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Media Release

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For immediate release
April 6, 2005

Sarah J. E. Iley appointed vice president, programming at The Banff Centre

Sarah J. E. Iley, president and CEO of The Council for Business and the Arts in Canada (CBAC), will take over the leadership for programming at The Banff Centre effective July 1, 2005. Iley has been appointed vice president, programming, overseeing a new management structure that will build on the Centre’s position as a catalyst for creativity in the arts, leadership, and mountain culture.

“Sarah is an eloquent and articulate spokesperson for the arts, adept at building partnerships and collaborative ventures, keenly interested in exploring co-operative learning opportunities between the arts and business leaders, and savvy in sourcing funding and winning grants,” says Mary E. Hofstetter, president and CEO of The Banff Centre.

In addition to her position with CBAC, Iley is also the leader (in partnership with The Banff Centre) of the annual Canadian Arts Summit. She has been a champion of support for the arts, artists, and arts programming in Canada throughout her career, in her role at CBAC, and before that as manager, developmental services, of the Ontario Arts Council.

“The Banff Centre is a unique Canadian institution, a tremendous professional resource for artists and business people,” Iley says of her new role. “I am very much looking forward to working with talented staff and creative people from Canada and around the world.”

As vice president, programming, Iley will work with the leaders of The Banff Centre’s Mountain Culture and Leadership areas, as well as the Centre’s two newly appointed executive artistic directors.

Vincent Varga accepts position of executive artistic director, fine arts

The Banff Centre also welcomes Vincent Varga to the position of executive artistic director, fine arts, effective April 1, 2005. Varga’s position oversees programs, events, and exhibitions in visual arts, new media, the Creative Electronic Environment, writing and publishing, Aboriginal arts (visual), the Banff Centre Press, the Banff International Curatorial Institute, and the Banff International Literary Translation Centre.

An artist with more than 27 years of curatorial and arts administration experience, Varga has held senior positions with Calgary’s Glenbow Museum, the 1988 Olympic Arts Festival, the Art Gallery of Windsor, and the Edmonton Art Gallery. From 2000 to 2004, he was the executive director of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, recognized nationally and internationally for its focus on the Group of Seven and their contemporaries.

Playwright John Murrell takes on role of executive artistic director, performing arts

Currently acting vice president, programming, John Murrell will take over the role of executive artistic director, performing arts. One of Canada’s most acclaimed playwrights and librettists, Murrell has been artistic director of theatre arts at the Centre since 1999. He has worked as playwright-in-residence at both Theatre Calgary and Alberta Theatre Projects, as an associate director of the Stratford Festival, as head of the Banff Playwrights Colony from 1986 to 1989, and as head of the theatre section of the Canada Council from 1988 to 1992. As executive artistic director, performing arts, Murrell will oversee programs and performance at the Centre in theatre, music and sound, opera, dance, Aboriginal arts (performance), and the annual Banff Summer Arts Festival.