| Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity

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Kim Belair is the CEO and co-founder of Sweet Baby Inc, a narrative development company based in Montreal. Part of the games industry since 2013, she has worked on projects including Sable, Alan Wake II, Spider-Man 2, South of Midnight, Wu-Tang: Rise of the Deceiver, and many more. Beyond her narrative work, Kim is an advocate for more resonant representation in games, and for generally making things better for workers in an often-unfair industry.

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Andy is an award-winning lighting designer whose work spans theatre, opera, circus, and educational projects. He was Technical Director of the UK-based VR storytelling studio Relative Motion from 2017 to 2023, where he helped produce and technically direct a slate of immersive works, including Shakespeare VR, which UKRI identified as one of the most influential immersive experiences of the past two decades.

He has also contributed to internationally collaborative projects such as In a Thousand Silences with The Freedom Theatre and the British Council, and Tosca VR for Ulster Touring Opera’s HoloEdge platform. Andy brings deep experience in lighting design, immersive production, and the technical craft of bringing story to life in spatial media. For more information on Andy’s theatre work visit www.andypurves.com

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Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is excited to announce performances by Lacey Hill, the singer-songwriter known for her “Indigenous Soul” musical style, a curated lineup of short films from Indigenous filmmakers, the return of the Indigenous Virtual Art Market, and more.

BANFF, AB, JUNE 1, 2026 – June is National Indigenous History Month (NIHM). Recognized as a time for learning, honouring, and reflecting with Indigenous cultures, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity invites the community to celebrate the unique traditions and experiences of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis. Throughout June, events celebrating National Indigenous History Month will take place at Banff Centre, at partner locations across Banff and Canmore, as well as online. Register for or purchase ticketed events here.

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Here on Sacred Buffalo Guardian Mountain, where Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is located on, we are honoured to be hosting Indigenous artists, Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and welcome the community—Indigenous and non-Indigenous—to join us. National Indigenous History Month creates opportunity to meaningfully connect with Indigenous voices across disciplines and come together to celebrate the artistic communities that gather here.

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Janine Windolph, Director of Indigenous Arts at Banff Centre

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As a post-secondary institution dedicated to arts, leadership, mountain culture, and Indigenous culture, Banff Centre is honoured to welcome all visitors to campus during this month, no matter where they are on their journey in Reconciliation.

Watch this video invitation from Janine Windolph, Director of Indigenous Arts, Simon Ross, Director of Indigenous Leadership, and Deborah Green (Gopher), Director of Access, Inclusion, and Indigenous Relations. Also, hear from President and CEO Chris Lorway on Banff Centre’s institutional work in Indigenous Arts and Leadership training alongside our internal strategy to journey along the path of Truth and Reconciliation.

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Lacey Hill

Lacey Hill describes her emotion-filled original songs as “Indigenous Soul.” The Oneida/Mohawk Wolf Clan, Six Nations-born-and-bred independent singer-songwriter has had a passion for making music since she was a little girl.

Throughout the years, Lacey has performed cover songs and sung backup for local Six Nations bands, including The Healers. She’s established herself as one of the few female musicians from her community to release multiple albums, including 528 Volume I in 2013, M (528 Volume II) in 2017, and The Moon (528 Volume III), her latest independent release in 2022. With each album, Lacey makes a point of hitting the road with her music, expanding her fanbase not only locally but internationally with shows in Australia, Edinburgh, New York, and central and western Canada.

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Online Films Screening

A curated lineup of short films by Indigenous filmmakers from the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival will be available online from June 21 to June 27, now available for preorder. This week of free screenings will feature Indigenous-led storytelling, cultures, land-based knowledge, and voices from Canada and the United States.

Borrowed from the Earth
This celebrated 15-minute documentary explores the profound, centuries-old bond between the Blackfeet Nation and their horses. Throughout their respective histories, both horse and Indigenous people have been corralled. Fences put horses in pens and the Blackfeet on reservations, but the attempts to subdue both also strengthened the connection between horse and man.
En Plein Air
Two decades after the expedition that launched his art career, Indigenous painter Alfred Villeneuve returns by canoe to Algonquin Park. He pays homage to the wilderness, particularly the ancient trees or “standing people,” where nature is both his muse and guide.
The Hard Way
Matt Mendes is a Warm Springs tribal member and guide whose life is intertwined with the cycles of the Deschutes River. Taught by his grandfather, the first Native American guide on the river, Mendes has spent years carving his own path—one defined by patience, hard work, and an unshakable connection to the water and land.
Iikaiksimatsa’pao’p (Grateful to Be on the Land)
Cassie Ayoungman, founder of Soul of Miistaki and member of the Siksika Nation, embarks on a journey to bring the healing power of the mountains to her community. Breaking down barriers to climbing and integrating Indigenous teachings and land-based learning, she raises questions about representation and redefines what it means to be on the land.
Shaped by Land
Shaped by Land follows Adam Kjeldsen, one of Greenland’s only Inuit ski guides, on his pursuit of a sustainable approach to ski tourism rooted in Indigenous voices, local ownership, and cultural continuity. Taking place in a country dominated by foreign operators, this documentary highlights the tensions between local communities and the polar tourism industry.

