The Banff Centre, museums and galleries design national Creative Industries program with support from Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life

Winnipeg, April 14, 2014 -- In the first of a series of roundtables, Winnipeg area museum and gallery managers spent this afternoon helping create an innovative new leadership development program for the creative industries sector which will be piloted later this year at Alberta’s Banff Centre.   

The Banff Centre’s  Director of Innovation and Partnerships, Jerry McGrath says, “Once fully launched, this program will address the challenges increasingly faced by the creative industries in being more self-sufficient.  It will help develop the skills, networks and visions that will enable institutions to better engage, educate, and enrich their communities.” The program design process has been funded by Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life and leverages diverse perspectives from a variety of sectors in at least five other communities across Canada over the next two months.  

“The Creative Industries Leadership Program will answer a key need for our national arts and cultural community,” said Jan Belanger, Assistant Vice-President, Community Affairs for Great-West Life, London Life, and Canada Life. “It’s an initiative built on the principle that stronger business acumen in arts leaders contributes to more strategic and stable future for cultural organizations. Helping arts leaders grow their entrepreneurial skills and expertise, so their organizations can thrive both creatively and financially, is a goal we’re proud to support.” Following these roundtables, a prototype program will be presented to established and emerging creative industry professionals during the Banff Summer Arts Festival.

The pilot program will then be offered first to mid-career museum and gallery professionals and then to other parts of the sector as development progresses. McGrath says, “It is because of the support of Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life that The Banff Centre is able to develop this program that enables the arts and culture sector to lead their communities in becoming even more vibrant and creative.” This Creative Industries Leadership Development Program will be one of the first programs introduced under the recently announced, Peter Lougheed Leadership Institute (PLLI) at The Banff Centre.  The PLLI endeavours to provide an inspirational environment that draws on collaborative thinking and cutting-edge creative and business practices. Founded in 1933, The Banff Centre is a globally respected arts, cultural, and educational institution and conference facility in Alberta.

The Peter Lougheed Leadership Institute is The Banff Centre’s leadership centre, announced as part of a collaborative Initiative with the University of Alberta.  Named for Alberta’s former premier, the Honourable Peter Lougheed, the Initiative was founded upon the principles of excellence and access in leadership education and research. In addition to the creative industry sector, other PLLI non-credit programs will focus on leadership in the Indigenous, social, business, and educational sectors.  

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About The Banff Centre: The Banff Centre's mission is inspiring creativity. Thousands of artists, leaders, and researchers from across Canada and around the world participate in programs at The Banff Centre every year. Through its multidisciplinary programming, The Banff Centre provides them with the support they need to create, to develop solutions, and to make the impossible possible. Moving forward, the Centre will disseminate the art and ideas developed in Banff through initiatives in digital, web, radio, and broadcast media.