Banff Centre’s Mountain Culture and Indigenous Arts programs invite you to a screening of Cody Lefthand’s Stories We Have Earned: The Stoney Nakoda Film Project (Canada, 2024). The documentary examines the exploitation of the Iyarhe Nakoda people’s culture and customs for entertainment through their involvement in Banff Indian Days, the Calgary Stampede, and dozens of Hollywood films.

The screening takes place in the majestic Shaw Amphitheatre, which sports a 360˚ view of Banff’s gorgeous surroundings. A natural valley in the heart of Banff Centre campus, there’s no better spot to enjoy both the mountains and the arts in the summer.

In case of bad weather, this event will take place indoors in the Max Bell Auditorium.

“Stories We Have Earned: The Stoney Nakoda Film Project is a blending of cinema history and the history of my people the Stoney Nakoda. I want to use the many films shot in our community to tell the bigger history of our struggle against the many injustices placed upon the Stoney under Treaty 7.” — director Cody Lefthand

Bring a blanket and the whole family for a night of inspiring, mountain-themed short films under the stars.

Films include: 
“The Streif — Fabio Wibmer” (Austria, 2024, 3 min) 
“River Mamma” (USA, 2023, 11 min) 
“109 Below” (USA, 2023, 14 min) 
“Keep it Burning” (France, 2024, 33 min) 
“Welcome to the Pit” (Canada, 2024, 15 min) 
“Undammed” (USA, 2024, 17 min)

This event takes place in the majestic Shaw Amphitheatre, which sports a 360˚ view of Banff’s gorgeous surroundings. A natural valley in the heart of Banff Centre campus, there’s no better spot to enjoy both the mountains and the arts in the summer.

In case of bad weather, this event will take place indoors in the Max Bell Auditorium.

Join us for an invigorating evening of creativity at Literary Cabaret, part of the Summer Writers residency at Banff Centre. Across three nights, explore intimate readings of groundbreaking poetry and prose by participants and faculty mentors.

This chapter is hosted by Eric Sneathen, a poet and queer literary historian. Sneathen is the author of Snail Poems (2016) and Don’t Leave Me This Way (2023). With Lauren Levin, he edited Honey Mine (2021), the selected fictions of Camille Roy.

Enjoy a drink from the bar, browse a curated selection of books at Pages Books, and immerse yourself in the vibrant literary atmosphere. Doors open at 6:15 p.m., with readings starting at 7:00 p.m. Afterward, mingle with the writers and faculty until 9:30 p.m. Don’t miss this chance to experience the future of creative writing.

Join us for an invigorating evening of creativity at Literary Cabaret, part of the Summer Writers residency at Banff Centre. Across three nights, explore intimate readings of groundbreaking poetry and prose by participants and faculty mentors.

This chapter is hosted by poet Catriona Strang. A founding member of the Institute for Domestic Research, Strang is the author of Low Fancy, Corked, Reveries of a Solitary Biker, and Unfuckable Lardass.

Enjoy a drink from the bar, browse a curated selection of books at Pages Books, and immerse yourself in the vibrant literary atmosphere. Doors open at 6:15 p.m., with readings starting at 7:00 p.m. Afterward, mingle with the writers and faculty until 9:30 p.m. Don’t miss this chance to experience the future of creative writing.

Join us for an invigorating evening of creativity at Literary Cabaret, part of the Summer Writers residency at Banff Centre. Across three nights, explore intimate readings of groundbreaking poetry and prose by participants and faculty mentors.

This chapter is hosted by Douglas Kearney, a poet, performer, and librettist. Kearney has published eight books, ranging from poetry to essays. In 2023, Optic Subwoof, a collection of his Bagley Wright lectures, won the Poetry Foundation’s Pegasus Prize for Poetry Criticism and the CLMP Firecracker Award for Creative Nonfiction. His collection Sho was a Griffin Poetry Prize and Minnesota Book Award winner.

