Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is proud to host a sold out Truth and Reconciliation Summit on campus on October 29. Participants will hear keynote speeches from Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner, Dr. Marie Wilson and former National Chief, Phil Fontaine, among others, and will discuss ways they can bring the Commission’s 94 calls to action to life in the community.

Whether you’ll be attending the Truth and Reconciliation Summit yourself, watching the livestream on our YouTube channel from home, or are just curious about reconciliation and what you can do, here are some great examples of books, films, podcasts and music that reveal truth, inspire reconciliation, and celebrate Indigenous Canadians.

The Comeback: How Aboriginals Are Reclaiming Power and Influence, by John Ralston Saul 

Read this to learn about treaty rights and how to be a partner in reconciliation.   

Saul argues that guilt and sympathy are only a way of avoiding the real issues at hand, and that they don’t stir people to action. Instead, he believes it’s most important to understand fundamental rights. In The Comeback, Saul provides an account of the historic treaties signed between the Crown and First Nations, how treaties were broken, and how the Supreme Court is confirming the authority of Indigenous people and their leaders today. The book provides an optimistic take on the return of power, respect, and influence of Indigenous Canadians. 

Islands of Decolonial Love, by Leanne Simpson

Read these short stories to experience a touching look into life in contemporary Indigenous communities.

This collection of short stories by Leanne Simpson presents the unique experiences of modern Indigenous people living on reserves, in cities, and small towns. Simpson’s portraits of contemporary characters present voices that are rarely heard in the media. We were fortunate to have Simpson perform her beautiful stories as spoken word here at Banff Centre in the Fall of 2015, and an audio recording is available online, which pairs Simpson’s work with cutting-edge Indigenous musicians. 

Unreserved, Hosted by Rosanna Deerchild on CBC

Listen to this podcast for your weekly dose of Indigenous conversation and culture.

Hosted by Cree broadcaster, author, and poet Rosanna Deerchild, Unreserved takes listeners behind the scenes on news, community, and culture stories from across Canada. A real-talk show with episodes airing every Sunday and Tuesday, there’s always something new to learn or celebrate from our Indigenous communities. 

Spirits of the Rockies: Reasserting an Indigenous Presence in Banff National Park, by Courtney W. Mason; foreword by Roland Rollinmud and Ian A. L. Getty

Read this to discover insights about Banff National Park and First Nations.

Mason worked closely with Stoney Elders to write this account of Indigenous people in Canada’s first national park. Including maps, portraits, and illustrations, Spirits of the Rockies explores colonial encounters, Treaty 7, Banff Indian Days, and more. With a foreword by Indigenous Leadership and Management program, Elder Roland Rollinmud, Spirits of the Rockies will make you think differently about the land residents and visitors walk every day in Banff National Park.

This is just a small sample of the hundreds of works by Canadian authors, filmmakers, and musicians that can help you understand truth and take part in reconciliation. We encourage you to share your own favourite works in the comment section below. To discover more incredible work celebrating Indigenous arts and culture, check out Banff Centre’s Indigenous Arts programming, including more incredible Indigenous artists like Joseph Boyden and Angela Loft.

BANFF, AB, October 14, 2016 – The award winners for the 2016 Banff Mountain Book Competition have been described as “irreverent”, “intoxicating”, and “magical”, and were picked from a longlist of finalists to compete for the Grand Prize, announced on November 3 at this year’s Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival.

Chosen from the best in mountain and adventure literature, mountain fiction, mountain image, mountain articles and mountaineering history, and guidebooks, 147 book submissions from authors in nine countries were honed down to a longlist of 27 finalists and from that list our 2016 jury determined category award winners. 

“The book jury had a tough job whittling the long list down, given the high caliber of entries in every category this year,” said Joanna Croston, Programming Director for the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival. “We are thrilled that the finalists for the 2016 Book Competition’s Grand Prize continue to represent the very best in mountain literature from around the world.”

The 2016 Book Competition jury members are Paul Pritchard (UK, climber and author), Hilaree O’Neill (USA, athlete), and Harry Vandervlist (CAN, Associate Professor, English, University of Calgary).

