Margo Kane wins annual National Arts Centre Award for Distinguished Contribution to Touring
Founder and artistic managing director of Full Circle: First Nations Performance receives $2,500 for her dedication to touring Indigenous works across Canada and globally
Margo Kane.
THE NATIONAL ARTS Centre announced this morning that Cree-Saulteaux actor, performing artist, and cultural worker Margo Kane is the recipient of this year’s National Arts Centre Award for Distinguished Contribution to Touring.
The distinction, which includes a $2,500 prize, honours Kane’s commitment to touring performances by Indigenous artists and companies, creating a vast network of opportunities both locally and abroad.
As founder and artistic managing director of Full Circle: First Nations Performance, Kane career as a creator spans over 45 years. She’s notably at the helm of the annual Talking Stick Festival, a showcase of Indigenous performing arts which celebrated its 22nd edition this summer.
Kane has received several significant accolades over the span of her career. In 2021, she was presented with an International Citation of Merit from the International Society for the Performing Arts, a title that acknowledges unique lifetime achievement in the realm of enhancing performance art globally. She was also appointed a member of the Order of Canada in 2017, and holds honorary degrees for her accomplishments from both Simon Fraser University and the University of Fraser Valley.
Kane’s expansive touring credits include a 10-year national and international run of her 1990 one-woman show Moonlodge, an Indigenous story that chronicles hope, healing, and self-determination in the wake of colonial tragedies.
The National Arts Centre Award for Distinguished Contribution has been presented since 1992, when it was co-established with the Canadian Association for the Performing Arts. Nominees are comprised of companies, individuals, and organizations dedicated to prioritizing live performing arts tours across Canada.
Kane joins the ranks of the prize’s past recipients, including Ballet BC (2019), Toronto-based period orchestra and choir Tafelmusik (2014), and CBC Radio/la radio de Radio-Canada (2004).
The award was presented to Kane at the annual Canadian Association for the Performing Arts conference in Ottawa on November 4; the conference continues till November 8.
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