Despite the barriers COVID-19 has posed, Ottawa’s bilingual National Arts Centre (NAC) found a way to deliver performances in September. Live performances are returning to the stage and are available for limited in-person audiences and public online viewings.
The program for the fall offers a variety of events, including live concerts for the Fridays at the Fourth Weekly Emerging Music Series, a virtual dance party celebrating the first anniversary of the NAC Indigenous Theatre, classical music performances from the NAC Orchestra, and outdoor theatre shows across Canada, courtesy of the Grand Acts of Theatre initiative and NAC French theatre.
Robyn Gilchrist, NAC senior director of visitor experience, began a reopening committee in May. After months of planning, the committee developed safety measures that would welcome back employees and limited audiences.
“Within the safety plan we have about 100 appendices on things as minute as how to wash your hands and when you should do it, and how many signs will be in a public place to tell people that they need to use the hand sanitizer,” Gilchrist said.
By the time the province entered the third stage of its reopening and gatherings of up to 50 people were permitted, the NAC said it was well equipped to reopen.
Live performances began on Sept. 11 with a performance by Musk Ox, a Canadian chamber folk band based in Ottawa. Gilchrist said the initial events are following a soft launch in which they are live streamed online. Performers can invite friends and family who must pre-register to attend in person.
Musk Ox was set to release their third album and perform at the NAC on Sept. 11, the band’s lead guitarist Nathanael Larochette said. Due to COVID-19, the album was delayed until 2021 but the opportunity to perform at the NAC’s Fourth Stage remained.
“I just assumed that everything was going to be cancelled, but the NAC reached out to us in the summer and said, ‘Hey, we’re starting up again in September and we want you to still perform on the eleventh as a live stream,’” Larochette said.
On Sept. 18, Ottawa-based, multi-instrumentalist and multi-genre singer-songwriter Angelique Francis was the second act of the fall’s Fridays at the Fourth concert series.
Before the pandemic, Francis was scheduled for a Canadian and European tour to headline at major music festivals in various cities. Due to safety concerns, many of these festivals were postponed or moved online.
Francis said she was glad the NAC was working on a limited reopening. She said it opened up new possibilities for artists.
She highlighted the success of the NAC in creating a safe environment for artists’ performances.
“Only those who were affiliated with the band or crew of the NAC in their immediate bubble were invited to attend,” she said. “All concertgoers were required to wear masks, and large acrylic screens were placed in front of each group … to [maintain] an adequate distance from the stage.”
As the NAC building is still closed to the public, performers and limited live audience members arrived through a separate entrance off Elgin Street that leads to the Fourth Stage. This eliminated any circulation through the building or contact with employees.
In addition to live online concerts, online arts education programs have been developed by the NAC for launch later this fall. According to Gilchrist, the goal is to fill the gap in curriculum with more art during the pandemic. Gilchrist added that the NAC aims to boost the morale of the Ottawa community and world at large by providing a safe way to deliver the performing arts.
“It’s not just Ottawa seeing this, it’s the whole world,” Gilchrist added.
Larochette said that the special connection art fosters between people was missing during isolation.
“It’s that human-to-human social experience,” Larochette said. “One that we maybe took for granted before this whole situation.”
Featured image provided by Julie-Anne Madore.
