JUNE IS FOR FESTIVALS ON #CANADAPERFORMS
Starting Thursday June 11, the #RoadToCanadaDay series will present and livestream over 25 festivals until June 30, including the Winnipeg Folk Festival, the Dawson City Music Festival, Folks on the Rock and the Halifax Jazz Festival.
OTTAWA (Canada) – #CanadaPerforms continues to present artists, workshops and events throughout the month of June, focusing on support for festivals that have been affected by COVID-19 restrictions through the #RoadtoCanadaDay series. The complete lineup of festivals joining #RoadToCanadaDay is announced today, starting with the Mariposa Folk Festival presenting Julian Taylor & Kalyna Rakel on the Mariposa Virtual Stage at 8:30 p.m. EDT, and the Vancouver Island MusicFest and the livestreamed performance of Corwin Fox the Cumberland Hotel on Thursday June 11 at 11 p.m. EDT (8 p.m. PDT).
The #RoadToCanadaDay series will feature performing artists scheduled to perform at festivals across Canada that are integral to the life and ecology of those communities and were forced to shutter due to the pandemic.
#RoadToCanadaDay will form a large network of livestreamed festivals and events that safely encourage people from their community to join online, and for artists to come together through self-distancing measures, respecting guidelines from local, provincial, territorial and federal authorities. Canadians will be invited to join and engage with these events by watching livestreamed performances online, to discover diverse and emerging performing artists from across the land.
“Festivals play an integral part in the culture of Canada. We are proud to be partnering with festivals across Canada to showcase great events, artists, and communities who have worked tirelessly to present festivals every summer.”, said Heather Gibson, the NAC’s Executive Producer of Popular Music and Variety, and lead programmer for #CanadaPerforms.
This next phase of #CanadaPerforms is made possible through a two-year partnership between the NAC and Facebook Canada that was recently announced to continue to bring the arts into people’s homes across Canada and around the world. #CanadaPerforms will continue to experiment and innovate with live-streamed performances, through digital engagement and by augmenting existing programming at the National Arts Centre.
“Many summer performing arts festivals, which are the social and economic lifeblood for communities across Canada, have been forced to reinvent their approach due to COVID-19 restrictions. Through #CanadaPerforms and now #RoadToCanadaDay our hope is that these critically important cultural celebrations will find a new stage and new audiences online hailing from across the country.”, said Kevin Chan, head of public policy at Facebook Canada.
“Festivals and presenters of year-round concert series as the Winnipeg Folk Festival have been deeply impacted by COVID-19. The entire ecosystem around us – including artists, venues, agents, managers and technical staff – has been struggling ever since the pandemic began as we were first hit and will be some of the last to recover. It is crucial to our industry’s survival that the National Arts Centre has created these innovative partnerships like #RoadToCanadaDay that help the industry stay alive and get people back to work. We are so grateful to work with them in this special way”, said Lynne Skromeda, Executive Director, Winnipeg FolkFestival.
#ROADTOCANADADAY – LIST OF PARTICIPATING FESTIVALS
Visit our website for the complete lineup of confirmed festivals taking part in #RoadToCanadaDay. Stay connected and engaged with #RoadToCanadaDay and #CanadaPerforms via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Go to https://nac-cna.ca/en/canadaperforms for complete details and schedule.
ABOUT #CANADAPERFORMS
#CanadaPerforms is a national platform that features artists from coast to coast to coast wanting to experiment and innovate with live-streamed performances. It explores digital engagement, augmenting existing programming at the National Arts Centre. The National Arts Centre and Facebook Canada announced on May 22 a two-year partnership that will focus on the evolution and extension of their #CanadaPerforms collaboration. Facebook Canada committed a $500,000 investment to benefit artists through livestreamed performances, music events and festivals.
#CanadaPerforms was initially launched on March 19 by the National Arts Centre and its founding partner, Facebook Canada. The $700,000 relief fund helped ease the financial strain for 700 Canadian artists and published authors impacted by the closure of performance venues and literary events across Canada related to pandemic. Livestreamed performances from March 19 to May 31 were viewed by over 4.75 million people from coast to coast to coast, and lifted the spirits of Canadians during the crisis. #CanadaPerforms inspired and shaped other livestreaming efforts and funds, and helped inspire a sister initiative in Europe, #IrelandPerforms. This first phase of #CanadaPerforms made possible through the financial support from Facebook Canada, Slaight Music, RBC Foundation, SiriusXM Canada, and the Bennett Family Foundation.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE
The National Arts Centre raised its curtains for the first time in 1969. A bilingual, multi-disciplinary home for Canada’s most creative artists, the NAC strives to be artistically adventurous in each of its programming streams — the NAC Orchestra, Dance, English Theatre, French Theatre, Indigenous Theatre, and Popular Music and Variety. The Centre’s national role is reflected in its motto: “Canada is our Stage.” The NAC collaborates with artists and arts organizations across the country, acts as a catalyst for performance; invests in ambitious new works by artists and arts organizations nation-wide; and nurtures the next generation of audiences and artists from across Canada. Situated on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe nation, the NAC is accessible and welcoming to all, and offers a variety of free programming and events.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Annabelle Cloutier
Executive Director, Communications and Public Affairs
National Arts Centre
613-301-2764
Erin Taylor
Facebook Canada
Nadia Kharyati
Communications Officer
National Arts Centre