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Indigenous Virtual Marketplace

Banff Centre is once again hosting the Indigenous Virtual Market from June 1 to 30. This online market connects Indigenous artists with buyers from across the country. This year, browse products made by 13 vendors showcasing their creativity through clothing, jewellery, beadwork, self-care products and cosmetics, home goods, and art prints.

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Banff Centre’s Full National Indigenous History Month Schedule

•    June 1-30: Indigenous Virtual Art Market
•    June 1: Visual Arts Open Lecture Series: Maïa Tellit Hawad
•    June 3: Story Sharing Panel | FREE
•    June 10: Dance Workshop | FREE (Registration required!)
•    June 17: Workshop: Making Mini Moccasins | FREE (Registration required – waitlist only)
•    June 18: Workshop: Making Medicine Pouch | FREE (Registration required – waitlist only)
•    June 19: Cheryl L'Hirondelle Publication Launch | FREE
•    June 19: Dance Production Residency Performance: Waihona Kino (Body Archive) by Tau Dance | FREE (Tickets required)
•    June 21-27: Online Films Screening
•    June 24: Lacey Hill Concert | $25

Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is excited to bring together world-renowned musicians, artists, and writers, as well as passionate audiences, for the 2026 Banff Centre Summer Arts Festival. Running throughout May to September, the 2026 festival invites audiences to experience a season of artistic discovery of over 100 free and ticketed events. Tickets are now available for the 2026 Banff Centre Summer Arts Festival.

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See Banff Centre’s Media Room here.
For photos, information, or interview requests, please contact:

Carly Maga
Director, Communications
Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
tel: +1.403.763.6210
cell: +1.403.431.3423
carly_maga@banffcentre.ca

About Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity

Founded in 1933, Banff Centre is a post-secondary institution built upon an extraordinary legacy of excellence in artistic and leadership development. What started as a single course in drama has grown to become a global organization leading in arts, culture, and creative decision-making across dozens of disciplines, from the fine arts to Indigenous Wise Practices. From our home in the stunning Canadian Rocky Mountains, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity aims to move everyone who attends our campus—artists, leaders, thinkers, and audiences—to unleash their creative potential and realize their unique contribution to build an innovative, inspiring future through education, performances, convenings, and public outreach. banffcentre.ca

Banff Centre
107 Tunnel Mountain Drive
Banff, Alberta
Canada
T1L 1H5
403.762.6100
www.banffcentre.ca

We recognize, with deep respect and gratitude, our home on the side of Sacred Buffalo Guardian Mountain. In the spirit of respect and truth, we honour and acknowledge the Banff area, known as “Minihrpa” (translated in Stoney Nakoda as “the waterfalls”) and the Treaty 7 territory and oral practices of the Îyârhe Nakoda (Stoney Nakoda) – comprised of the Bearspaw, Chiniki, and Goodstoney Nations – as well as the Tsuut’ina First Nation and the Blackfoot Confederacy comprised of the Siksika, Piikani, and Kainai. We acknowledge that this territory is home to the Shuswap Nations, Ktunaxa Nations, and Métis Nation of Alberta, Rockyview District 4. We acknowledge all Nations who live, work, and play here, help us steward this land, and honour and celebrate this place.

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IRENE SANKOFF & DAVID HEIN are the Olivier-award winning, Tony nominated, married, Canadian writing team behind the hit Broadway Musical Come From Away,
currently the most produced play across North America, and not only playing around the world but to over 100 countries on Apple TV+.

Come From Away won three 2017 Dora Mavor Moore Awards, four Helen Hayes Awards, five Outer Critics Circle Awards and three Drama Desk Awards, including Best Musical. David and Irene were nominated for Tony Awards for Best Book and Score and Grammy Awards for Best Musical Theater Album. They won the 2017 Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk awards for Best Book, and won the Olivier award for Best Musical and Best Score in 2018. Come From Away broke box office records across North America as well as in Newfoundland, when it played two benefit concerts at the Gander Community Centre Hockey Rink, followed by return concerts in Gander and St. John’s.

Irene and David’s first show, My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding, was recently updated and is being licensed across North America. Based on David’s mother’s true story, it was the hit of the 2009 Toronto Fringe Festival and then was picked up for a commercial run by Mirvish Productions. It has now played and won Best Musical awards in the New York Musical Festival (NYMF) and across North America, with Sankoff and Hein performing in most productions. Together, they have written for Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros., HBO and the CW as well as Marvel Comics and the Canadian government. They currently have several musicals, television shows and films in development.

