MEDIA RELEASE

November 8, 1999

(Banff) The Banff Centre has been awarded federal funding under the National Arts Training Contribution Program, Ministry of Canadian Heritage. The Centre will receive $1,000,000 for the 1999 – 2000 fiscal year, in recognition of its role as a national institution in artistic training and professional development. Specifically, the National Arts Training Contribution Program will provide funding to The Banff Centre’s principal division, the Centre for the Arts, in support of training and artistic development in Aboriginal Arts, Media & Visual Arts, Music & Sound, Theatre Arts, and Writing & Publishing programs. New opportunities for the Centre include a pilot program in Technical Theatre Training, which will result in as many as forty technicians training here for ten months at a time.

Banff Centre vice-president and director of the Centre for the Arts, Carol Phillips, says the Centre is thrilled to receive the support. "This money speaks to The Banff Centre’s role as a national institution providing professional development opportunities for artists and arts practitioners. With this funding, The Banff Centre will now be able to serve more Canadian artists and provide better access to new technologies."

The Banff Centre began as a summer drama school in 1933. It has a sixty-six year history of programming shaped by the needs of artists. Over 41,000 artists have experienced something unique at the Centre: an artistic environment completely geared to their creative needs.

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