‘Signature’ attraction goal for new Hill show,
NCC seeks artistic team to create 2015-19 sound and light production
The National Capital Commission wants the next sound and light show on Parliament Hill to be so spectacular it will become a “signature national attraction.”
In a document released this week inviting artistic teams to submit bids for the design and production of a Parliament Hill extravaganza that will run nightly each summer from 2015 to 2019, the NCC says it aims to have a show that is “state of the art and technologically impressive, with equally remarkable artistic qualities.
“Fundamental to the new production will be a storyline that is compelling and inspiring, a filmic approach, stirring musical composition and audio track, and animated visuals and visual effects of the highest quality,” the NCC document says.
The goal, it says, is to create a new sound and light show that “will celebrate our shared heritage through key figures, events and achievements in Canadian history. It will inspire pride in Canada and in being Canadian.”
The focus on Canadian history echoes the proposed new mandate for the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, which will be renamed the Canadian Museum of History once Parliament passes amendments to the Museums Act.
(Because Parliament is being prorogued, the government will have to reintroduce those amendments in the new session, expected in October. A spokesperson for Shelly Glover, the new heritage minister, told the Citizen this week the government “remains committed to creating a new Canadian Museum of History to showcase Canada’s history and achievements.”)
The new sound and light show will include two “content capsules” that will be rolled into the 2016 and 2017 shows.
The 2016 content capsule, lasting 30 to 60 seconds, will highlight a milestone anniversary in that year. The NCC document doesn’t specify what it should be, but cites the union of Upper and Lower Canada and the partnership of Robert Baldwin and Sir Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine as an example.
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The segment for 2017 would last five to eight minutes and would “highlight and celebrate the 150th anniversary of Canada,” the NCC says.
One of the nine objectives of the new show is “to raise the public and critical profile of the Parliament Hill sound and light show to the level of a signature national attraction,” the NCC document says.
To achieve that, the artistic team that will be selected through a two-stage process must demonstrate the ability to produce “a creative, emotionally inspiring show AND to plan it technically,” the NCC says.
If possible, proponents should consider including a “renowned talent” — a filmmaker, director, writer, composer or musician — as part of their project team, it says. The winning team will be chosen by the end of December.
The NCC estimates the total budget for the artistic team’s work at $895,000. It also has a $3-million “envelope for new investments” in equipment, infrastructure and lifecycle management.
The new show will replace the current Mosaika program — the most award-winning of the sound and light shows the NCC has presented — which has been presented every summer since 2010.
By the end of 2014, the NCC expects more than 1.2 million people will have attended Mosaika, a 35-minute bilingual production that tells the story of Canada’s landscapes, values and historical and social achievements.
The NCC says Mosaika was a significant technical step forward. For the first time, the entire front facade of Parliament Hill’s Centre Block was covered by nine video projectors, transforming it into a virtual screen 140 metres wide and over six storeys tall.
While Mosaika has been successful, the NCC says it needs to upgrade equipment, address major life-cycle needs, revise content and create the special content components tied to anniversaries in 2016 and 2017.
Sound and light shows on Parliament Hill date back to 1967 centennial celebrations. The first was projected onto the back of the Parliament Buildings and viewed from an outdoor theatre on Nepean Point.
The first show using the front of the Centre Block started in 1984 and ran continuously until 1993.
Since then, four other shows have followed, including Mosaika.
Though the NCC issued the call for entries by artistic teams, responsibility for the Parliament Hill sound and light show will pass to the Department of Canadian Heritage on Sept. 30 because the 2013 budget transferred the NCC’s event and activity mandate to heritage.
The show ‘will celebrate our shared heritage through key figures, events and achievements in Canadian history. It will inspire pride in Canada and in being Canadian.’