Create

Inspiring and Advancing Creative Leaders

Creative Leaders are trailblazers; leaders in their field of creative practice across all artistic disciplines and leaders who are using creativity in their work to support their communities. 

Banff Centre is deeply committed to, and has a globally respected track record of, advancing artists and leaders of all kinds and at all stages of their careers, showcasing their work to audiences, and inspiring them to make unique contributions which enrich the world. 

To continue to fulfill this purpose, Banff Centre will remain a multi-disciplinary educational institution, fostering creativity and offering programming across artistic disciplines, in cultural and Indigenous leadership, mountain culture, and the environment.  

 

Additionally, Banff Centre plans to:

1 – Establish a Creative Digital Strategy which enhances both the development and delivery of creative work:

  • Recognizing that digital technologies are both creation and communications tools, Banff Centre will invest in and prioritize the ongoing, long-term development of digital activity to continue to be a resource for artists and leaders.
  • Banff Centre will ensure its digital offerings position the Centre as a valuable and impactful resource to artists and leaders, thereby increasing access to Banff Centre and participating in global conversations in our sectors.
  • Banff Centre will connect the creative work of its participants through digital art forms and digital production and performance.

 

2 – With a commitment to diversity of thought as an essential component for creative opportunity, Banff Centre will build on its existing policies and commitments to diversity, equity, and access: 

  • Banff Centre will develop a framework of staff, governance, programming, and financial plans which support diversity, equity, and access across the Centre, including in its Board, senior management, staff, faculty, and participants.
  • This work is strong and compassionate, and calls for authentic exploration, deep listening, and collaboration to build community, and remove barriers to access. 

 

3 – Connect to Banff Centre’s sense of place as a mountain destination:

  • Inspired by its home in the mountains on Treaty 7 territory, Banff Centre will continue to ground all of its offerings, whether in person or online, in the power of this place. 
  • Banff Centre will uphold the unique character of its home in Banff National Park and the Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site. Banff Centre will build on its stewardship of mountain culture and the environment, as a way to inform, educate and welcome visitors to its campus, located in this sacred place. 

 

4 – Explore Banff Centre’s impact on the careers of participants:

  • As an education and training institution, Banff Centre offers relevant and affordable adult learning experiences that help supply the economy’s need for a resilient and diversely-skilled population. By providing a range of opportunities, and responding to stakeholder feedback, Banff Centre contributes to developing an innovative and creative workforce, capable of making meaningful contributions to their communities, organizations, fields, and sectors.
  • Banff Centre’s alumni are surveyed annually and regularly credit Banff Centre as instrumental in the development of innovative research and exploration. They typically describe their experience at Banff Centre as positively impacting the course of their career, resulting in increased employability or demand for their work.
  • Banff Centre will participate in discussions with other post-secondary institutions about evolving models of professional recognition and explore their possible use at Banff Centre.

Initial Actions

  • Establish the strategy and plan around digital program offerings and the use of new digital tools in artistic, creative, and communication processes.
  • Develop detailed implementation and training plans related to diversity, equity, and access. Seek specialized support from trained professionals to assist in the development of these plans.
  • Set up a Working Group to explore the scope of Mountain Culture as an area of study; its relationship to the environment; how to align it with arts and leadership programming, and how to reflect it in the organizational structure.
  • Examine the possibilities of and develop a framework for new forms of professional recognition for Banff Centre programs.

Future Actions

  • Commence implementation of diversity, equity, and access plans.
  • Digital strategy implementation.
  • Working Group on Mountain Culture and the environment to report with recommendations to support this work. Accepted recommendations to be implemented.
  • Explore possible professional recognition pilot program.