National Arts Centre (building) Theater

Address: 1 Elgin Street, Ottawa, ON K1P 5W1, Canada

Website: https://nac-cna.ca

Hours: Hours vary by performance; box office typically open weekdays 10am-6pm

The National Arts Centre is a major performing-arts complex in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, opened in 1969 as a federal cultural institution. It serves as a national home for theatre, music and dance in Canada.

Audiences can attend large-scale orchestral and opera performances, drama and contemporary dance; the building contains multiple performance spaces including a main concert hall of roughly 2,000 seats and smaller, flexible theatres used for studio and experimental work. The centre also programs touring productions and national festivals.

Commissioned and funded by the Government of Canada, the building opened in 1969 and has functioned since as a national presenting organization and rehearsal/production hub for Canadian and international artists. Its programming and facilities have been expanded and renovated at various times to support touring and local productions.

Sited on Elgin Street next to Confederation Park, the centre is a short walk from Parliament Hill and the Rideau Canal in central Ottawa. It is served by city transit and is within the core downtown cultural district.

• Role: An important national performing-arts centre for English- and French-language productions, presenting theatre, music and dance across multiple seasons.
• Central location: Located on Elgin Street across from Confederation Park, within easy walking distance of Parliament Hill and downtown Ottawa.

What to See#

• Southam Hall: An approximately 2,000-seat concert hall that serves as the building’s primary performance space and hosts orchestral, opera and large-scale productions.
• Azrieli Studio: A flexible mid-sized theatre used for dance, theatre and studio performances; the space can be reconfigured for different stage/audience arrangements.

The NAC is centrally located in downtown Ottawa at 1 Elgin Street, adjacent to Confederation Park and a short walk (5-10 minutes) from Parliament Hill. From the O-Train Confederation Line, Parliament Station is the closest stop; numerous OC Transpo buses serve routes along Elgin and Wellington Streets. On foot, it’s a 10-15 minute walk from ByWard Market.

• Book performances well in advance for opera and symphony evenings - the NAC is Ottawa's performance hub.
• If time is tight, join a free 30-45 minute backstage tour when available to see rehearsal spaces and costume workshops.
• On sunny days, sit on the terrace facing the Rideau Canal; it's one of Ottawa's better-kept viewpoints.