By Meredith Dundas
From centre ice to centre stage, Alexei Yashin is stealing the hearts of Ottawa residents.
Children from local Ottawa schools filled the National Arts Centre opera last week to see the Ottawa Senators’ highest-paid player donate $1 million to the institution.
The sports and music fans, many only half the size of the 6-3, 216-pound Yashin, were treated to snacks, Senators T-shirts, and the sight of a hockey hero leading the NAC Orchestra — or at least trying to.
Yashin’s donation, the largest ever given to the NAC in its 29-year history, was given to enhance Russian culture in Ottawa and further children’s programming at the NAC.
Yashin and NAC director John Cripton say they’d also like to start an exchange program between Russian and Canadian performers.
The Senators’ centre, who has lived in Kanata since moving from Russia in 1993, says he wanted to give something back to his community.
“I want to help the arts grow and to flourish. I hope this will also help create opportunities for Canada’s youth,” Yashin said at the press conference.
The NAC has been suffering from cutbacks since 1990, when the federal government cut funding to the centre by 12 per cent.
Yashin’s donation, which will be paid out over the next five years and includes an immediate $200,000 payment, will provide a major boost to the centre’s fundraising, says Cripton.
“(Yashin’s) gift will enable the NAC to enrich its programming, particularly the educational program. His philanthropy will allow the beauty and power of music, theatre and dance to inspire and educate our children and our community,” says Cripton.
The NAC already stages several youth programs throughout the year, such as the young peoples’ concert series and various classes for selected music students.
Mark Hansen, who was at the ceremony with his classmates from Brookfield high school (who were all wearing their new Senators’ T-shirts), said it was great to see a celebrity with “that much money” donating a big chunk to society. Hansen said he hopes other big stars will follow suit.
Under a contract he signed in late 1995, Yashin makes about $4 million a year. He admits that’s more than the average citizen can comprehend.
“We do make a lot of money,” says Yashin. “So I think it’s great to be able to give back to the community. Ottawa did a lot of things for me too.”
Students weren’t the only ones excited about meeting a sports hero. Speaking a sentence in Russian, Canadian Heritage Minister Sheila Copps marvelled at the generosity of the 24-year-old Yashin, saying “You are a very special person, Alexei.”
“This is the greatest pleasure of my job — combining art and sport,” she continued, in English. “This is a first for any player in the NHL, and it is a most generous contribution.”
While Copps, Cripton and conductor Pinchas Zukerman donned Senators’ jerseys with Yashin’s No. 19, the star centre grinned shyly at the cameras, ran his fingers through his dishevelled hair and tried his hand at conducting the NAC Orchestra. Not surprisingly the notes that resonated were those from the Hockey Night in Canada theme song.
The applause that followed was from the orchestra this time, instead of just the audience. Their applause was long and loud to show their gratitude to the avid arts patron and hockey player.
Yashin’s father Valeri, who attended the press conference with his wife, said he was proud of his son and he appreciated that Russian culture will be promoted in Ottawa.
Yashin’s parents are doubly proud of their talented son, who recently returned from the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics where he and the rest of the Russian men’s hockey team won silver medals.
Other than hockey, Russia is equally renowned for its cultural performers and Cripton says he is proud to now have the money to look into an exchange program between Russian and Canadian performers.