Ottawa, July 12, 2005 - John Hobday, Director of the Canada Council for the Arts, has announced the appointment of Roger Gaudet as Head of the Canada Council's Theatre Section, effective August 22, 2005.
Mr. Gaudet, who served as a Canada Council theatre officer from 1993 to 2001, returns to the Council after four years as the national coordinator of the Arts Presentation Canada Program at the Department of Canadian Heritage.
Born and raised in Victoria, Mr. Gaudet is a graduate of the University of Victoria theatre program and the National Theatre School in Montreal. He began his career in the arts as a freelance director and playwright working in Montreal and Vancouver. While artistic director at Théâtre la Seizième, a Vancouver-based French-language theatre company, he developed bilingual co-production projects and outreach programs to connect to young people in schools across the province.
While working as a theatre officer at the Canada Council, he was directly involved in the elaboration of the Theatre Section's Presenting Program and International Program and devised a series of workshops on the development of national and international touring opportunities for the performing arts.
As Head of the Theatre Section, Mr. Gaudet will be responsible for the development and operation of grant programs which provide more than $22 million in support to theatre artists, theatre companies and other theatre organizations.
Mr. Gaudet replaces André Courchesne, who was appointed Director of the Canada Council's Arts Division earlier this year.
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