Ottawa celebrates its 200th with 200+ Culture to the Core
By Robin Etherington
Robin Etherington sat down recently with two leaders in Ottawa’s cultural community – Alexandra Badzak, Director and CEO of the Ottawa Art Gallery (OAG) and Kelly Eyamie-Shorey, Manager of Art and Wellbeing, also at the OAG. They discussed the cultural activities that are planned to celebrate Ottawa’s 200th anniversary this year.
Ottawa’s bicentennial will be enlivened through bold public art, major exhibitions, interactive installations, and city-wide collaborations that reimagine our downtown. Celebrations culminate in an epic 200+ Culture to the Core weekend in the fall, as well as major legacy projects – ACE District and Arts Corridor.
What cultural activities are planned for Ottawa’s 200th anniversary this year?
200+ Culture to the Core brings exhibitions, public art, and cultural activations across downtown, inviting community members to reflect on 200+ years of Ottawa while looking to the city’s future. Programming celebrates Indigenous communities, highlighting Indigenous artists who shape Ottawa. It honours the creativity, culture, and energy that make our region vibrant through our artists’ eyes. There will be art programs throughout the ByWard Market including Doors Open Ottawa, Canada Day, National Indigenous Peoples Day, Colonel By Day, Ottawa 200+ Weekend, Fall in love with Ottawa Portrait Minis Weekend, and Remembrance Day.
200+ Culture to the Core, a collaboration between the OAG and the Bytown Museum, includes exhibitions telling amazing Ottawa stories. The Bytown Museum’s What’s in a Frame? 200+ Years of
Community Portraits, spotlights the generations who have lived, worked, and built community in Bytown-Ottawa. OAG’s exhibition, Faith Fyles: In Full Bloom, celebrates an Ottawa pioneering woman botanist and illustrator. Leah Decter’s exhibition becoming| un |becoming: deepening relations’ challenges us to rethink familiar Canadian icons and symbols.
With Ottawa 200+, the OAG and the City of Ottawa launch revitalization projects that connect the National Gallery of Canada, National Arts Centre, and the OAG, and extend beyond the anniversary as lasting initiatives. Arts Corridor, a new initiative, brings bold public art downtown, activates civic spaces, and boosts the creative economy, showcasing Ottawa as a vibrant cultural capital.
ACE District highlights art, culture, and entertainment in Ottawa’s
core, by connecting major cultural institutions, supporting local
businesses, and establishing a lively, inclusive, and creative heart
for the city.
The city will pulse with animation and imagination via In Motion: The History of Animation in the Ottawa–Gatineau Region, in collaboration with and during the Ottawa International Animation Festival. It shares the region’s global impact on animation through exhibitions, projections, and striking outdoor installations, including a new work by Kitigan Zibi artist Jay Odjick on the OAG’s Cube façade and the NAC’s Kipnes Lantern. We are planning a major September arts and culture weekend that will serve as the marker for the date of Ottawa’s 200th. Please join us on social media or check our online calendar (oaggao.ca).
Which Ottawa based cultural organizations are participating in celebrations of Ottawa’s 200th anniversary?
Ottawa’s cultural and civic organizations are coming together to deliver major programming. Partnerships include the OAG, City of Ottawa, Pique, Nuit Blanche, Arts Court, Ottawa Arts, Bytown Museum, ByWard Market, Ottawa International Animation Festival, SAW, National Gallery of Canada, National Arts Centre, Ottawa Festivals OLT, Ottawa School of Art, La Nouvelle Scène Gilles Desjardins, Heritage Ottawa, Rideau Street BIA, and the Ottawa Museum Network. We are excited to see the city’s cultural community unite to celebrate this milestone!
What is Ottawa Culture 200+’s relationship to the City of Ottawa:
200+ Culture to the Core is the umbrella for our Ottawa 200+ programming, a year-long celebration aligned with the city’s official activities that recognizes this milestone with art and culture. Ottawa’s 200th is a major milestone that deserves to be celebrated in a bold way. The OAG and Bytown Museum are proud to help shape what the year will look and feel like, with the City of Ottawa and all of our partner cultural organizations. This collaboration honours the many layered histories that make up the city while looking ahead to a creative, world-class future.
How are the Ottawa 200th anniversary cultural activities funded?
Ottawa Tourism is supporting programming through its 200th Tourism Animation Fund, including Jay Odjick’s project. The Government of Canada is contributing through the Department of Canadian Heritage’s Community Anniversary Grant. The City of Ottawa funds Arts Corridor and the ACE District, reflecting the municipality’s commitment to long-term cultural and downtown revitalization initiatives.
“We are excited to see the city’s cultural community unite to celebrate this milestone!“
