Leadership Arts Ensemble

The Leadership Arts Ensemble is a group of Leadership Development staff, faculty, creativity facilitators, and Banff Centre artists. The ensemble works collaboratively in the Leadership Learning Lab environment to explore, test, and define connections among leadership, artistic mediums and creative process. Some of the key activities and initiatives of the Ensemble include:

• Advancing the practice of “creative leadership” by working with and inventing artistic process for application in Leadership Development, Mountain Culture and the Arts;
• Developing metaphor consciousness and sensibility;
• Observing and recording processes that contribute to new knowledge and greater understanding of Leadership Development; and
• Providing space and processes for developing Leadership Development Facilitators.

Past Events

Really Thinking Outside the Box: Camera-less Photography Workshop

Sarah Fuller – Photography Facilitator, Visual Arts Department, The Banff Centre

The art and practice of “imaging” plays a critical role for leaders in creative problem solving, navigating complexity, and in communicating more effectively with others. This session will explore the art of the colour photogram and how practice with visual media can compliment various leadership capacities. Photograms are camera-less photographs made by placing objects on light-sensitive paper, exposing this paper in a darkroom, and developing it through a colour processing machine.  Participants will use a variety of materials which may include: drawings on acetate, small figurines, toys, office objects, real negatives, feathers, paper cut-outs, coloured gels.  

Right Brain Project Management

Mike Aucoin PhD, President, Leading Edge Management, LLC, College Station, Texas

Conventional approaches to project management rely on rational and logical and methods, which work wonderfully in environments that are predictable and familiar. But complex, demanding and high-velocity situations stretch team capabilities and other approaches are needed.  The capabilities of the right brain are needed to master these work place challenges.  This session will explore the exciting and valuable techniques of Right-Brain Project Management, an approach that enables teams to creatively make sense of demanding environments and unleash the emotional energy needed to overcome the inevitable obstacles of “stretch” projects – everything that you expect from a project hero!  Using insights from stories and the arts, the presentation will focus on ways that Leadership Development facilitators and practitioners can help individuals and organizations make projects in the work place successful and rewarding.

iTeams – Leadership Ecology

Milton Friesen – Ingenuity Arts

A current business challenge is to build social and organizational structures that are resilient, adaptive, and non-linear while retaining clarity about mission and purpose. Social, cultural and communications changes necessitate ongoing adaptation.

Here’s what Milton Frisen has to say: “In my experience, straight lines are seldom part of ingenuity driven solutions, although elegance and fit are. A high degree of interconnectivity between these elements is important. Deciding which elements contribute to growth and how to introduce and/or modify those elements is a central task of leadership if developing organizations with higher levels of ingenuity is important. The elements that I’ve identified as important arise from experience, my understanding of complexity science, and the insights gained from the research of other scholar-practitioners.”

Leadership That Moves Us: Leadership Learning through Laban

Karen Dawson, Banff Centre Leadership Development Faculty

This session will get people moving, creating, co-creating shapes, and crafting short performance/movement pieces to share with each other. Loosely based on the movement principles of Laban, this session will help participants get  “out of their heads” and into their bodies, while still offering some intellectually comfortable thinking time. Themes explored will include: change, stress, emotional intelligence, teamwork, creativity and innovation, conflict, transformation, and facilitation techniques.

Advancing the Practice of Leadership through Movement

Colin Funk, Creative Programming Director – Leadership Development

Brief highlights of the findings from the 2007 Leadership Arts workshop on Dance and Movement with Motus O dance troupe, Paul Loper, Wendy Morris, and the Leadership Arts Ensemble members.

Creative Leadership Italian Style

Dr. Brian Woodward, Banff Centre Leadership Development Faculty
Colin Funk, Creative Programming Director, Leadership Development

One of the premier European creativity conferences and creativity facilitator networking opportunities takes place each year in Sestri Levante, Italy at CREA - (Creativity European Association) conference.  Hear from Colin Funk as to what makes this event so engaging and special.  Brian Woodward will also share his experience and insights from his September research trip to Italy.

Evolving Metaphor: A Process for Developing Conceptual Thinking

Ian Prinsloo, Freelance Theatre Director

Albert Einstein once said, "Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them".  But this quote raises a question: How do we develop the new level of awareness from which to approach the problem?   In this session we will explore how metaphor creation can be developed in individuals and how the related capacities can be applied to the investigation of complex problems and situations in a leadership context.

The Leader’s Mask

Steve Jarand, Mask Maker and Performer

This highly interactive session will explore the many facets of the Leader’s personae through the medium of mask.  Join master mask performer Steve Jarand who will introduce us to his tickle trunk of characters that will no doubt lead us into new frontiers in the leadership landscape. Special focus on half mask – speaking masks.

Leadership Lessons from the Art of Juggling

Kim Bater, Banff Centre Leadership Development Faculty

Beginning to juggle is engaging, fun and can lead to an exploration of the process of learning.  This session will provide a step-by-step approach to juggling and will examine how it is a metaphor for the learning process.  Michael Gelb in his book, Lessons from the Art of Juggling, remarks, “The greatest learners are distinguished by a mind and body attitude of relaxed concentration.  They combine a commitment to excellence with a positive approach to mistakes.” 
Come and make mistakes and learn through juggling.

Inspiring Radical Expression and Inclusion – Field Report from the 2007 Burning Man Festival

Leadership Development Creativity Faculty: Ed Bamiling, Colin Funk, Dr. Noel Keough, Randall McKay, Dr. Brian Woodward

For one week each year a make-shift city emerges out of the dust in the remote north-west corner of Nevada – Black Rock City – home to the Burning Man festival for the last 21 years.  Over 50,000 cultural creative’s, artists, university professors, social activists, healers, mystics, and accidental tourists faithfully descend each summer into what has been noted as an event that can’t be described only experienced.  Join a number of Leadership Development faculty as they share their recent experience at the festival discovering edgy creative process, process on the extreme edge, and process well over the edge and into the abyss.

Witnessing Leadership - Body Sensing Yoga and Yoga Nidra (iRest)

Ronna Schneberger – Professional guide / naturalist, certified Yoga instructor

This session explores how gentle movement combined with breath helps leaders discover inner calm, awareness, and witness consciousness. Leaders need to cultivate a witnessing mind to help them see patterns in their work place and in themselves. After 40 min of yoga we will transition into Integrative Restoration (iRest), which is a guided meditation (40 min). IRest is a profoundly transformative practice derived from the ancient meditative practice of Yoga Nidra (yoga=embodiment of what is timeless nidra=across all states of consciousness). This non-religious practice is deeply relaxing, helps participants experience pure awareness, and releases long standing negative sensations, and beliefs that may be limiting them from moving forward (while in a meditative state). Bring a pillow and blanket for comfort.