National Arts Centre

The NAC was one of several projects launched by the government of Lester B. Pearson to commemorate Canada's 1967 centenary. In 1962, G. Hamilton Southam, scion to the Southam publishing business which owned the Ottawa Citizen, was approached by residents of the city to spearhead the creation of a performing arts facility in Ottawa. After he took the project to the Pearson government the following year, construction was officially approved. Officially proclaimed in 1966, its board of directors received a mandate to "to operate and maintain the Centre, to develop the performing arts in the National Capital region, and to assist the Canada Council in the development of the performing arts elsewhere in Canada". It opened its doors to the public for the first time on May 31, 1969, at a cost of C$46 million. The opening was presided over by then-Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

In February 2014, the centre unveiled a new logo and slogan, Canada is our stage, in preparation for its fiftieth anniversary in 2019. The former logo had been designed by Montreal graphic designer Ernst Roch and had been in use since the centre's opening.

In October 2015, initial talks about plans to develop an Indigenous theatre were held between NAC leadership, Indigenous performers and community leaders from across Canada with the aim of making Indigenous theatre a core activity of the National Arts Centre. In June 2017, Kevin Loring was hired to be the first artistic director of the NAC Indigenous Theatre department. Lori Marchand was appointed the first managing director of the department soon after. Along with Lindsay Lachance, an artistic associate, the Indigenous Theatre department works to increase the representation of Indigenous peoples through theatre and provide further space and resources for Indigenous actors and playwrights to thrive. To date, over $1 million has been raised to establish the Indigenous Theatre department through a tribute dinner hosted by the NAC in June 2018. The first full season of the Indigenous theatre department commenced in the fall of 2019.