Peter Herrndorf – today’s President and CEO of the National Arts Centre (title changed from Director General used in Southam’s day) comments on the importance of good contacts in government to get things done at federal cultural agencies and the connections he developed, especially with former Finance Minister Mitchell Sharp, the elder statesman who was the right hand to Prime Minister Chretien, als with and the former deputy minister of Canadian Heritage and, later Clerk of the Privy Council (the most powerful job in the Canadian public service), Alex Himelfarb.

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Herrndorf speaks on the importance of having a national cultural life

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Herrndorf comments on the climate of the times for the arts in Canada today

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Earlier:

Interviews with G. Hamilton Southam

Interviews on the National Arts Centre

We hope you’ve enjoyed these audio interviews. 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/

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/

We’re very excited that today is the release of a Dundurn book on the history of the National Arts Centre, Art and Politics.

The author, Sarah Jennings, is a political/cultural journalist who served for nearly a decade as the CBC’s national arts reporter from Ottawa. She’s provided us with some of the MP3’s of her interviews in preparation for her book, and for the next three days we’ll be sharing them with you.

Today, we give you Sarah’s clips from Sarah’s interview with G. Hamilton Southam, a member of the wealthy Southam publishing family and the man who took on the assignment to build the National Arts Centre, subsequently becoming its first director general.  His links to power through his personal friendship with then-Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson were crucial to allowing the project to be completed in the face of runaway costs. Mr. Pearson had decided that the new NAC would be his Centenial Project for the Capitol.

Now, most government building projects would require lengthy tenders and architectural competitions. Mr. Southam was able to go directly to the P.M. and allowed to go ahead and choose his own architect. Mr. Southam  was age 90 when he gave this interview.  He died on July 1, 2008.

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The question of rising costs for construction was a huge political problem and led to questions in the House of Commons. Southam comments on the rise in costs

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On runaway costs – Southam comments on why he was able to keep going, despite the costs

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Tomorrow, interviews with Marcel Masse, Marti Maraden, and Robert Lepage.

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/