2015 Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Ceremony

Press Releases

May 27, 2015

Their Excellencies Celebrate the Performing Arts

OTTAWA—Their Excellencies the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, and Mrs. Sharon Johnston will present the 2015 Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards (GGPAA) during a ceremony at Rideau Hall, on Friday, May 29, 2015, at 6 p.m. They will also attend the National Arts Centre (NAC) gala, in Ottawa, on Saturday, May 30, 2015.

Lifetime Artistic Achievement Laureates

Presented in six categories: classical music, dance, film, popular music, radio and television broadcasting, and theatre. Recipients of these awards are nominated by the general public.

Walter Boudreau, composer, conductor and artistic director
Atom Egoyan, film and stage director, visual artist and screenwriter
Diana Leblanc, actress and director
Sarah McLachlan, singer, songwriter, musician and humanitarian
R. H. Thomson,actor, director, producer and arts advocate

Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism
in the Performing Arts Laureate

Recognizes outstanding contributions by an individual or group in voluntary service to the performing arts in Canada. Recipients of this award are also nominated by the general public.

Michael M. Koerner

National Arts Centre Award Laureate

Recognizes the work of an extraordinary nature by an individual artist or company in the past performance year. Recipients are selected by the NAC board of trustees from a list of candidates proposed by a nominating committee of NAC artistic programmers.

Jean-Marc Vallée, filmmaker

GGPAA Mentorship Program

Each year, a past laureate of the Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award is invited to select a professional artist (or artists) to share, learn and grow from the experience and insight of their mentor. This year’s mentor is Howard Shore, a respected and honoured composer and conductor and 2011 GGPAA recipient; the protégée is Montréal-based composer Nicole Lizée. They will attend the award ceremony at Rideau Hall.

About the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards
Created in 1992, under the auspices of the then-Governor General the late Right Honourable Ramon John Hnatyshyn, the GGPAA are presented each year to Canadian performers whose extraordinary lifetime achievements have contributed significantly to the enrichment of Canada’s cultural life. For more information on the GGPAA, visit www.ggpaa.ca.

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Media interested in covering the award presentation at Rideau Hall are asked
to confirm their attendance with the Rideau Hall Press Office. Due to construction work, they must arrive at the residence’s main entrance no later than 5:30 p.m. on the day of the ceremony.

Media information

To cover the award presentation at Rideau Hall, please contact
Marie-Pierre Bélanger
Rideau Hall Press Office
613-998-9166
marie-pierre.belanger@gg.ca

For more information on the awards or to arrange interviews with the laureates, please contact
Melissa Wood
NATIONAL Public Relations
613-233-1699, ext. 6229
mwood@national.ca

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