Category Award Winners:

Adventure Travel
$2000 - Sponsored by Banff Gondola
Ice Diaries: An Antarctic Memoir
Jean McNeil, ECW Press (CAN, 2016)

Mountain Fiction & Poetry
$2000 – Sponsored by Fjällräven
Martin Marten: A Novel
Brian Doyle, Thomas Dunne Books & St. Martin’s Press (USA, 2015)

Mountain & Wilderness Literature – Non-Fiction - The Jon Whyte Award
$2000 - Sponsored by the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies
The Bond
Simon McCartney, Vertebrate Publishing (UK, 2016)

Mountain Image
$2000 – Sponsored by Lake O’Hara Lodge
Yosemite in the Fifties
Dean Fidelman, Patagonia Books (USA, 2015)

Guidebook
$2000 – Sponsored by the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides
1001 Climbing Tips
Andy Kirkpatrick, Vertebrate Publishing (UK, 2016)

Mountaineering Article
$2000 – Sponsored by Canadian Mountain Studies Initiative, University of Alberta and the Alpine Club of Canada
Searching for Superman
Jeff Long, Ascent (USA, May 2016)

Mountaineering History
$2000 – Sponsored by Sherpa Adventure Gear
Rock Queen
Catherine Destivelle, Hayloft Publishing Ltd. (UK, 2015)

Special Jury Mentions:

Across the Arctic Ocean: Original Photographs from the Last Great Polar Journey
Sir Wally Herbert & Huw Lewis-Jones, Thames & Hudson (USA, 2015)

The Bold and Cold: A History of 25 Classic Climbs in the Canadian Rockies
Brandon Pullan, Rocky Mountain Books Ltd. (CAN, 2016)

Grand Prize – The Phyllis and Don Munday Award
$4000 – Sponsored by the Alpine Club of Canada

All category award winners are eligible for the Grand Prize (The Phyllis and Don Munday Award) which will be announced Thursday, November 3, 2016 at The Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival.

For more information on the 2016 Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival, please visit www.banffmountainfestival.ca

About Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival: Created 41 years ago, the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival has become the premier event of its kind in the world. The nine-day Festival hosted by Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Banff, Canada, showcases the world’s best films, books and photographs on mountain subjects – climbing, culture, environment and natural history, exploration and adventure, wildlife, and sport – and attracts the biggest names in mountaineering, adventure filmmaking, and explorers as presenters and speakers. An international jury will also award over $50,000 in prizes for films and books submitted to this year’s Festival competitions.

About the Summit of Excellence Award: Presented by the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival since 1987, the annual Summit of Excellence Award recognizes an individual who has made a significant contribution to mountain life in Canada. It is presented in memory of Calgary climber Bill March, an internationally respected mountaineer, author, and educator, who led Canada’s first successful Everest climb in 1982. Recent recipients of the award include Pierre Lemire (2015), Urs Kallen (2014), Ben Gadd (2013), Geoff Powter (2012) and Philippe Delesalle (2011).

About Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity:  Founded in 1933, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is a learning organization built upon an extraordinary legacy of excellence in artistic and creative development. What started as a single course in drama has grown to become the global organization leading in arts, culture, and creativity across dozens of disciplines. From our home in the stunning Canadian Rocky Mountains, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity aims to inspire everyone who attends our campus – artists, leaders, and thinkers – to unleash their creative potential and realize their unique contribution to society through cross-disciplinary learning opportunities, world-class performances, and public outreach. www.banffcentre.ca

What is indie music, anyway? It's a question that Independent Music Residency faculty member Charles Spearin posed at the residency's live show at The Club Friday, October 7. There are so many styles and formats that fit within the definition of "indie," and this year's participants are a testament to that. 

The four emerging musicians accepted into the 2016 residency all happen to be solo artists, and their styles couldn't be more different. From vocal loops, to instrumentals, to good old fashioned acoustic guitar, the artists have showcased their unique sounds and we've had a lot of fun watching their creations come to life. 

Join them Saturday, October 15 at 9 p.m. for the Indie Band Listening Party, where they'll each present the new work they recorded right here in Banff.

Sam Cash

Jade Bergeron

Jade: I have kind of a full-time, grown-up job outside of music. It’s just really kind of been trying to find a balance between writing music and making money to make more music. It’s hard to have a social life when you have so much going on like that, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I think music has a life of its own, and I think you just know when it’s meant to be. Music is just one of those things that you come home to at the end of the day and it’s there to support you. 

Adrian: I’ve had a great time chatting with everybody who’s in the indie residency. We’re all doing different things but it doesn’t seem hard at all to find things in common. I think, as a solo artist or any type of artist, you’re always looking for people to bounce ideas with and it seems very natural to bounce them off somebody who’s in a similar position. They kind of just get it. It doesn’t really matter what genre of music you’re doing, you’re always trying to pursue a vision and there’s various obstacles and hang-ups that you’re having and it just seems really natural to talk about those things.

Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is proud to host a Truth and Reconciliation Summit on campus October 29, 2016. The sold out event brings together community members, and speakers like Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner, Dr. Marie Wilson and former National Chief Phil Fontaine. We’ll be live streaming the event on October 29 on our YouTube page, so subscribe and stay tuned.

