National Arts Centre a Gradual Return to Live Performances and a Continuation of Online Programming this Fall
The National Arts Centre (NAC) today unveiled details of its exciting September artistic lineup, which includes a gradual return to live performances in front of small audiences at the NAC and across Canada, as well as new online offerings.
Live shows get underway Friday September 11 at the NAC. They will take place in front of small, invited audiences due to the ongoing public health guidelines limiting gatherings to 50 people for performance venues in Ontario. For now, no tickets will be sold to the public, who will instead be invited to watch live performances online from the comfort of their own home.
September’s artistic highlights include live concerts in the NAC Fourth Stage as part of Fridays at the Fourth, NAC Popular Music and Variety's weekly emerging music series, as well as a virtual dance party presented by NAC Indigenous Theatre featuring the iconic group A Tribe Called Red with special guests Silla and Rise. The NAC Orchestra returns with new live and recorded programming, including chamber music in the Fourth Stage, as well as gems from the Orchestra outstanding 50 year-old online concert archive. The Grand Acts of Theatre initiative will also kick-off this month in venues in various Canadian locations, with recorded performances to be presented at a later date on the NAC Website. More performances will be announced in the coming weeks.
NAC SUPPORT FOR CANADA’S ARTS SECTOR
This fall’s artistic programming is part of the NAC’s ongoing commitment to leading and supporting the recovery and renewal of the Canadian performing arts sector, as outlined in The Next Act, its three-year strategic plan released in August 2020. The NAC has also worked with over 40 arts organizations to bring together tools and resources intended to help performing arts centres and venues across the country to navigate the path to re-opening in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. They are available to every arts professionals, producers, managers and workers on the NAC Website.
SEPTEMBER PROGRAMMING HIGHLIGHTS
Fridays at the Fourth Weekly Emerging Music Series (NAC Popular Music and Variety)
These concerts will be livestreamed online for free from the NAC Fourth Stage as part of the ongoing #CanadaPerforms series, which allows audiences to discover the incredible music of new Canadian artists from the comfort of their homes. The NAC launched #CanadaPerforms in March 2020 as a relief fund for performing artists. It has since become an important live streaming platform thanks to an extended collaboration with its founding partner, Facebook Canada.
Dates :
September 11: Musk Ox
September 18: Angelique Francis
September 25: Kimya
How to watch: Event from the Fourth Stage will be livestreamed on the NAC Popular Music and Variety Facebook page.
We’re Still Here: Virtual Dance Party featuring A Tribe Called Red with special guests Silla and Rise!
This virtual dance party marks the first anniversary of the NAC Indigenous Theatre’s launch. Filled with memories from last September’s Mòshkamo: Indigenous Arts Rising festival and the stunning productions of the Indigenous Theatre’s 2019-2020 inaugural season, this show will celebrate the resilience of Indigenous Peoples during these difficult but important times.
Date: September 19
How to watch: Event from the Fourth Stage will be livestreamed on the NAC Indigenous Theatre Facebook page. Visit the NAC Indigenous Theatre Web page for more information.
NACO at the Fourth Livestreamed Classical Music Concerts
NAC Orchestra members present chamber concerts live and streamed from the NAC’s Fourth Stage, featuring traditional classical and contemporary work from a diverse range of composers. The debut concert on September 15 features concertmaster Yosuke Kawasaki and associate concertmaster Jessica Linnebach in lively violin duos.
Grand Acts of Theatre (NAC English Theatre)
Grand Acts of Theatre is an initiative led by English Theatre Artistic Director Jillian Keiley in which 11 of Canada’s most innovative theatre companies have been engaged to create and perform large-scale, new works in response to these times. The works will be performed outdoors in front of live audiences in various Canadian locations, filmed, and later shared with a national and international audience online.
Dates (subject to change):
September 12 : Talk Is Free Theatre (Barrie, Ont.) in association with Outside the March (Toronto, ON) – Something Bubbled, Something Blue
September 13: Théâtre Cercle Molière / Synonym Art Consultation (Winnipeg, MB) – Intramural.e
September 19: Prismatic Arts Festival (Halifax, NS) – Shifting Verse
September 20 : Curtain Razors (Regina, SK) – Trespassers Waltz
How to watch: visit Grand Acts of Theatre for more details.
Prologue(s) (NAC French Theatre)
This socially-distanced project, created by Mani Soleymanlou and coproduced by Orange Noyée and NAC French Theatre, will be presented in October. The public has unitl September 11 to sign up to see an original theatre performance staged outside with physical distancing measures in place. More details here.
More NAC performances and events from all the NAC disciplines will be announced in the coming weeks.
COMING SOON: EXPANSION OF NAC ARTS EDUCATION PROGRAMS
Later this fall, the NAC will launch a new Arts Education section on the NAC Website offering new digital education programming in Dance, Music, Theatre (English, French, and Indigenous) for schools, students, emerging artists and families. You can look forward to features such as virtual workshops and performances, virtual artist residencies, professional development for teachers, arts learning resources, and artist training programs. Our new education offerings, led by acclaimed and celebrated artists and arts leaders from across Canada, will soon be available at nac-cna.ca/en/schools.
THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS
The NAC Foundation would like to thank the following lead sponsors and donors for making programming at the NAC possible: The Azrieli Foundation, BMO Financial Group, Facebook Canada, The Jenepher Hooper Fund for Theatre at the National Arts Centre, Mark Motors Group, The Janice and Earle O’Born Fund for Excellence in the Performing Arts, The RBC Foundation, and The Slaight Family Foundation. Thanks also to our many other supporters across the country.
ABOUT THE NAC
The National Arts Centre is Canada’s bilingual, multi-disciplinary home for the performing arts. The NAC presents, creates, produces, and co-produces performing arts programming in various streams—the NAC Orchestra, Dance, English Theatre, French Theatre, Indigenous Theatre, and Popular Music and Variety—and nurtures the next generation of audiences and artists from across Canada. The NAC is located in the National Capital Region on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabeg Nation.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
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Annabelle Cloutier
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Sean Fitzpatrick
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Nadia Kharyati |
Alexandra Campeau
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Carl Martin |
Camylle Gauthier-Trépanier
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