National Arts Centre Roundtable

Broadcaster Valerie Pringle and daughter Catherine Pringle to act as keynote speakers for National Arts Centre Foundation Roundtable on Media, Communications and Technology:
Healthy Mental Development for Children and Youth

Ottawa (Canada) ’ÄìThe National Arts Centre is delighted to announce that broadcaster Valerie Pringle and her daughter Catherine Pringle, will be this year’Äôs keynote speakers at the National Arts Centre’Äôs (NAC) Foundation Roundtable called Media, Communications and Technology: Healthy Mental Development for Children and Youth, to be held on Saturday, October 4, 2008, at 8:30 a.m. in the NAC Salon.

A prominent group of leaders in the medical and social policy fields, as well as arts supporters and senior public policy makers, will join Valerie and Catherine Pringle to discuss how media and the arts can contribute effectively and creatively to improved mental health for children and youth. Mother and daughter will also share their personal experience coping with mental illness.

Participants will discuss topics ranging from pure science to clinical applications, in a language that is both simple and engaging.

The Roundtable is held each year in tandem with the National Arts Centre’Äôs Annual Gala, which raises funds for the Centre’Äôs National Youth and Education Trust. The Trust supports the artistic development of young Canadians through educational resources, professional training, mentoring programmes and young audience performances. This year’Äôs Gala, featuring Tony Bennett, takes place on the same day as the Roundtable.

’ÄúIt is an honour for the National Arts Centre to host this important discussion with so many of Canada’Äôs brightest minds, as well as leading Canadian arts supporters,’Äù said Darrell Louise Gregersen, CEO of the National Arts Centre Foundation.

Roundtable participants include Dr. Stan Kutcher, Sun Life Chair in Adolescent Mental Health, Dalhousie University; Dr. Bruce Ballon, head of the Adolescent Clinical and Educational Services for Problem Gambling, Gaming and Internet Use at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH); Dr. Michael Rich, Director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Harvard and Children’Äôs Hospital, Boston, and; Dr. David Wolfe, RBC Investments Chair in Children’Äôs Mental Health Chair at the CAMH.

Beginning in 2002, three NAC roundtables on philanthropy in the performing arts explored the importance of adequate financial resources for arts organizations, to ensure that they can fulfill their vital role of fostering a creative culture in Canada. In 2005, the Roundtable began a series of discussions on healing and the arts, exploring the profound role that music and other performing arts play in different aspects of human health and development. Each year, results of the discussions from Roundtables are shared with more than 3,000 arts and health organizations.

The Roundtables have featured a wide range of Canadian and international participants including the Hon. Michael Wilson, Canadian Ambassador to the U.S.; Louise Blouin MacBain, international arts philanthropist; Richard Bradshaw, the late General Director of the Canadian Opera Company; Martha Piper, former University of British Columbia; President, James Wolfensohn, business leader, arts patron, former President of the World Bank and Chairman Emeritus of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; Frank O’ÄôDea, Second Cup co-founder, as well as a long list of federal Cabinet ministers.

The National Arts Centre Foundation gratefully acknowledges Sun Life Financial as the Presenting Sponsor and the University of Ottawa and Rx&D as Associate Sponsors of the NAC Roundtable.