Irene holds an honourary Doctor of Humane Letters from Pace University in New York. And for their work on Come From Away, Irene and David are the recipients of the Meritorious Service Cross of Canada, the Good Neighbor Award from the Four Freedoms Park Conservancy, andhonourary doctorates from Memorial University.

Inspired by the story of their musical, David and Irene and the cast and crews of Come From Away, have raised money for the SPCA, Daffodil Place, Food Banks, The 9/11 Museum, Pay-It-Forward 9/11, and many more charities.

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Ben Mizrach is a saxophonist, composer, band leader and educator based in Brooklyn. Ben began playing piano at age 5 and saxophone at
age 9. In high school he attended the Jazz House Kids summer workshop, where the inspiration of mentors Bruce Williams and Christian McBride would encourage him to study jazz saxophone at New England Conservatory, and physics at Tufts University. Ben draws from a sprawling palette of influences, from Stephen Sondheim to Anthony Braxton. Alongside creative partner Harrison Clark, Ben wrote the book, music, and lyrics for Almanac – a stage musical exploring the artistic struggles of three black musicians studying at a predominantly white college. The musical, inspired by the work of composer T.J Anderson and American minstrel shows, premiered in Somerville, MA to a sold-out crowd in November of 2021.
In December 2023, Harrison and Ben reunited to develop and produce Orbiting Lovers & Contraband as part of the Office Hours Residency Program at the Kennedy Center. The project explores connections and disconnections - with each other, our environments, our ancestors, and ourselves. Ben regularly performs in New York with his quartet, Zohar & Adam, and other projects. He works as an educator at Jazz House Kids NYC, Brooklyn Friends School , and as a private lesson instructor.

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Banff Centre, 2024. Arthur Hitchcock for IN A LANDSCAPE.

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The weekend of June 27 and 28 begins with Pink Martini’s high-energy international jazz and funk style concert and ends with IN A LANDSCAPE: Classical Music in the Wild™’s return to the Shaw Amphitheatre and its signature concert-hall piano experience in the grand outdoors.

BANFF, AB, MAY 28, 2026 – This summer, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity welcomes two of the summer’s most anticipated performances: Pink Martini All-Stars and IN A LANDSCAPE: Classical Music in the Wild™. This not-to-be-missed weekend—a highlight of the 2026 Banff Centre Summer Arts Festival—offers audiences two distinctly different ways to engage with music and the mountains.

For those who don’t want to miss these back-to-back performances, spend the night in Banff. Banff Centre offers newly renovated, comfortable hotel rooms and suites, only a few steps away from the performances and on-campus restaurants. Come for the performance and stay for the view. Use the promo code STAY for up to 30% off your hotel stay. Book now!

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We’re excited to welcome these exceptional artists to Banff Centre not only because of their unique talents, but also because in very different ways they invite audiences to step into their world of live music. With their infectious energy, Pink Martini throws us an exuberant party on stage. While with IN A LANDSCAPE, Hunter Noack draws you into a deeply intimate experience, enveloping you in the sounds of his piano as you immerse yourself in the power and beauty of the landscape.

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Josephine Ridge, Executive Director, Arts

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Pink Martini All-Stars

Pink Martini All-Stars is a touring spin-off of Thomas Lauderdale’s globe-trotting “little orchestra.” But this offshoot of Pink Martini's signature sprawling ensemble brings all the grandeur and glamour of a full-sized orchestra. This reimagined, high-energy show features three powerhouse vocalists who are long-time collaborators with the band, including NPR legend Ari Shapiro, the soulful Edna Vazquez, and the sensational America’s Got Talent finalist Jimmie Herrod.

Pink Martini has sold over 3 million albums worldwide, performed sold-out shows from Carnegie Hall to Paris’s L'Olympia theatre, and was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame. The band’s 10 studio albums feature dozens of talented musicians from around the world and songs in over 25 languages. Celebrating their 31st year of performing, Pink Martini also plans to have a new album out in 2026. Remaining tickets are extremely limited—learn more here.

Pink Martini All-Stars
Saturday, June 27 | 8 p.m.
Jenny Belzberg Theatre
Tier A $110.00 | Tier B $95.00 | Tier C $65.00

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IN A LANDSCAPE: Classical Music in the Wild™

IN A LANDSCAPE: Classical Music in the Wild™ brings the immersive experience of a traditional concert hall to the mountains. Touring this concept since 2016, classical pianist Hunter Noack replaces domed ceilings and stage lights with sky, sun, and fresh air, bringing his 9-foot Steinway grand piano to stunning geographic locations around North America. At Banff Centre, he returns after a celebrated debut in 2024, performing in the Shaw Amphitheatre, surrounded by the unmatched views of Sacred Buffalo Guardian Mountain.

