The Banff Centre opens the Kinnear Centre for Creativity & Innovation July 10, 2010

Banff, Alberta, July 25, 2010 -- On July 24, 2010, The Banff Centre officially opened the Kinnear Centre for Creativity & Innovation, capping a six-year, $100-million capital project that will provide a magnificent facility for art, ideas, and leadership, designed by architects Diamond + Schmitt. The Kinnear Centre will host artistic workshops, residencies, and performances, and provide high-tech meeting spaces for The Banff Centre’s Leadership Development programs, and for conferences.  

“We have been waiting for this for a very long time, since 2005, when our Board of Governors approved a new campus master plan for The Banff Centre,” says President and CEO Mary E. Hofstetter. “With architect Jack Diamond, we built the Kinnear Centre with a few basic tenets in mind, articulating a contemporary interpretation of mountain architecture that treads lightly on the earth, preserving montane vegetation, providing leadership in environmental stewardship, and bringing it all together on time and on budget. The Banff Centre has achieved all of these things.”  

A multidisciplinary learning centre at the heart of the Banff Centre campus, the Kinnear Centre was designed with three floors of meeting and banquet spaces, each with sweeping views down the slope of Tunnel Mountain toward the Bourgeau mountain range, and built to LEED Silver standards. On the third floor, a large dance studio with sprung floors and full-length mirrors provides an exceptional space for the performing arts.  

The Kinnear Centre also houses the Paul D. Fleck Library & Archives, one of Canada’s premier arts libraries, home to thousands of music scores and recordings, a rare collection of art books, and more than 75 years of historical cultural documents. On the main floor, the Maclab Bistro is open all day for light meals and late-night gatherings. All of this is fronted by the BMO Financial Group Galleria, three light-filled corridors that soar to skylit ceilings. The Galleria’s walls are now home to works from the Walter Phillips Gallery permanent collection, significant pieces by artists including Rebecca Belmore and Takao Tanabe. Outside in Canada Plaza at the Centre’s entrance, a new commissioned work by Brian Jungen will be installed at the official opening.  

This six-year project, which includes the completion of the new Dining Centre above the Sally Borden Building in 2007, is the result of The Banff Centre’s largest-ever capital campaign, which raised $100 million for building projects, and more than $28 million for artists’ scholarships and programming. Key funding partners included the Governments of Alberta and Canada, The Kahanoff Foundation, and a $10 million donation from James Kinnear and Friends, as well as support from hundreds of individual, corporate, and foundation partners.  

“Here, exceptional artists and leaders from around the world will be inspired to create and perform new works of art, share skills and knowledge in an interdisciplinary environment, explore ideas and develop solutions in the arts and leadership,” Hofstetter adds. “The programs taking place in the Kinnear Centre will build Alberta and Canada’s cultural repertoire, advance global creativity, and contribute to a robust economy and sustainable communities.”  

During the next year, the final segment of Banff Centre Revitalization will be completed, with the decommissioning of Donald Cameron Hall, and landscaping of the area west of the Kinnear Centre. By the summer of 2011, audiences of up to 1,600 people will be able to gather for outdoor performances in the Shaw Amphitheatre.    

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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 here every year. Through its multi-disciplinary programming, The Banff Centre provides them with the support they need to create, to develop solutions, and to make the impossible possible.