interview
Art and Politics: Interviews on the National Arts Centre
Yesterday, in celebration of the launch of Art and Politics, we brought you an interview with G. Hamilton Southam.
Today we’ll continue this series with conversations with Marcel Masse, Marti Maraden, and Robert Lepage.
On political patronage – The Hon. Marcel Masse was the minister responsible for culture on the Conservative government of Brian Mulroney. The Conservatives had been out of power for a long time and the question of political patronage meant many unqualified people were appointed to positions for political reward but with no qualification for the job they received. Some appointed to the NAC board were no exception. Many years later Mr. Masse, who was extremely politically partisan himself, lamented the system
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Marti Maraden – appointed Director of English Theatre at the National Arts Centre in 1998 and who served for seven years, comments on what she found as theatre people’s public perception of the NAC and what they really felt
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The brilliant Quebec theatre director Robert Lepage was invited to become the Director of French Theatre at the NAC in the early nineties and came full of dreams and illusions about what he could do. Jean Gascon his predecessor as Director of Theatre had also dreamed of combining French and English theatre interests. Here’s what Lepage thought when he was appointed
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A chance to try out new technology in relation to live performance was one of the attractions for Lepage. High Definition Television was high on the agenda. While the project ultimately failed, the Metropolitan Opera over twenty years later demonstrated that it is a good idea as a money-maker for the arts. Sadly it did not fly at the NAC.
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Earlier: Interviews with G. Hamilton Southam
Tomorrow, a discussion with the current President and CEO of the NAC, Peter Herrndorf.
For more information on Art and Politics, visit our website at: http://www.dundurn.com
To learn more about the National Arts Centre, see: http://www.nac-cna.ca/
Tags: Art and Politics, audio, G. Hamilton Southam, interview, Jean Gascon, Marcel Masse, Marti Maraden, National Arts Centre, Ottawa, Peter Herrndorf, Robert Lepage, Sarah Jennings, Southam About the author
Ashleigh is the Manager of Digital Development at Dundurn Press. She is a huge bibliophile who has hard time getting rid of any book, a technophile who always wants to know about the latest gadgets, and a francophile who can't speak French.
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