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After her studies of literature and art history at the École Normale Supérieure in her hometown Paris, Mariame Clément lived in the U.S.A. and in Berlin, where she did her first internships at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden.

She made her directing debut in 2004 with Rossini's Il Signor Bruschino and Puccini's Gianni Schicchi in Lausanne. She has worked in Athens (Le Comte Ory), Tel Aviv (Il Viaggio a Reims), Santiago de Chile (Lulu), Oviedo (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Sevilla (Agrippina), Nuremberg (Le Nozze di Figaro), Essen (Le Grand Macabre, Salome), Strasbourg (La Belle Hélène, Werther, Platée, Der Rosenkavalier, La Calisto), Antwerp/Ghent (Giasone, Agrippina, Armida), Graz (Faust, Die Zauberflöte), at the Theater an der Wien (Castor et Pollux, The Fairy Queen), in Glyndebourne (Don Pasquale, Poliuto, Il Turco in Italia, Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro), at the Opéra national de Paris (Hänsel und Gretel, Cendrillon), at the Royal Opera House (L'Étoile), at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in patria), at the Semperoper Dresden (Die verkaufte Braut), at the Bregenz Festival (Don Quichotte), at the Santa Fe Opera (Carmen), at the Volksoper in Vienna (Die Lustige Witwe), and at the Staatsoper Berlin (Roméo et Juliette).

In 2014 she created Philippe Hurel's opera, Les Pigeons d'argile, at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse. In 2016, she staged the French premiere of Wagner's second opera, Das Liebesverbot, at the Opéra national du Rhin. Her production of Barkouf in the same theatre in 2018 was the first performance since 1860 of this newly rediscovered major piece by Offenbach.

With Roberto Devereux in June 2024, she completed a Donizetti trilogy at the Grand Théâtre de Genève which began with Anna Bolena in 2021 and continued with Maria Stuarda in 2022.

She made her debut at the Salzburg Festival in the summer of 2024 with Les Contes d'Hoffmann.

Further projects will take her, among other places, to Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Lausanne, Paris, Chicago and Bregenz.

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Banff Centre 2026 Spring/Summer Hèctor Parra is a Catalan composer living in Paris since 2002. Member of the French Academy in Rome – Villa Médicis in 2021-22, he has premiered a hundred works around the world, commissioned by institutions such as the Philharmonie de Paris, the Louvre Museum, the Munich Biennale, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, The Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Elbphilharmonie, the Cologne Philharmonie or the Guggenheim Museum in New York. From 2013 to 2023 he was composer-in-residence at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the Barcelona Auditorium, the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, the Orchestre National de Lille and the Staatstheater Stuttgart. He has premiered eight operas with great public and critical success and which have had librettos by the writers Marie NDiaye, Händl Klaus, Fiston Mwanza Mujilla or Pier Paolo Pasolini/Calixto Bieito. The staging has been carried out by Bieito himself, by Milo Rau or Mariame Clément among others. He has been awarded the Grand Prix de l’Academie Charles Cros 2024, the Opera XXI Award 2023, the National Culture Award of Catalonia 2017, the Ernst von Siemens Composition Prize 2011, the 2007 Donald Aird Memorial Award of San Francisco and the 2005 Tremplin Prize of the Ensemble Intercontemporain and IRCAM, among others. His works are published by Durand/Universal Music Publishing Classical and by Editorial Tritó. Official website: hectorparra.netrts Program Info Session

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Join Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity for an exciting update on our Leadership department.

In this hour-long webinar, get an inside look at the three key pillars of Banff Centre's approach to Leadership training: Convening and Summits, Indigenous Leadership, and Cultural Leadership. Also, hear from Banff Centre's Executive Director of Leadership, Mark Wold, on the evolution of Leadership training at Banff Centre, where the team is headed next, and how these three areas are deeply interconnected by design.

We will also have our Admissions team live to answer questions. Register now to hear if there's a Leadership program that's right for you.

Find out more at: www.banffcentre.ca/programs

This webinar will be recorded and emailed after for those unable to attend. Registration is required.

The Possibilities Retreat, Leadership Development 2025 at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Photo by Rita Taylor.

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Join the Webinar! Learn about our upcoming Leadership programs at Banff Centre from our team of Directors and Admissions.

