Herrndorf to step down as head of National Arts Centre after 18 years

OTTAWA — Peter Herrndorf will be stepping down as head of the National Arts Centre in June after leading Canada’s largest performing arts organization for 18 years.

Herrndorf is credited with transforming the NAC through national and international performing arts projects and with a federally supported $225-million architectural and production renewal project.

The project was designed to transform the NAC’s architecture into an inviting space with views of the nation’s capital, including major upgrades to the building’s  performance halls and production facilities.

Herrndorf recently announced that the NAC will open a new Department of Indigenous Theatre to mark the centre’s 50th Anniversary in 2019. The department will be led by Indigenous actor and playwright Kevin Loring.

Herrndorf took over as NAC’s president and CEO in 1999, following a career in broadcasting, magazine publishing and the performing arts.

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At the CBC, he is credited with developing such programming as “the fifth estate” and “The Journal.” He left the CBC in 1992 to become publisher of Toronto Life magazine and then took the helm of TVOntario as chairman and CEO.

“Leading the National Arts Centre for the last 18 years continues to be the greatest joy of my life,” Herrndorf said in a release. “The National Arts Centre is a national treasure, and my role was to create the conditions to allow artists to dream, and to do their very best work.

“It has been a privilege to serve Canadian artists, and to help them define who we are as a people.”

The Canadian Press