March 30, 2009
OTTAWA-Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, will honour one of this year's recipients of the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards at Rideau Hall, on Thursday, April 2, 2009, at 11:30 a.m. Robert Lepage, director, playwright, actor and filmmaker, will receive the Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award.
The Governor General's Performing Arts Awards ceremony on May 8, 2009, will honour this year's other Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award recipients: Peggy Baker, Edith Butler, Clémence DesRochers, R. Murray Schafer and George F. Walker, as well as the recipient of the Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism, Dr. James D. Fleck, and the recipient of the National Arts Centre Award, Paul Gross. Mr. Lepage is unable to attend the ceremony on May 8, 2009 but will join all the recipients at the Gala on May 9, 2009 at the National Arts Centre.
The Governor General Performing Arts Awards
Created in 1992, the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards are presented each year to Canadian performers whose extraordinary lifetime achievements have contributed significantly to the enrichment of Canada's cultural life. Candidates for the awards are nominated by members of Canada's performing arts community and by the general public. Recipients are chosen from six categories, including theatre, dance, classical music, popular music, film and broadcasting.
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Media interested in covering the ceremony on April 2, 2009, should arrive no later than 11:15 a.m.
More information about the May 8, 2009, ceremony, as well as the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Gala, will be available at a later date.
Media information
Isabelle Serrurier
Rideau Hall Press Office
613-998-7280
www.gg.ca
www.citizenvoices.gg.ca
Jennifer Brown
Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation
613-454-5252
613-614-2894 (cellular)
www.bce.ca/ggawards
