Kevin Loring in conversation with Paul Wells: Maclean’s Live

Kevin Loring joined Paul Wells for a Maclean’s Live discussion, on June 24 via Zoom. The Governor General’s Literary Award-winning playwright and actor is the inaugural artistic director of Indigenous Theatre at the National Arts Centre, the first national institution in the world devoted to producing theatre from Indigenous creators. It’s had a challenging first year. A request for direct federal funding didn’t pan out. The pandemic cancelled the last four months of the performance season. Now Loring and his colleagues are trying to imagine what to do next, unsure of what public-health authorities will permit — and knowing that a global debate over systemic racism is redefining the context within which they work. The discussion covered the challenges of making art amid shifting definitions of public safety and the common good.

Watch the full replay of the conversation above.

Past guests include:

June 2020:Guest host Desmond Cole with panelists Esi Edugyan, Robyn Maynard, Syrus Marcus Ware and Ian WilliamsJune 2020: Carol Anderson and Kevin YoungJune 2020:Parliamentary budget officer Yves Giroux & Information Commissioner Caroline MaynardMay 2020:Health minister Patty HajduMay 2020: Alberta Premier Jason KenneyApril 2019:Bank of Canada governor, Stephen PolozFebruary 2019:Canadian ambassador to the U.S., David MacNaughtonDecember 2018:Former prime minister Jean ChrétienNovember 2018: Alberta Premier Rachel NotleySeptember 2018: Prime Minister Justin TrudeauJune 2018: Jane Philpott, former minister of Indigenous services.May 2018:Jason Kenney, leader of Alberta’s United Conservative Party (current Premier of Alberta)April 2018: Katie Telford, chief of staff to Prime Minister Justin TrudeauMarch 2018: Conservative leader Andrew ScheerFebruary 2018: NDP leader Jagmeet Singh.