National Arts Centre — Attraction in Ottawa

The creation of Canada’s National Arts Centre was part of the explosion of pride and optimism that led to the celebration of Canada’s 100th birthday in 1967. Unfortunately, the NAC’s construction fell behind schedule. It did not open until June 2, 1969, two years after the celebratory year. It was the culmination of the aspirations of Canada’s leading artistic figures of the time. Many, such as Ludmilla Chiareff, Celia Franca, Jean Gascon, Louis Applebaum, Nicolas Goldschmidt, John Hirsch and Herman Geiger Torel, were the founders of our leading artistic companies and festivals and they worked collegially as advisors for both the physical design and future purpose of the NAC. Despite their differing interests they believed strongly they were creating something important for Canada. (In later years all would be recipients of Canada’s highest honour in the arts, The Governor General’s Performing Arts Award)

Above all, the NAC benefited from the leadership of a cultivated, far-seeing and highly-placed visionary in the person of G. Hamilton Southam, an ex-diplomat and Ottawa resident, and also from his personal friendship with the project’s leading patron, Canada’s Prime Minister of the day, Lester B. Pearson.

In the nearly seven years that it took to build, the Prime Minister defended the project in a Minority Parliament and ensured it had the money it needed, while Southam personally led the project and guaranteed that the quality of design and construction was first-class in every way. Superb facilities and highly trained stage crews, which were part of the organization from the outset, have made it a favourite of leading performers from all over the world. Its three main performing spaces, the The intimate Fourth Stage which serves the local community was created out of a former shop space and party room in 2000.

Hamilton Southam was not only the guide that led the building to fruition. He also became its first Director General. Under his leadership during its first decade, the NAC blossomed into full-fledged activity. Its first and perhaps finest creation was the National Arts Centre Orchestra, a 45 member chamber-sized ensemble designed not to compete with Canada’s larger symphony orchestras elsewhere in the country. Approved by the federal cabinet, it was created to be mobile and fleet-footed, intended to tour across Canada and to the country’s nethermost regions. It set out to do this immediately.

Theatre at the NAC was not neglected although an early plan to make Ottawa the Stratford Festival Theatre company’s winter home fell through. Instead, theatre initially was a mix of visiting companies from across the country and in-house productions. Despite severe growing pains, by the late seventies, the bare outlines of a permanent resident company was being sketched out under the leadership of Jean Roberts as Director of Theatre with Jean Herbiet as the associate director for French theatre.

The following period at the NAC, often known as “the dark years”, was marked by turmoil and instability, primarily caused by reduced funding from the federal government upon which the centre depended. After several interim leaders, a new director, Yvon DesRochers, was appointed along with a new chairman, businessman Robert Landry, who was well-connected to the Conservative government that had come to power in Ottawa. Working as a team they tried to devise a new formula to save the performing arts centre. With an expanding television universe and a projected 100 new channels on the horizon, they saw the electronic medium as...

I love the aesthetic of the NAC and the shows they host are great. I also adored the fact that they have a discount for anyone under 30 right now, it can be extremely difficult as a young person to see art at an affordable price. I had a terrible experience when going to see Sleeping Beauty last night. I went with a few friends and my last friend was meeting us there. We entered through the parking garage to southam hall and did not have to present tickets at all to enter the building. My friend entered through the Elgin street door from which they refused to let her past the front entrance to come meet me. She called me on the phone and I tried to speak to the person but they wouldn’t allow her in. I will point out that my friend is a racial minority, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that she was denied entry from the street entrance when anyone entering from the parking garage is supposedly a ticket holder, by assumption. So I guess if you drive you’re not going to sneak into a show? Also why would she lie? Seemed strange if not racist that she wasn’t allowed to meet me, especially when the tickets need to be scanned at the entrance to the theatre itself anyway. I can pretty much guarantee if it were me, a white woman asking to meet a friend I would be let in without hesitation. If they were genuinely concerned they could have sent her with another employee as there were many just milling around speaking to each other but not assisting guests.

Since I had to run all around the venue and I had no clue where anything was, it was too close to show time and it took me a half hour to find my friend, only to then again be chastised by the ushers at the theatre doors for coming “late”. We were there very early, But my friend getting held up at the front meant we were rushing which was stressful.

So finally I sit down, ready to enjoy the ballet, only to find the woman sitting in front of me with a very large bun. Great. Not unforgivable and not anyones fault really, but annoying nonetheless. After about half an hour though, I chose to leave the event as conditions became intolerable. Between not being able to see, and the EXTREMELY symptomatic person sitting behind me, I did not want to risk getting sick. There were two people directly behind me loudly coughing every minute or so, clearing their throat of pleghm, and sniffling every 3-5 seconds. The noise itself was distracting, but I find it completely ridiculous that my friend, in great health, a beautiful formal dress, and someone on the phone with her with the tickets, was refused entry but there were I guess 0 health checks for any one else entering to infect everyone else. After almost 3 years of a pandemic it’s a bit ridiculous, don’t go to an indoor event when you’re sick and PLEASE start doing health checks again. I don’t mean vaccine checks, I mean taking temperature and assessing people for symptoms. I felt disgusting being coughed on and immediately went home to shower. I am lucky I don’t have high risk people in close contact, but now I will have to isolate as I was clearly exposed to something. Very disappointed.

*I don’t know if they were wearing masks because I didn’t want to look at them to get viral droplets all over my face, but I also recommend a strict masking policy with no food/drink in...

1 star for customer service.

The venue is undeniably beautiful, and the vendors appeared easy to work with. However, there were some issues on our special day. While I won’t go into full detail, I’ll share a few key points below.

It's disheartening seeing items that we approved and confirmed not being present during our wedding or finding out last minute issues that we tried to cover months in advance.

We had guests who don’t drink alcohol or have dietary restrictions, including pork allergies. We confirmed with the venue in advance that sparkling juice would be provided. However, when guests asked for a non-alcoholic option, they were told it was either wine or water—and that they could purchase their own non-alcoholic drinks at the bar. (Even though it was confirmed by the venue that this would be accommodated and that sparkling juice would be offered for those who do not drink)

Pork in the "Shrimp Dumplings" - When deciding on appetizers, we identified that we would like dumplings to be offered. They checked with the chef, and they confirmed they could make this happen. We chose Shrimp and Veggie as we had (and identified) Pork Allergies. We did not find out the dumplings contained pork until 10min before going down the aisle for the wedding ceremony. We had 4 to 5 people who chose shrimp dumplings with pork allergies, and in the end, the venue just said well we provided them vegetable dumplings.

We also had a Tea Ceremony and we paid for 2 servers, one to pour the tea and one to take the cups away. We had 2 servers at the beginning to pour but only one remained to pour and my husband was tasked with removing the cups as the server who was supposed to do that was not present.

Our first dance song was not even the correct song

Our bouquet was not the bouquet we requested

The stage was wobbly and unsafe

Despite the issues we faced on our wedding day, we still made the most of it and created beautiful memories.

Before writing this review, we made an effort to address the issues directly with the venue, but were met with nothing but pushback and a lack of accountability. We’ve decided to move on, share our experience here for the sake of others, and focus on the positive parts of our...