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Wednesday, October 8, 2025 - 10:00

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Peter Rockford Espiritu is the Executive & Artistic Director of Tau Dance Theater, the only professional dance company based in Honolulu founded by a native Hawaiian. Espiritu choreographed the stage production of Disney’s ‘The Tale of MOANA’ which world premiered on the inaugural voyage of the newest ship of its fleet, the Disney TREASURE in 2024. Espiritu choreographed the luau at the Disney’s ‘Aulani Resort; is a seven-time Hawaii State Foundation for Culture and the Arts - Choreographic Award winner and served for 7 years as a commissioner representing dance for the Mayor’s Office of Culture and Arts in Honolulu. Espiritu was awarded a Jacob’s Pillow LAB residency for the creation of new work in February 2025; is a Western Arts Alliance – Performing Arts Discovery Fellow 2024; a WESTAF BIPOC Fellow 2024; Advancing Indigenous Performances - Native Launchpad Fellow 2023; a Dance USA Fellowship to Artists Fellow and in 2022 was awarded a prestigious Intercultural International Choreographer’s Creation Lab residency at Banff Center for the Creative Arts in Canada. The company presented 5 sold out performances at the Lincoln Center in New York City for the Festival of Firsts in 2022 and continues to be a driving force throughout the artistic realm of the greater Pacific. The company celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2026.

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Chris Lorway is the President and CEO of Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Chris brings senior leadership experience across a broad range of artistic disciplines in both Canadian and international contexts. Well-positioned to strengthen Banff Centre’s position as Canada’s creative leader in arts, leadership, and convening, Chris has a proved record as a global influencer in arts and culture.

Chris is a Canadian citizen, born and raised in Cape Breton, and comes to Banff Centre from his recent position as both Executive and Artistic Director at Stanford Live in California. His artistic and community programs draw on the breadth and depth of Stanford University to connect performances to the significant issues, ideas, and discoveries of our time in a season featuring over 200 performances and events across four primary venues.

Prior to his role at Stanford Live, Chris was Director of Programming and Marketing at The Corporation of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall, where his focus was on developing a cohesive brand identity for the institution and ensuring that programming in the halls reflected the diversity of the city of Toronto.

Prior to that position, he was the inaugural Artistic Director of the Luminato Festival, where he commissioned or co-commissioned nearly 50 new works from Canadian and International artists.

Before his return to Canada in 2007, he was a consultant in the United States with AMS Planning and Research and AEA Consulting. These two roles offered him detailed insight into the governance and operations of major cultural organizations, including Carnegie Hall, New York City Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Edinburgh International Festival, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the West Kowloon Cultural District and San Francisco Opera.

Prior to his consulting experience, he worked for Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, where for two seasons he was part of the Lincoln Center Festival team. It was there he was introduced to some of the world’s top artists and companies. He also had roles in marketing and development at Lincoln Center and worked on the first phase of the $1.5 billion campus redevelopment project.

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Ryan Van Der Hout. Photo by Kristina Ruddick.

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The annual award at Banff Centre recognizes a mid-career Canadian artist whose practice advances the field of contemporary photography. This prize includes a fully funded month-long, self-directed residency at Banff Centre’s Leighton Artist Studios, valued at over $7,000 CAD.

BANFF, AB, SEPTEMBER 11, 2025 – Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is proud to announce Ryan Van Der Hout (he/they) as the 2026 recipient of the Barbara Spohr Memorial Award for Photography, facilitated through the Leighton Artist Studios program. Established by the friends and family of the late Canadian photographer Barbara Spohr, the annual prize is intended to encourage the ongoing development of contemporary photography in Canada.

An interdisciplinary artist based in Toronto, Canada, working across photography, public art, and sculpture, Van Der Hout investigates transformation through fragmentation and reflection, using glass and mirrors as both material and metaphor for queer experience and becoming. Their innovative integration of photographic imagery into three-dimensional objects and installations challenges how we see ourselves and our environment, inviting audiences to witness how breaking and reassembly can reveal new possibilities.

Represented by United Contemporary and Oeno Gallery, Van Der Hout has exhibited internationally across Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Their work has been widely featured in publications including Time Out NY, The Huffington Post, Vogue Italia, Fortune Magazine, Reader’s Digest, CBC, and NBC News. They have also created public art projects for NYC Parks, the City of Toronto, and Nuit Blanche.

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Edge State, 2024. UV print on glass, solder, copper, stainless steel, varnish. 62" x 32" x 2". Unique

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After losing access to analog colour darkrooms over a decade ago, receiving the Barbara Spohr Memorial Award feels like a true homecoming to the foundational materials that first shaped my understanding of photography. I'm incredibly excited to be creating work surrounded by Banff's deep geological time while returning to these essential processes—light, glass, and photographic paper.

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Ryan Van Der Hout

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Van Der Hout will be in residence from January 19 to February 13, 2026, with 24-hour access to the Crich Studio, a Leighton Artist Studio equipped with private analogue darkroom facilities. In addition to accessing digital photographic production resources and support from Banff Centre’s photography facilitator, the award provides meals, accommodation with an honorarium at CARFAC-based rates. The jury selected Van Der Hout for this opportunity in recognition of their “exceptional critical, creative, and technical rigor.”