With 355 concerts presented across Canada and the United States to over 95,000 people, Noack's mission is to connect people to nature and classical music through accessible concerts.

To meet the acoustical challenges of performing in the open air, guests listen through wireless headphones. The music acts as a soundtrack to the outdoor experience as guests wander through the amphitheatre or simply lie down on the lawn, engaging with the old-growth trees, wildflowers, and mountains. Tickets are available here.

IN A LANDSCAPE: Classical Music in the Wild™
Sunday, June 28 | 4 p.m.
Shaw Amphitheatre
$64

This is only the start of a season of great outdoor music at Banff Centre! Catch the recently announced AMP Sessions over two weekends this summer, July 17-19 and July 23-26. Featuring beloved names from the Bow Valley and beyond—like the Ramblin’ Hey Ho Ha’s, Lost Decade, Joshua Burnside, and a partnership with Canmore Folk Festival—AMP Sessions is the perfect free summer arts activity in Banff for the whole family.

– 30 –

See Banff Centre’s Media Room here.

For photos, information, or interview requests, please contact:

Carly Maga
Director, Communications
Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
tel: +1.403.763.6210
cell: +1.403.431.3423
carly_maga@banffcentre.ca

About Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity

Banff Centre
107 Tunnel Mountain Drive
Banff, Alberta
Canada
T1L 1H5
403.762.6100
www.banffcentre.ca

Media Release

Language English

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Sarah is an executive and creative producer with a career built at the intersection of impact and storytelling. She has spent years pioneering creator programs that bring overlooked voices to new platforms and audiences – work that sits at the heart of Well Travelled Collective, a female driven production company she cofounded in 2019. Sarah has produced multiple award-winning short films and documentaries.

French-American and raised in Switzerland, she is an avid climber with a passion for adventures off the beaten path.

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Dina Mufti is an international film judge, curator, and consultant whose work moves between storytelling and critical insight.

As a documentary filmmaker, she has developed a distinctive voice and precise editorial eye informed by both making films and assessing them at the highest level.

She has served as a juror for the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival, Grierson Documentary Awards, Royal Television Society, Kendal Mountain Festival, and the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival.

As a director and producer, her films—created for BBC, National Geographic / Disney, Netflix, Red Bull, and Sky—explore the meeting point of science, culture, art, adventure and the natural world. Her practice is rooted in character-led narratives and a sensitivity to place, often drawing out the quiet, human stories within global landscapes.

Alongside her creative practice, Dina runs a consultancy supporting filmmakers to refine story, strengthen narrative and character, and position their work for the international festival circuit. She is also a respected on-stage moderator at outdoor festivals, and a TEDx rehearsal coach. Her current film project is an independent impact documentary based in the Himalaya.

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An elusive sonic creature, Salomé Perli stands out through her remarkable versatility as a violinist, pianist, vocalist, author, arranger, producer, composer, and improviser. Her singular artistic universe moves fluidly between songwritting, contemporary jazz, electronic and experimental music, driven by bold writing and boundless expressiveness. Fueled by an insatiable artistic curiosity, she continuously expands her practice through interdisciplinary collaborations with choreographers, visual artists, filmmakers, circus performers, and dancers, while engaging with musicians from a wide range of backgrounds. Rejecting labels and conventions, she has developed a deeply personal and immersive artistic approach that has led her to perform internationally across Europe, Japan, Canada, and the United States, as well as to take part in numerous creative residencies (CEM, Codes d’Accès, Le Vivier) and festivals, including MUTEK and OFF JAZZ. Alongside her performance and creative work, she is also active as an educator through free improvisation workshops. With two experimental songwritting albums to her name, Salomé Perli follows in the footsteps of artists such as Björk, Thom Yorke, and Esperanza Spalding, asserting a musical identity that is powerful, sensitive, and resolutely unclassifiable.

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Alfred Yun is a Korean-American jazz pianist and composer. His music is influenced by his upbringing in both Korea and the United States. You can hear influences ranging from jazz, hip hop, and K-Pop to traditional Korean music in Alfred Yun’s compositions.

Alfred was honored to be chosen by the Music Center At Strathmore as an Artist-in-Residence for the 2023-2024 season. This includes featured concerts at Strathmore’s prestigious AMP club in January and participating in programs throughout the season.

In 2025, Alfred Yun released his album, Voice and Phenomenon, which investigates the different ways we use the voice — gibberish, games, poems, singing, spoken word, laughter, and more. The album invites the listener into an intimate account of these disparate voices and sounds. It is the most personal and revealing work of his career. Voice and Phenomenon was listed on Capital Bop's Top DC Jazz Albums of 2025.

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