Banff Centre Summer Arts Festival launches with over 70 concerts, talks, readings, exhibitions, performances, and screenings—including 50 free events

By Carly Maga Posted on April 03, 2025

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Carly Maga
Director, Communications
Amphitheatre on a sunny day with Cascade mountain in the background

The Shaw Amphitheatre during the performance of In a Landscape during the 2024 Banff Centre Summer Arts Festival at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Photo by Arthur Hitchcock for IN A LANDSCAPE.

Held every summer at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Banff, Alberta, the 2025 festival is themed around “gatherings and conversation,” and will feature Jeremy Dutcher, an evening dedicated to Oscar Peterson, an opera adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale, the 15th Banff International String Quartet Competition, a new venue, and more!

BANFF, AB, April 3, 2025 – A tradition since 1950, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is again turning its campus into the grounds of the Banff Centre Summer Arts Festival. Starting with a single week of events to welcome the public into its Theatre, Music, and Fine Arts programs, the festival is now a months-long calendar of free and ticketed activities, welcoming some of the finest artists in the world to Banff. Tickets are now available for the 2025 Banff Centre Summer Arts Festival, beginning on May 1 and ending on September 5, at banffcentre.ca/summer-arts-fest. 

“This festival is a highlight of the year because it’s an invitation to the public to participate in the work that goes on at Banff Centre all year long... We’re the ultimate artistic laboratory—like when a famous comedian tries out new work at a small club. Audiences in Banff can see and hear renowned artists try out new projects and get immediate feedback.”

Chris Lorway, President and CEO of Banff Centre

“There can be a tendency for audiences to view things in silos—you’re an opera person, a jazz person, or a film person... But artists roam freely across these definitions.”

Josephine Ridge, Executive Director of Arts at Banff Centre

See the full lineup of the 2025 Banff Centre Summer Arts Festival here. Festival highlights are below.

Theatre

On May 2, join Banff Centre for a one-night-only performance of SEARCH PARTY by multi-hyphenate writer Inua Ellams. Born in Nigeria, Ellams is now one of Britain’s most beloved contemporary playwrights, known for works like the acclaimed Barber Shop Chronicles and The Half-God of Rainfall. In SEARCH PARTY, Ellams uses audience prompts to search through an electronic archive of his writing for a spontaneous, moving, and ever-evolving performance.

  • SEARCH PARTY
    May 2, 7:30 p.m.
    Margaret Greenham Theatre at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity

Music

Banff Centre’s Soundweavings program celebrates intercultural exchange, inspired by the histories and traditions of the invited participants and faculty members from Australia, India, Korea, Vietnam, and Canada.

Art of Piano returns after a successful run of participant and faculty concerts in the 2024 festival. Combining legendary faculty with emerging talents, this program pushes the instrument to new heights. Concerts include:

Banff (The Beautiful) Celebrates Oscar Peterson at 100 is an unforgettable evening of music and stories honouring Peterson’s love of jazz and Banff Centre. Hear music from his nearly seven-decade career with reflections from his daughter, Céline Peterson.

Also returning to the 2025 Banff Centre Summer Arts Festival is Amp Sessions, where Bow Valley is invited to take in a performance by a local musician in the gorgeous setting of the Shaw Amphitheatre. With exclusive pre-show deals on the Maclab Bistro patio—the Amphitheatre is the go-to after-work summer destination!

  • Amp Sessions
    July 10, 24, 31, & August 21
    Shaw Amphitheatre at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
    FREE

Visual Arts

Banff Centre’s Walter Phillips Gallery will open a new exhibition during Banff Centre Summer Arts Festival, Elliptical Lineages. Drawing from Banff Centre’s collection of works and histories with generations of visual artists, this exhibition presents work by artists that engage with the work of a family member or someone they consider kin. Go deeper into the exhibition at the opening reception on June 27, Artist Discussion on June 28, or an exhibition tour on July 2 or August 20—all free to attend.

  • Elliptical Lineages
    June 7 to September 7, 2025
    Walter Phillips Gallery at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
    FREE

Opera

Banff Centre’s Interplay program returns in 2025 to celebrate the intersection of opera and chamber music. Featuring the fan favourite Opera Pubs and workshop performances of new operas-in-progress, from Bach’s St. Matthew Passion to An Evening with Karim Al-Zand, the festival’s opera programming culminates in the world premiere of the opera adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale in a new chamber orchestration by Dan Schlosberg, commissioned by Banff Centre.

Film

Closing out the 2025 Banff Centre Summer Arts Festival is a weekend of free film screenings in the Shaw Amphitheatre, under the stars. As summer closes, we look forward to the fall’s Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival with highlights from the World Tour and a 2024 festival film, Stories We Have Earned: The Stoney Nakoda Film Project by Cody Lefthand.

CLVB ’33

Banff Centre is proud to unveil its newest venue—CLVB ’33! Named after the year Banff Centre was founded, 1933, CLVB ’33 also harkens back to the storied Banff Centre cabaret space, The Club. Located on the rear lower level of the theatre complex, CLVB ’33 is the go-to space for after-party jam sessions, intimate Literary Cabarets, and endless surprises.

  • Ghostkeeper
    June 27, Doors at 8 p.m.
    CLVB ’33 at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
     
  • Literary Cabarets
    May 15, 20, 22, August 21, 26, & 28, 7 p.m.
    CLVB ’33 at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity

And that’s just a taste of what’s coming up this summer! Visit banffcentre.ca for the full lineup of events and contact the Banff Centre Box Office for tickets at 1.403.762.6301.

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

Media Contact

Carly Maga
Director, Communications

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