Ottawa (Canada) — The National Arts Centre is delighted to announce that Canadian film, television and stage actor Colm Feore will host the star-studded Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards (GGPAA) Gala on June 1, in celebration of the outstanding body of work and enduring contribution to the performing arts in Canada by eight extraordinary Canadians. 

Mr. Feore, who has acted as master of ceremonies for the Gala for the past three years, has a distinguished body of work spanning more than 30 years, and he continues to enjoy an extremely busy career. He is currently shooting The Amazing Spiderman 2 and just finished season one of Revolution for NBC. He appeared recently in the CBS series The Good Wife and season three of Neil Jordan's The Borgias, and completed his third season of Museum Secrets, which he narrates for the History Channel. Among dozens of other film roles, Mr. Feore received a Genie nomination for his starring role in the wildly successful Bon Cop, Bad Cop and also starred in the Genie Award-winning film The Trotsky.

A fine stage actor, his Stratford Shakespeare Festival roles include Macbeth in Macbeth and Cyrano in Cyrano de Bergerac, Coriolanus, Fagin in Oliver, Hamlet, Romeo, Richard III, Iago, Petruchio, and Henry Higgins (My Fair Lady). He also played Cassius opposite Denzel Washington in Julius Caesar on Broadway, for which he received the St. Clair Bayfield Award.

Created in 1992, the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards are Canada’s highest honour for the performing arts. This year’s laureates for Lifetime Artistic Achievement are Andrew Dawes, Daniel Lanois, Jean Pierre Lefebvre, Viola Léger, Eric Peterson and Menaka Thakkar. Two other distinguished national awards are also conferred each year as complements to the GGPAA for lifetime artistic achievement. This year Jean Pierre Desrosiers will receive the Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts, while Sarah Polley is the recipient of the National Arts Centre Award, which recognizes exceptional achievement over the past performance year. This year’s Mentorship Program, which serves as an investment in future artistic achievement, pairs playwright and past laureate John Murrell with mid-career actress, dancer and playwright Anita Majumdar as his protégée.

The National Arts Centre is proud to produce the 2013 Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Gala in partnership with the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Foundation and the National Film Board of Canada. The Awards are presented with the support of the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Canada Council for the Arts.

The GGPAAF gratefully acknowledges Enbridge as Presenting Sponsor of the GGPAA Gala. 
The GGPAA Gala is made possible in part by its many sponsors. In particular, the National Arts Centre Foundation would like to thank Associate Sponsors McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Ltd. for their support of the Inspiration Seats youth section and Manulife Financial for its support as our Dinner Sponsor. For the fifth year, Mentorship Program is supported by The Keg Spirit Foundation. National Partners are Aimia, Desjardins Group, Onex Corporation, Scotiabank, and Weber Shandwick Worldwide, and The Printing House is our official Print Sponsor. The GGPAAF also acknowledges the significant contributions of Regional Partners Accenture Canada, The Alvin Segal Family Foundation, The Banff Centre, Bell Media, BMO Financial Group, Cineplex Media, Cisco Systems Canada Inc., Globalive Communications Corp., Groupe Germain, Invesco, The Keg Steakhouse and Bar, NBC Universal Canada, Norton Rose LLP, Pearl Family, Pratt & Whitney Canada, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Rogers Communications Inc., Shangri La Hotels, Vale, Venture Communications Ltd and Via Rail Canada. Impresario Partners include Aecon Group Inc., Barrick Gold Corporation, Birks, Cement Association of Canada, EQ3 Furniture for Life, Holt Renfrew & Company, Jessiman Foundation, KPMG LLP, The Ledcor Group, Mackenzie Investments, Macquarie Capital Markets Canada Ltd., Mark Motors of Ottawa Ltd., PCL Constructors Canada Inc., Raymond James Ltd., Sun Life Financial, Temple Scott and Associates, and Trinity Development Group Inc.. Additional in-kind support for the Awards is received from Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, ecentricarts, Llama Communications, The Royal Canadian Mint, The Westin Ottawa, and media partners The Globe and Mail, The Ottawa Citizen, Clear Channel, The Hill Times and Embassy Magazine, and Le Droit.

Grateful thanks also go to the GGPAA Gala’s National Committee of volunteers, led by Honorary Chair The Hon. Hilary M. Weston, CM, OOnt of Toronto; Co-Chairs Susan Glass, CM, and Arni Thorsteinson of Winnipeg;  and Vice-Chair Kate Alexander Daniels of Toronto. 

Tickets for the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Gala on Saturday, June 1, 2013 are available at the NAC Box Office and through Ticketmaster, 1-888-991-2787 or at http://www.ticketmaster.ca.