When graphic designer Martha de Santiago was tasked with designing an image to represent Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity’s Truth and Reconciliation Summit, she started with a story. That story is about history, about healing, and about hope for the future—all things the Summit hopes to address.

The Summit, which will be held at Banff Centre October 29, is a chance for important national figures in the Truth and Reconciliation conversation and local Bow Valley community members to gather and discover ways to put the commission’s 94 calls to action in motion.

Creating the logo for such an important event quickly became de Santiago’s main focus. She began creating her concept by researching parts of Canada’s Indigenous history, reading the 94 calls, and noting patterns of words and concepts that kept coming up over and over again. 

“I got really emotional because obviously it’s such a powerful thing to read,” she said.

She also met with Brian Calliou, Banff Centre’s director of Indigenous Leadership programming, to discuss Banff Centre’s role in this important national movement.

“I ended up highlighting the words that came up the most,” said the self-taught designer. “After my reading of a little bit of history and thinking of Brian’s conversation, and of the words that kept coming up—like relationships, healing, dialogue, action—that got distilled into a sketch.”

That sketch incorporated those thoughts into abstract shapes that tell a story. There are sparks—94 in total, one for each call to action—floating up the page as if caught by the wind. A black shape represents the dark past, the history that must be acknowledged. Overlayed are two almost-intertwined shapes representing a compassionate and honest dialogue—the idea of working together while maintaining diversity. It’s visually stunning and significant all at once.

“I think the image is meant to express ideas and not just make things look pretty. It should have a lot of meaning,” she said. 

For Brian Calliou, the meaning behind every last part of the image was not lost.

“I think when people look at that, they’re going to have their own thoughts of what it means. I think it’s going to spark interest just visually,” he said. 

And sparking ideas, conversation, and action is what Calliou hopes to achieve with the Summit—a idea that started small and ballooned into a Centre-wide effort over time.

“Canada needs to consider reconciliation and here we are, an institution who takes the calls seriously, and we’re able to host such an event and play a lead role,” he said.

“In a way, Banff Centre’s just been this amazing resource in all the work I’ve been doing since I’ve been working here,” said Calliou. “The resources we’re able to use here is very meaningful for me as an Indigenous person. And I think the Summit is another version of that.” 

The sold out event promises to face difficult truths, but most importantly create sparks and have participants keep them burning all the way back to their communities where they can make change a reality. 

Learn more about our Truth and Reconciliation Summit here.

Animation by motion graphic artist Rebecca St. John

The Seers Catalogue is a new piece of interactive fiction from Scotiabank Giller Prize-winner Sean Michaels. Commissioned by Banff Centre in 2015 and published by Banff Centre Press, this work follows Michaels' award-winning novel, Us Conductors, and is available for free online. 

The story is strange and wonderful and follows a choose-your-own-adventure format that leads the reader to flip through an obscure magazine series that leads them on a quest. But it's not exactly like the childhood novels you may be imagining.

“It's not really like anything else exactly," says Michaels. "It's the tale of a very mysterious magazine called the Seers Catalogue, which is sort of a kind of David-Lynchian version of National Geographic or something like that in its way. It's the story of you and your relationship with the magazine and the adventures that unfold because of it.”

How to Read The Seers Catalogue: 

1. Go to the Seers Catalogue site. Read the story using Chrome or Firefox, on desktop for the best experience. 

2. Use headphones. The careful, ambient sound design will help suck you into the world of The Seers Catalogue.

3. Click through the story. Linked words and objects will appear. You needn't select every link, but what you choose to click will alter your path in the narrative. 

4. Enjoy! Keep your mind open to the many possibilities of interactive fiction. 

Clicking—or not clicking—on words and objects brings the reader into the story and asks him or her to help steal a mysterious object. If, or how you do it is up to you, but there are many crossroads that must be navigated along the way.

“The reader is clicking on things and choosing things, and because of that active involvement, they become complicit in the story in a way. It's their choices, or the choices they are forced into. 

"I'm really interested in what that feels like as a reader when you become complicit in a story. It’s your fault."

The beautiful imagery lends a lot to the eerie feeling of the story. Illustrators James Braithwaite and Patrick McEown created memorable pieces that anchor the reader to this otherworldly place. Programmer Stephen Ascher, along with Banff Centre programmer Kenny Lozowski, took those elements and brought them to life. 

For Michaels, after writing a novel rooted in the true-life story of a Russian scientist, being able to delve completely into a world of his own creation was exciting. 

“When you're a child, mysteries feel so powerful, magical and exciting. As we become adults, they tend to kind of lose some of that mystique. I think we've been disenchanted a little bit," says Michaels. 

