit artists from every region of the country.

In February, the NAC met with leaders in the Indigenous arts community to begin planning the search process to name the first Artistic Director of Indigenous Theatre. This new programming stream will not be limited to theatre, and will also embrace music, dance and other performing arts forms.

EXPANDING THE MUSIC ALIVE PROGRAM TO ATLANTIC CANADA

The NAC’s Music Alive Program, which sends local teaching musicians into mostly rural and remote schools, has now reached more than 105,000 students, teachers and community members in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nunavut. The program promotes musical and cultural diversity through its classical, Indigenous and cross-cultural streams, and has increased access to music education in rural and remote communities.

Over the next five years, the NAC will partner with classroom teachers, arts specialists and teaching artists across Atlantic Canada to extend the Music Alive Program to the four Atlantic provinces.

ARCHITECTURAL REJUVENATION

Through the Architectural Rejuvenation project, designed by the internationally renowned firm Diamond Schmitt Architects, the NAC will finally embrace the Nation’s Capital and welcome patrons with a magnificent glass entrance and breathtaking new public spaces. The NAC will animate these spaces with a wide range of community engagement activities from morning to night. The new National Arts Centre will be as much a community centre as it is a performing arts centre.  In addition, two of the NAC’s major performance spaces – Southam Hall and the Fourth Stage – will undergo major renovations to improve sound and accessibility. The new NAC will open to the public on July 1, 2017.

A NATIONAL, FRANCOPHONE ORGANIZATION

While the NAC has played a much larger role in English Canada over the past 15 years, the NAC recognizes it needs to play a more important role in the lives of Francophones in the National Capital Region, in Quebec, and across the country.

“As Canada’s national, bilingual performing arts organization, we are determined to become just as national in French as we are in English by renewing our commitment to Francophone artists, arts organizations and audiences,” said Robert Gagné, Administrative Director of French Theatre.

In the Nation’s Capital, the NAC will give Francophone programming a more prominent place on its stages and deepen its relationships with arts and cultural organizations.

In Quebec, the NAC will commission, co-produce and partner with artists, arts organizations and major Quebec festivals on important new work, and cultivate philanthropic support in the province for major artistic projects.

And across Canada, the NAC will continue to support Francophone artists through initiatives such as Zones Théâtrales, a biennial festival for Francophone theatre artists from across Canada and the regions of Quebec, and strengthen partnerships with national cultural organizations.

RE-CREATING ARTSALIVE.CA

The NAC will re-create the NAC’s award-winning arts education website ArtsAlive.ca as a cutting-edge digital learning platform, filling a critical need for high-quality digital arts material that can be used in classrooms across Canada. This platform will also become the go-to place not only for students, but for performing arts lovers everywhere.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Rosemary Thompson
Director, Communications and Public Affairs National Arts Centre
613 947-7000, ext. 260

613 762-4118 (cell)

rosemary.thompson@nac-cna.ca