Banff Centre Going Online With Programs And Events This Fall

As one of Alberta and Canada's most cherished arts and leadership post secondary institutions, Banff Centre is going digital to serve our participants with the educational opportunities they've come to depend on.

Banff Centre has been severely impacted by the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and needed to suspend all classes until the end of August, 2020.

Beginning this fall, Banff Centre will be offering 14 online programs between September and December, 2020 to continue to serve our community in a new ways. We are planning two programs per discipline in Literary Arts, Visual Arts, Music, Performing Arts, Indigenous Arts, and Indigenous Leadership to be delivered digitally. As part of this work, we will explore how an online model can serve artists and leaders in the future to fulfill our mandate as Alberta and Canada's largest post-secondary arts and leadership institution. Details for fall programs will be available very soon, including information on how to apply.

"Artists and Leaders tell us there is nowhere in the world like Banff Centre," said Janice Price, President and CEO of Banff Centre. "The educational opportunities, the residencies and performances experienced and created by artists and leaders here have transformed lives. Now we can share those opportunities with a wider audience through digital dissemination and engagement. I applaud the team for taking this innovative step."

On June 21, Banff Centre will be hosting an online celebration of National Indigenous Peoples' Day led by Director of Indigenous Arts, Reneltta Arluk and Associate Director of Indigenous Leadership, Alexia McKinnon, thanks to a dedicated grant by the Government of Canada. This will be a rich and unique immersion into Treaty 7 arts and culture.

In July, we will be thanking some of our incredible donors who have stood by Banff Centre during this period by hosting a digital Midsummer Gratitude event in place of the annual Midsummer Ball.

The Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival and the Banff International String Quartet Festival will proceed online in the Fall - details about both of these events will be announced soon.

Since 1933, Banff Centre has offered courses, creation residencies, and performance opportunities for for artists to hone and develop their craft. More than 80,000 artists and leaders have taken part in Banff Centre courses and residencies over 87 years, and they come from nearly 100 countries.

In 1954, the school developed a vibrant hospitality business which has in recent years generated close to 40% of our revenue which then flows back into the organization to support arts and leadership programs in a social enterprise model.

And since 1972, we have been offering Indigenous management and leadership programming to prepare and empower leaders to make an impact in a rapidly shifting world by integrating the power of the arts and the wisdom of Indigenous practice.

Banff Centre will thoughtfully and deliberately open its campus facilities and spaces following the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic when it is safe and financially feasible to do so. We look forward to moving ahead with on-campus, world-class programming across all disciplines when our facilities can open. In the meantime the show will go on, digitally.

We know that Banff Centre cannot and will not separate from the power of place - our campus, long a gathering spot within Treaty 7 territory. On the side of Sacred Buffalo Guardian Mountain, we respect the power of this place and the Stoney Nakoda Nations, the Blackfoot Confederacy, the Tsuut'ina, and the Métis, among many other peoples and nations who have come here for generations.

Banff Centre looks forward to inviting artists and leaders back to campus again.

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