The new NAC director of communications is moving out of Rideau Hall to an office by the Rideau Canal.
Annabelle Cloutier, who is the director of communications and public affairs with the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General, will take up her new post on May 7. She will fill the job once held by Rosemary Thompson, who has moved to the Banff Centre where she is vice-president of Marketing and Communications.
Annabelle Cloutier
Cloutier will join the NAC as it prepares to celebrate its 50th year.
“As the National Arts Centre prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary next year and present its first season of Indigenous Theatre, I am delighted to join the dedicated team who strive to make the NAC a home for Canada’s most creative artists,” she is quoted as saying in a media release.
Cloutier worked at Rideau Hall for nine years with governors general, Michaëlle Jean, David Johnston and Julie Payette.
Cloutier is no stranger to big names and big events having worked on royal tours, international visits by governors-general and greeting visiting dignitaries and heads of State. She advised the Order of Canada and the Canadian Honours System, and was involved in the creation of the Governor General’s Innovation Awards, the Rideau Hall Foundation and the publication of two books by Johnston, The Idea of Canada and Ingenious.
She has worked in film and television and was an advocate arts and culture with la Fédération culturelle canadienne-française (FCCF) from 2001 to 2005.
Originally from Quebec’s Eastern Townships, Cloutier has a law degree she also studied communications at the Université de Sherbrooke. She loves music and the arts, plays piano, and is married with two children.