"Most of us have come to decide that there aren't any vast conspiracies or cabals in the world. There aren't any sorcerers lurking, you know, monsters under our beds. For me, I've always been really interested in trying to get to that almost juvenile memory of magic and enchantment and the wardrobe that is kind of opening up in front of you. And Seers Catalogue is really kind of drawing on nostalgia.”

Read The Seers Catalogue today. 

About Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival: Created 41 years ago, the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival has become the premier event of its kind in the world. The nine-day Festival hosted by Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Banff, Canada, showcases the world’s best films, books and photographs on mountain subjects – climbing, culture, environment and natural history, exploration and adventure, wildlife, and sport – and attracts the biggest names in mountaineering, adventure filmmaking, and extreme sports as presenters and speakers. An international jury will also award over $50,000 in prizes for films and books submitted to this year’s Festival competitions.

Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival Partners: The Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival is presented by National Geographic and The North Face, and sponsored by Deuter, Clif Bar, Bergans of Norway, Treksta, and Mountain House, with support from  PETZL, World Expeditions, Kicking Horse Coffee, Lake Louise Ski Resort and Summer Gondola, Mammut, Banff and Lake Louise Tourism, MEC, and the International Alliance for Mountain Film.

About Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity: Founded in 1933, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is a learning organization built upon an extraordinary legacy of excellence in artistic and creative development. What started as a single course in drama has grown to become the global organization leading in arts, culture, and creativity across dozens of disciplines. From our home in the stunning Canadian Rocky Mountains, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity aims to inspire everyone who attends our campus – artists, leaders, and thinkers – to unleash their creative potential and realize their unique contribution to society through cross-disciplinary learning opportunities, world-class performances, and public outreach. www.banffcentre.ca

Carl Potts published the first mini-series featuring the character Rocket Raccoon, nearly ten years after the gun-toting raccoon first appeared in the Marvel Universe in 1976.

“A lot of the other editors thought I was nuts for putting this thing out,” says Potts, who was an executive editor for most of his 13 years at Marvel Comics.

Rocket Raccoon wasn’t really used again until he featured in the Guardians of the Galaxy comics and blockbuster film. It took thirty years, but Potts was finally vindicated.

Potts spoke about his experiences overseeing Marvel publications while he was at The Banff Centre last week as part of the two-day Story Summit.

The audience of visual storytellers, primed perhaps by the recent discussion surrounding Stan Lee’s real role in creating Marvel’s roster of superheroes, came to learn how Pott’s experience with Marvel taught him how to balance group collaboration and fair credit.

Characters like Rocket Raccoon don’t belong to Potts, but to his creators -- a writer-artist duo. Though as an editor, Potts helped direct the course of several much-loved superheroes.

“I have a nostalgic attachment to a lot of them,” Potts says. “I never took credit for editorial contributions to books I helped develop in my capacity as an editor. I just considered it part of the job.”

Comics’ long-lived characters are a collaborative feat: fleshed out, tested, and modernized by a small army of artists, writers, and colourists.

The company often uses what’s called the “Marvel method”, where writers draft a quick plot summary before sending it to the pencil artist. That artist figures out the number of panels needed to tell the story and adds their own pacing, character quirks, and plot twists.

“Quite often, the writer would get back something that would be a bit different than they envisioned when they first wrote that plot,” Potts says.

This back-and forth-process helps keep content fresh for a while. But when a team stagnates, the comic book series can be traded to another creative crew. For this kind of creative exchange to take place, Potts says the office environment needs to foster a sense of equality. He tried to ensure all his team had basic understanding of the value of everyone else’s role.

Handing off your creative baby can save your character from stagnation or put it at risk, he says.

Potts experienced this first hand when he had to give up writing The Punisher War Journal after he was promoted to executive editor.

“You kind of have to do battle with two competing notions. One of which is that evolution can and should be good, but that some people just screw things up.”

The Punisher character existed for many years before Potts developed it into a franchise, but he worked hard to define the traits of the character.

Having the artists and writers on the same page from the beginning helps ensure quality output. Potts cast the Punisher as a two-dimensional anti-hero, so that as his story progressed or when he cameoed in other series he was consistent.

“If there is only one person who knows what the characters are or aren’t, it has got to be the editor. But ideally, everybody on the book is going to have a good feel for the character.”

For larger projects, Potts recommends drafting a “bible” to cement the world’s characters and internal logic. It helps him sort everything out in his head and gives his team a base to work from and add to.

Potts says this approach has helped him successfully take many of his own creations forward, with his sights set on the big screen.

He is currently reaching out to studios with several screenplays. The rights for his comic series, Alien Legion, have been purchased by Bruckheimer Disney.