New giveaway: Family Adventures at the NAC

Posted by

Before I get into the details of this post may I pontificate for a moment about children and the arts?

Regular Fishbowl readers will know how important I believe it is to introduce young children to the arts. I’ve written about our visits to the National Gallery before, as well as other galleries here in town. I can’t say enough about it. Exposure to the arts fosters creativity, open mindedness, and joy in the details of life. Thankfully we live in a city in which we can do this fairly easily.

Yet, at the same time I remember my parents dragging me to various art galleries and musical theatre and me feeling rather miserable about the whole experience.

Here’s a free tip: find events that are age-appropriate and engaging!

Parents should avoid foisting cultural events on their kids in a heavy-handed and annoying kind of way. Do not stand over your kids with a wagging finger and use the YOU MUST ENJOY THIS BECAUSE IT’S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD kind of reasoning … as if you were arguing over a bowl of brussel sprouts.

Say it with me now: ART IS NOT A BRUSSEL SPROUT.

Okay?

Speaking of fun and accessible and non-brussel sprouty, the NAC has invited my family to attend the The Listener, part of the TD Canada Trust Family Adventures series. And you have a chance to go too.

Here’s the description of the show:

What happens when a bugle-playing mime who wants to sing opera, and a tap-dancing ballerina pop in on an NAC Orchestra Family Adventures concert? Come see and hear how Maestro Brott solves this comic dilemma, and how our two zany characters – and your children – learn all about the art of listening through humour, drama, and dance.

For more information about this show check out the NAC website or view a summary of the show on YouTube. (!) Sounds fun eh?

There will also be some free learn-and-play activities for kids of all ages 45 minutes prior to the concert. They are totally worth checking out so I recommend arriving in time for extra exploration.

This show is recommended for children age 5 and over.

This giveaway is good for four tickets to NAC’s presentation of The Listener. To enter:

  • Add your comment below and let me know if you’re interested in attending.   
  • The show takes place on November 21, 2009 at 3:30 p.m. Please make sure you’re available before you add your name into the draw!
  • I’ll pick a random name from all the comments on Saturday November 14, 2009 at 12 noon EST.
  • The winner will pick the tickets up at the NAC box office on the day of the show.

Over to you, and good luck!

Related posts:

  1. >The Fishbowl guide to surviving Ottawa winter with kids Here's my list of family fun things to do outdoors,...
  2. >March Break activities for kids in Ottawa Great March Break activites for kids in Ottawa? Take some...
  3. >Move over Thomas: the Wakefield Steam Train rocks my tracks Thinking about taking a trip on the Wakefield Steam Train?...
  4. >A surprise walk with the dinosaurs It was Mark’s idea not to tell the girls we...

  1. The winner is commenter #19 – Chrisitne – who I think may have misspelled her name. :)

    Congratulations! I hope you guys enjoy the show!

  2. please enter my name to the draw, i haven’t introduced my sons to the arts too much yet , this would be a great start!

  3. Enter me! I like Boris Brott…

    I never got a brussels-sprouty feeling from a good show as a kid. It was more like getting a taste of being an adult [so I felt at the time] — dressing up and seeing something Important was a lovely feeling.

  5. I love the NAC. My 7 and 5 year-old take piano lessons and my 3 year-old can’t wait to start. I’d love to win the tickets!

  10. Pingback: Don’t forget: The draw for the NAC tickets … >> a peek inside the fishbowl

  11. We have attended the Kinderconcert series at the NAC for the last four years with our girls … and they loved those concerts!! Our girls are now 7 and 4, so we are going to try the Family Adventures series this year. Having said that, I would love to win the tickets to pass along to some of our friends. Thanks for entering me in the draw!

  14. Please add my name to the draw. We had a subscription to these last year, but decided to try the Kinderconcerts this year – the kids are 6 so both types of concerts are appropriate for them. It would be nice to go to this one so they get a bit of both!

    Susan

  15. Sounds like a great event. My family would love it. Two years ago we attended a free christmas concert at the NAC, it was in the foyer and was very kid friendly. We looked for it last year and couldn’t find a date. Do you know if the Christmas event, I think it was a food bank fund raiser, still takes place.

    Thanks

  16. While my son is only almost 4, I would love to try this out as his first NAC adventure. Please throw my name in the randomizer!

  18. I’d love to take my kids to this! Please add my name to the draw. We haven’t been to this series yet but have attended the Kinderconcerts last year.

  19. So maybe I’m preaching to the converted? lol

    If you have a subscription already you could try to win the tickets for friends and extended family… just a thought!

  21. I don’t need to win this but couldn’t resist commenting. We have bought season’s tickets again this year. The concerts are fabulous and bilingual. The hour long performance is just right for small people and the crafts, activities and instruments for trying out before the concert are right for small people, too.

  22. I couldn’t agree more about the importance of introducing young children to the arts. The NAC also presents Kinderconcerts for children as young as three. I’ll be taking my daughter to see “Fred Piston and his 7 Trumpets” on Sunday, November 1st. We went to the last Kinderconert performance and she absolutely loved it! I just hope that we can continue to share this passion for the arts as she gets older.

  23. Sign me up! I REALLLLLY want to go to this event. I think it’s bilingual (the posters which I just noticed today are in both French and English).

    I love to watch my girls watch a performance….all engrossed in the beauty of a live performance. Speaking of magic one-of-a-kind performances. We caught the incredible ARTISTS-ON-STILTS show at the Riverfest (Pinhey’s Point) a while back. I can’t remember the name of the troupe or the show but it was about a girl who is afraid of going to bed because she’s afraid of the dark. Incredible performance. And get this….the show started with the song “You are my sunshine” and right then and there, it started to rain but these super artists just kept on going. The rain did stop during the last few minutes of the performance. It was unbelievable/magic. Excellent show with amazing costumes and props. My girls were in awe – all the while a bit scared by the characters/costumes. Man that was good. Did anyone else witness that show? So cool!

  24. Don’t enter me, but I wanted to comment to say we’ve been taking the girls to these shows for the last 2 years (since the little one was 3) and they’ve always been a hit! We always buy passes for the whole season. :D

    My favorite last year was Beethoven’s birthday :D