SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - For the past month, staff at Northern Arts and Cultural Centre (NACC) have fielded a steady stream of phone calls from agents and performers interested in booking shows in the NWT. The increased attention from Canada's performing arts community is something the staff will have to get used to.

Fort Smith storyteller Jim Green leads an audience through one of his tales during a storytelling event organized by Northern Arts and Cultural Centre. - photo courtesy of Ozgur Oner

The Canadian Arts Presenting Association (CAPA) named NACC the presenter of the year during a conference in Ottawa on Nov. 9. The distinction recognizes the centre's success touring performers throughout the North, quality programming and commitment to community outreach.

"NACC and (executive director) Ben Nind in particular have shown an incredible amount of leadership and inspiration to the field of the performing arts in Canada with the work they are doing up there," said CAPA president Tim Yerksew from Fredericton, N.B. "The way NACC is engaged with the artists, citizens in the community and audiences is an inspiration to the rest of us in Canada."

The association represents Canadian theatre centres and festivals that host touring performing artists. Nind accepted the award in Ottawa on behalf of the NACC team.

"It was a great honour to be recognized by our peers in the business," he said. "It essentially acknowledges the work that we do at NACC on a myriad of levels. It proves that if you do good work and are committed with passion to what you are doing it can be recognized."

That work includes helping to develop Northern performers through workshops and mentoring, introducing students of all ages to the arts, organizing performance series and for presenting high-quality local, national and international talent to Northern audiences.

"The people at NACC have a really good vision and they're implementing it," said Debbie Peters, a talent agent based in Whitehorse, who nominated NACC for the national award. "It's all done with a very small staff - not like the huge staff you see in some of the other venues in Canada. It's a huge endorsement for what Ben Nind has done to put NACC on the national radar."

Peters recently led marketing and business workshops at NACC to help Northern performers build skills and knowledge to access national and international touring markets.

George Zuckerman, a B.C. solo bassoonist who received the Order of Canada for his dedication to touring performing artists around Canada, seconded Peters' nomination.

"The award was a tip of the hat to Ben's organizational skills and the board that makes it possible," he said. "This huge megalith of an organization that generally sees things through Toronto or Ottawa eyes recognized the significance of the small communities in this country of ours."

Various performers from around the territory are scheduled to converge on NACC next month for the Northern Performer Festival taking place from Jan. 22 to 31. The Johnnys, originally from Fort Smith, RazzmaJazz and songwriter Dennis Allen from Inuvik and Randy Sibbeston, originally from Fort Simpson, are on the line-up. NACC was established in 1984 with support from the federal, provincial and territorial governments, international performing artists and arts patrons from across Canada.

"A remote performing arts centre in Northern Canada can sit side-by-side with some of the largest concert halls in Canada," Nind concluded.