Yashin & the NAC

[Jim Noonan]

Hello everyone:
Emails on Yashin & the NAC have been few lately, so I thought I would send
you a letter I wrote to the Ottawa Citizen on the subject. It will be
published next week.
The debacle doesn't seem to have affected Yashin's performance on the ice;
I hope you've noticed that the Ottawa Senators are now tied with the
Mapale Leafs at the top of the Northeastern Division.
You will be interested to know that Wendy Lill is giving the Munro Beattie
lecture at Carleton next Fri, Feb 12 entitled "Playwright on the Hill".
It takes place in the Bell Canada Theatre of the Minto Centre at Carleton
at 8 p.m. Perhaps it is the one she never gave to ACTR at the Ottawa
conference last year.
Cheers! - Jim Noonan


jnoonan writes:
> From jnoonan Thu Feb  4 17:30:00 1999
> Subject: Yashin & the NAC
> To: letters at thecitizen.southam.ca (letters to oc)
> Date: Thu, 4 Feb 99 17:30:00 EST
> X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11]
>
> Editor
> The Ottawa Citizen
>
> Dear Sir:
>
>       The cancellation of $800,000. of Alexei Yashin's $1 million
> donation to the NAC has been surrounded by misunderstanding on both sides.
> Much of this misunderstanding has been centred on the $85,00 that was to
> go to Tatiana Entertainment Inc. (not Mr. Yashin's parents) for services
> rendered in bringing Russian performers to the NAC.
>
>       John Cripton, Director and CEO of the NAC when the donation was
> made, said (Jan. 23, p. A3) that this so-called side deal was made "to
> `humour' the Yashin family and to reassure them he and the NAC would
> carry out their commitment to Mr. Yashin and his parents to hire more
> Russian performers".
>
>       What has not been noted strongly enough is the emphasis Mr.
> Yashin, in his press conference of Jan. 28, put on bringing more Russian
> performers to the NAC. For him it was certainly no laughing matter. He
> stressed this several times in his public statement, as when he said: "My
> intention, and that of my family, was to be active in helping the NAC
> build a strong program of Russian performers" (Jan. 29, p. C4).
>
>       This condition was very much in Mr. Yashin's mind, more than any $85,000. that
> might be paid to Tatiana Entertainment Inc. It seems not to have been as
> clear in Mr. Cripton's mind. As much as anything, it was
> the failure to see any evidence of more Russian performers coming to the
> NAC that led Mr. Yashin to discontinue his donation.
>
>       In light of this, the question arises: What policy does the NAC have
> on such a stipulation that may accompany a donation? Is it obliged to
> honour the wishes of donors in this regard? If Mr. Yashin gave $10 million
> (one-fourth of the current NAC budget) rather than $1 million, with the
> same condition, would the NAC put all the money into sponsoring Russian
> performers? And how would this affect its mandate to showcase the
> performing arts and artists in Canada? Would they be less prominent on the
> NAC stages because of the increased numbers of Russian performers? Would
> we see fewer performers from other nations at the NAC as a result?
>
>       The NAC needs a policy on what it will accept in the way of
> non-Canadian performers when a generous donor like Mr. Yashin, however
> understandably, makes this a condition of a donation.
>
>       Until such a policy is established and publicized, the NAC and the
> national and local Canadian community should reiterate their thanks to Mr.
> Yashin for the $200,000. he has already donated. And it should put that
> smaller amount towards bringing Russian performers to Ottawa.
>
>       If Mr. Yashin or anyone else ever gives another $1 million to
> sponsor performers from Russia or any other nation outside Canada, the
> NAC should be ready to say how much if any of that donation can
> legitimately be earmarked for these performers.
>
>       Let us hope the House of Commons Heritage Committee addressed some of these
> questions to the NAC Board when it met with them in Ottawa this week.
>
> Sincerely yours
> Jim Noonan
> 32 Lucas Lane
> Stittsville, ON
> K2S 1S5
> tel. 831-1760
>