Enjoy a drink from the bar, browse a curated selection of books at Pages Books, and immerse yourself in the vibrant literary atmosphere. Doors open at 6:15 p.m., with readings starting at 7:00 p.m. Afterward, mingle with the writers and faculty until 9:30 p.m. Don’t miss this chance to experience the future of creative writing.

Join curator and writer Tak Pham for a discussion of his curatorial practice.

Pham is currently curator of the Illingworth Kerr Gallery at the Alberta University of the Arts in Calgary. He was formerly associate curator at the Mackenzie Art Gallery in Regina.

He has curated exhibitions and organized curatorial projects for Contemporary Calgary, Confederation Centre Art Gallery, Varley Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Ontario, and Nuit Blanche Toronto, among others. His writings and reviews have appeared in Canadian Art, C Magazine, ESPACE art actuel, esse arts + opinions, Galleries West, The Brooklyn Rail, ArtAsiaPacific, and Hyperallergic.

Pham is a 2025 faculty member for Early Career Banff Artist in Residence (BAiR)—a transformative five-week residency that provides mentorship, critical feedback, and studio time to visual artists and curators in the early stages of their careers.

This event is part of the Visual Arts Open Lecture Series, which presents talks by leading Canadian and international artists, curators, and academics.

Visual Arts is supported by the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Outstanding Artist Program.

Join us for an afternoon talk with Canadian curator Riva Symko.

In this lecture, Symko provides an overview of her own professional practice in order to think through some of the broader curatorial shifts of the past decade and a half. She considers recent curatorial methodologies as a series of relationships that have moved from sites of knowledge, to practices of opportunity, to spaces of care.

Symko is a 2025 faculty member for Early Career Banff Artist in Residence (BAiR)—a transformative five-week residency that provides mentorship, critical feedback, and studio time to visual artists and curators in the early stages of their careers.

This event is part of the Visual Arts Open Lecture Series, which presents talks by leading Canadian and international artists, curators, and academics.

Visual Arts is supported by the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Outstanding Artist Program.

The Handmaids Tale
Composed by Poul Ruders Libretto by Paul Bentley
A new arrangement by Dan Schlosberg, commissioned by Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity

Presented under license from G. Schirmer, Inc. o/b/o Edition Wilhelm Hansen, copyright owners. 

Kamna Gupta, Conductor
Brenna Corner, Director
Amanda Testini, Associate Director
Gillian Gallow Set, Designer
Jessica Oostergo, Costume Designer
Sophie Tang, Lighting Designer
S. Katy Tucker, Projections Designer
Anastasia St. Amand, Intimacy & Fight Coordinator
 

A right-wing theocracy, a burning planet, and resistance against all odds.

The operatic adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s chillingly relevant dystopian classic comes to the stage in the fully realized world premiere of a chamber arrangement by acclaimed pianist Dan Schlosberg, commissioned by Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and performed by Interplay faculty and participants.

This staging of The Handmaid’s Tale marks the culmination of a month-long residency bringing together opera singers, répétiteurs, chamber musicians, stage directors, stage managers, conductors, prop builders, and wardrobe technicians. It provides early-career opera, music, and theatre professionals the unique opportunity to work on a fully produced opera with a world-class creative team, including conductor Kamna Gupta and director Brenna Corner.

“In Dan Schlosberg we trust. He is the musical mastermind behind Heartbeat [Opera]’s daring arrangements, and his work is always intriguing.” — New York Times

“Dan Schlosberg [is] perhaps the wittiest arranger of his generation.” — Observer

Content Advisory:

This opera closely follows the themes and narratives of the original novel with imagery and scenes of sexual and physical violence reflective of the dystopian setting (including depictions of rape and hanging). Viewer discretion is advised. For a full list of content notes please contact Audience Services.

Interplay is made possible through the generous support of the David Spencer Endowment Encouragement Fund and the Yolande Freeze Master Artists in Music Fund.
Banff Centre is in partnership with the Music in PyeongChang.