The Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards kicked off their 25th year on March 9th with an announcement event held at The Canada Council for the Arts head office in Ottawa. After a stunning rendition of O Canada in Inuktitut by laureate Susan Aglukark, our co-chairs, Douglas Knight and Paul-André Fortier, welcomed our guests and introduced our 2017 laureates. They are:
Lifetime Achievement Awards
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Jean Beaudin, film and television director and screenwriter
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Michael J. Fox, O.C., actor, writer, producer and humanitarian
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Brigitte Haentjens, theatre director and artistic director
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Martin Short, C.M., actor, writer, and producer
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Yves Sioui Durand, writer, theatre and film director, actor and producer
Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts Award
Mentorship Program
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Karen Kain, C.C., (NAC Award 1997, GGPAA 2002), artistic director, artist and arts advocate, mentor
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Robert Binet, choreographer, dancer, protégé.
Our laureates each contributed short, personal, recorded messages to the press conference (you can see them on the blog). We were joined in person by Jean Beaudin, Brigitte Haenjens, and Yves Sioui Durand, as well as protégé Robert Binet.
Many thanks to the teams at the
Canada Council for the Arts, the
National Arts Centre, and the
National Film Board for their contributions to the announcement event.
Yves Beadin, Brigitte Haentjens, and Jean Beaudin share a laugh. Photo: Ming Wu.