NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE CONGRATULATES SARAH GARTON STANLEY ON WINNING MAJOR U.S. AWARD FOR THEATRE
Media Advisory
NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE CONGRATULATES SARAH GARTON STANLEY ON WINNING MAJOR U.S. AWARD FOR THEATRE
OTTAWA, August 9, 2016 — Sarah Garton Stanley, Associate Artistic Director of English Theatre at the National Arts Centre, received a major U.S. award for her work on The Cycle, a three-part investigation focusing on the theatrical works created by Indigenous artists in Canada.
The Elliot Hayes Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dramaturgy was presented to Ms. Stanley at the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of Americas Annual Conference in Portland, Oregon last week.
Ms. Stanley’s work engaged deeply with Indigenous Artists across Canada to help to shed light on and enshrine the Indigenous Theatre. The Summit, which took place in April 2014, brought together leaders from the Indigenous performance community with institutional ‘listeners’ from across Canada and Australia, to engage in a dialogue about Indigenous Theatre in Canada.
In May 2015, more than 45 Indigenous leaders, artists, and students from across Canada gathered at Debajehmujig’s creation space, on Manitoulin Island, for the second phase of the project entitled The Study. There they focused on readings from the Indigenous Theatre and dove into existing practice in studio and workshop environments.
The Repast, the third phase of the project, culminated in an immersive performance event and brought together over 100 professionals from the national theatre community to share in the findings of the overall project.
The project’s aim was to impact broadly on programming choices being made by theatres across Canada, and to offer vital and necessary steps towards bringing Indigenous approaches and stories closer to the centre of Canada’s theatrical and, by extension, national identity.
“We are proud of the work that Sarah Garton Stanley has accomplished by listening and working with Indigenous artists across the country,” said Peter Herrndorf, the President and CEO of the National Arts Centre. “Her work inspired the National Arts Centre’s 2015-2020 Strategic Plan and our desire to open an Indigenous Theatre to mark our 50th Anniversary in 2019.”
Ms. Stanley says that her work on The Cycle helped participants to “learn deep lessons about the nature of power in art making.” Many leading Canadian arts organizations participated in the project including The Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance, The Banff Centre, Luminato, Debajehmujig Storytellers and many others.
In her letter of recommendation, Yvette Nolan, co-curator The Summit/Study Cycle on Indigenous Theatre, said: “[Sarah] has been visionary in that she has seen what is not there and worked to make it visible, make room for it. Along the way, she has worked to educate herself, to seek out and listen to the teachings. Then she holds all that knowledge and makes it available and visible to her colleagues in the National Arts Centre and the national theatre scene. She practices a radical inclusion.”
Stephen Colella, LMDA’s Vice President of Programs, said of the project: “Sarah was able to marshal the resources of a large institution in order to make it an ally in the effort to make visible that which is not yet seen enough - the stories and traditions of Canada's First Nations theatre artists. While the full scope of the outcome of The Cycle is not yet known, the change it has helped to create at the National Arts Centre with the creation of the Indigenous Theatre section is an incredibly important first step.”
To learn more about its existing successes and ongoing goals, please visit the NAC’s website at: http://nac-cna.ca/en/cycle/indigenous. For more information about LMDA, please visit our website: www.lmda.org.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Rosemary Thompson Jeremy Stoller
Director of Communications VP Communications
National Arts Centre Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of America
(613) 947-7000, ext. 335 communications@lmda.org