Cathedral Arts celebrates and promotes the visual and performing arts in the unique setting of Ottawa’s historic Christ Church Cathedral.
The celebration of the arts within the precincts of the Cathedral is by no means new or novel. Throughout mediaeval Europe, the crowning glory of any great city was its cathedral. These beautiful edifices were more than places of worship. They were the very heart of the communities’ culture and society – offering settings where artists and musicians presented their masterworks, and where dramatists and performers of the day taught and entertained with their mystery and morality plays. It is this respected tradition that inspired Cathedral Arts to embark upon its program of celebrating the arts at Christ Church Cathedral.
By offering concerts, dramatic productions, educational dinner lectures and exhibits, Christ Church Cathedral is becoming known as a welcoming place where members of the entire community, irrespective of background or ethnicity, can come to be inspired spiritually, culturally and educationally.
Cathedral Arts is managed by a small volunteer committee. Financial support comes wholly from the proceeds of events, from Cathedral Arts Patrons, from supporters, and advertising. All profits are reinvested in Cathedral Arts and occasionally shared with local charities through specific collaborative arrangements.
Cathedral Arts has as its logo the Memorial West Window, commissioned in 1982 in celebration of the sesquicentennial of Christ Church Cathedral Ottawa.
Designed and executed by Christopher Wallis of London, Ontario, this masterpiece of Canadian stained glass depicts much of what Cathedral Arts is all about – welcome, excellence, celebrating the diversity of our creativity, and the continuing role of the Cathedral in our Nation’s Capital.
In addition to religious symbols, this West Window depicts, among others, the Rideau Canal, Ottawa’s rivers and falls; flora and fauna of the Region; symbols of Canadian Confederation; heraldry; early settlement, including the French and English explorers, Indians, and the first Black man in Ottawa, reported to be from Bermuda, and who was being treated in 1845 at the small hospital established that year by Mère Elizabeth Bruyère and the Grey Nuns.
Over the past few years, Cathedral Arts has promoted or supported some special causes as part of its outreach activities. These include:
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- The Black Canadian Scholarship Fund
- First Nations University of Canada, Perry Bellegarde Leadership Scholarship Fund
- Ottawa Youth Orchestra Academy
- St. Luke’s Table
- ALS Canada
- YMCA-YWCA Women of Distinction Awards Program
- Perley Rideau Veterans’ Health Care Centre
- Kiwanis Precious Minds Read-a-thon
- Sickle Cell Disease Parents’ Support Group
- Rotary Centennial Playground for Children of all Abilities at Brewer Park
- Youth Drug Addiction and Project S.T.E.P.
- Mental Health
- Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation in support of research into prostate and colorectal cancer
- Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund for community development, social justice and disaster relief
- Dalhousie Food Cupboard
- Homelessness
Please click on the links to see more about the programs we offer, and see our contact information. In addition, for your convenience, you can buy tickets online. A payment button linking you to Paypal’s secure payment facility is on each event page.
We look forward to seeing you soon!