In 2008, The Banff Centre celebrates 75 years as one of the cornerstones of arts and culture in Canada. Since its inception, the Centre has transformed careers in the arts, mountain culture, and leadership, providing a place to learn and create, and to showcase talent and new work. This year, The Banff Centre will look back on a powerful legacy, and debut new programs, performances, and exhibitions in Banff and across Canada to mark this important anniversary.
Beginning in 1933 as an extension of the University of Alberta’s fine arts department, The Banff Centre quickly grew to encompass theatre, dance, music, writing, and visual arts. Within 20 years, the Centre also became a noted destination for conferences and training in executive leadership. By 1996 when Mountain Culture officially became The Banff Centre’s fourth division, it had become a truly unique institution. Set at the base of Tunnel Mountain in Canada’s first national park, there is no other place like The Banff Centre.
Some of the anniversary celebrations will take place in venues across Canada, including the performance of five new plays developed at the Centre during Alberta Theatre Projects’ Playwrights Festival in Calgary, and a three-day event called Rocky Mountain High in early July at Toronto’s Harbourfront.
Throughout 2008, the Centre will welcome alumni from across the country, staging a year’s worth of original performance to mark 75 years. Highlights will include:
- The premiere of an original work in dance and music by Red Sky Performance, a collaboration between North American Aboriginal and Mongolian artists that will travel from Banff directly to the Beijing Olympics.
- A new partnership between the Centre and Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre, bringing theatre back to the Centre after almost 10 years. The Banff / Citadel Professional Theatre Program will provide young theatre professionals with almost four months of training, highlighted by performance of a work of classical theatre as part of both the 2008 Banff Summer Arts Festival and the Citadel’s 2008 season.
- The premiere of a new work by Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, a company that has flourished in creative residency at the Centre, and returns to create and design a new work destined to open the Canada Dance Festival in Ottawa. The majority of works slated for the 2008 Festival were developed in Banff.
- The debut of the Banff Choral Workshop, a partnership with the Vancouver Chamber Choir that will bring young singers to Banff for a week of intensive creative residency, and a performance of Carmina Burana as part of the 2008 Banff Summer Arts Festival.
- Outstanding performances by returning alumni including pianist Jon Kimura Parker, singer Patricia O’Callaghan, the Gryphon Trio, Decidedly Jazz Danceworks, Toronto Dance Theatre, Alberta Ballet, and the St. Lawrence String Quartet, along with operas including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Dido and Aeneas (the first opera staged at The Banff Centre in 1950), and a retrospective exhibition of work by Banff Centre alumni in the Walter Phillips Gallery.
- Launch of several new programs including the Banff Puppet Workshop, in partnership with Calgary’s Old Trout Puppet Workshop, a dance intensive called Interrarium, the new Banff Indie Band Residency, a new program for professional ballet dancers, and the Summer Composers’ Residency.
As 2008 unfolds, many more performances, highlights, and new programs will be announced. The Banff Centre will open its doors to share this celebration with the world, an invitation to look back on 75 years of groundbreaking creative energy, and to look ahead to the next generations of artists and leaders who will continue to build our legacy.
