English, French and music in harmony at the NAC

by Scott Stevenson – Sherbrooke, Québec

French and English and music share much in common at the National Arts Centre (NAC), where linguistic duality now plays centre stage.

“Well, it’s plurality really: we have a third official language, and that’s music, a language every Canadian can understand,” said Boris Brott, Principal Youth and Family Conductor at the NAC. “We are not just bilingual, we are multicultural. That makes Canada very special. We are an example to the world. I’m very proud of Canada, and the NAC embodies that approach.”

About two years ago, the NAC began giving linguistic duality a more prominent role by increasing the integration of Canada’s two official languages—and two official language communities—into its internal planning and programming. There are still English events and French events, but now there are also many events where French and English are intertwined.

In its effort to raise the level of bilingualism in its programming, the NAC created a very Canadian model for the full integration of English and French, as well as music, into the public dialogue.

The TD Canada Trust Family Adventures with the NAC Orchestra were already bilingual, but informally. “The level of bilingualism was not high enough,” said Anne Tanguay, the NAC’s Official Languages Champion. “We needed to increase the ratio of French in the script. It was about 25% in French; now it’s roughly 40%.”

The motivation was not only to serve audiences in Canada’s two official languages, but also to fill the NAC’s 2,100-seat Southam Hall. During the one-hour Family Adventures concerts, the host and conductor speak a mix of English and French when the 60-musician orchestra is not playing.

This is an example of one of those fairly rare bilingual events where the message is not repeated by translating from one language into the other; rather, part of the message is given in English and part is given in French—something that is still relatively avant-garde, even in Canada.

Does the approach work? The NAC asked its English-speaking and French-speaking audiences—children, friends, parents and grandparents—in a survey earlier this year: 89.6% of Anglophones said they were satisfied or very satisfied; 100% of Francophones said the same.

“The beauty of those answers is that there is an acceptance of bilingualism and a desire for it,” said Anne Tanguay. “There’s something to be said for linguistic duality in that message.”

The NAC’s new approach, as reflected in the Family Adventures series, reaches well behind the scenes.

In 2006, the organization tightened up its overall management of official languages “to ensure the quality of French within the organization, and the coordination of all aspects regarding official languages,” said Anne Tanguay.

“We developed a more integrated vision of official languages…. People within the organization are aware, and they want to do more. Official languages are always on our radar. We don’t implement a project forgetting about the French-language side of it.”

“The NAC seeks to be a truly national organization, and therefore believes strongly in promoting the performing arts everywhere in Canada,” she added. “Recognizing that the arts are a privileged means for Anglophones and Francophones to express their identity, the NAC places linguistic duality at the centre of each of its activities.”

The NAC is a Crown corporation. A total of 72% of its employees are Anglophone and 28% are Francophone.

Boris Brott does not fit easily into either of those groups. His mother tongue is French, but he attended school in English in Montréal. Today, he speaks five languages—“all of them very badly,” he confesses, no doubt facetiously.

In the Family Adventures concerts, he weaves in and out of each language.

“We talk about solitudes in Canada, but we need to emphasize the all-inclusive nature of our audience, the multicultural nature of audiences,” he said. “Canada is inclusive of all backgrounds. The language of music transcends those differences.”

And linguistic duality “leads to greater dialogue between members of different cultural groups,” said the Commissioner of Official Languages in a speech in Ottawa last February. “Linguistic duality favours respect, acceptance and empathy”—a message the Commissioner has been spreading across Canada since taking office in 2006.

French and English are music to the ear, then, at the NAC, where linguistic duality means more than fulfilling obligations and demonstrating respect—it also means filling concert halls.

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Credits

Credits : Dyanne Wilson