During the residency, Banff Centre will present a free public artist talk with Van Der Hout on February 6, 2026, from 4-5:30 p.m. in the Jeanne and Peter Lougheed Building at Banff Centre. In this talk, they will discuss their broader practice and current investigations into the intersection of geological and human time, integrating analog darkroom processes with stained glass techniques to create new works that collapse temporal scales into unified forms.

This event is presented in partnership with Exposure Photography Festival and made possible through the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Government of Canada, Government of Alberta, and the friends and family of Barbara Spohr.

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Installation view of Mending Shards 2024. Photo courtesy of Ryan Van Der Hout.

Installation view of Mending Shards 2024 at United Contemporary. Photo courtesy of Ryan Van Der Hout.

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We’re honoured to welcome Ryan Van Der Hout as the 2026 Barbara Spohr Memorial Award recipient at Leighton Artist Studios. Their work transforms photography into a sculptural, reflective practice. With Banff’s darkroom facilities and surrounding landscape, this residency offers an ideal setting to deepen their exploration of material, identity, and time.

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Karen Howard, Senior Manager, Leighton Studios and Self-Directed Residencies at Banff Centre

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Formerly a biennial prize, the Barbara Spohr Memorial Award became an annual award in 2025. Applications are open to Canadian mid-career photo-based artists with a strong record of accomplishment, supporting those focused on creating new works, developing specific projects, or researching innovative ideas.

The most recent recipient of the Barbara Spohr Memorial Award was Karen Zalamea (2025). Past recipients include Anna Binta Diallo and Logan MacDonald (2021), Lotus L. Kang (2018), Lorna Bauer (2018), Elise Rasmussen (2016), Colin Miner (2013),Celia Perrin Sidarous (2011), Maegan Hill-Carroll (2009), Ramona Ramlochland (2007), Justin Waddell (2005), Dianne Bos (2005) and David McMillan (2004), among others.

To find out when the 2027 Barbara Spohr Memorial Award will open for submissions, visit banffcentre.ca/leighton-artist-studios.

To learn more about funding opportunities for artists at Banff Centre, visit banffcentre.ca/funding-opportunities-artists.

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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 Ryan Van Der Hout
Ryan Van Der Hout (b. 1987, Canada) is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice investigates transformation through fragmentation and reflection, using glass and mirrors as both material and metaphor for queer experience and becoming. They create works that challenge how we see ourselves and our environment, inviting viewers to witness how breaking can reveal new possibilities.

 Central to Van Der Hout's practice is the innovative use of photographic imagery as a foundational element in creating three-dimensional objects and installations. In their "Twice Broken Glass" series, they explore parallel acts of destruction—shattering one pane through violent impact while precisely cutting another to mirror the breaks, then repairing both identically using traditional stained glass techniques. This investigation continues in their photographic glass portraits, where intimate images printed on glass are deliberately shattered and reconstructed into fragmented new forms, suggesting that when we put ourselves back together after breaking, we become stranger but more authentic versions of ourselves.

Van Der Hout's public works function as large optical devices, reflecting and refracting surrounding space to create ongoing physical dynamics with viewers. Their monumental sculpture "To Reflect Everything" (Washington Square Park, 2025, Toronto Sculpture Garden, 2023) used hundreds of mirror panels to create an optical device that transforms public space, drawing on the disco ball's history as a symbol of queer sanctuary and the satellite's promise of alternative futures.

Van Der Hout holds an MFA from Parsons at The New School and a BFA in Photography from Metropolitan University. Their work has been featured in Time Out NY, NBC News, Vogue Italia, Fortune Magazine, and CBC. Recent solo exhibitions include "Mending Shards" (United Contemporary, 2024) and "To Reflect Everything" (Toronto Sculpture Garden, 2023). They have created public art for NYC Parks, the City of Toronto, and Nuit Blanche, and have been supported by the Ontario Arts Council and awarded the Emerging Artist Award by the Robert McLaughlin Gallery and the Barbara Spohr Memorial Award from the Banff Centre. ryanvanderhout.com

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

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As Program Delivery Specialist, Tonya (she/her) supports the realization of Arts programming at Banff Centre through the design and creation of documents, resourcing materials, and logistic support of the Programming team and Faculty. Her role connects the dots, assisting participants, faculty, and Banff Centre staff to ensure everyone has the information and resources they need for their learning experiences.

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Drew Hayden Taylor is an award-winning playwright, novelist, filmmaker and journalist. Born and living on the Curve Lake First Nation in Ontario, he has done everything from performing Standup Comedy at the Kennedy Centre in Washington D.C., to serving as Artistic Director of Canada's premiere Indigenous theatre company, Native Earth Performing Arts. The recipient of three Doctorates (Hon), he is the author of 36 books and several documentaries.

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Kerry Moraes-Sugiyama is a proud member of the Tsimshian and Haida Nations from the Pacific north coast of British Columbia. With nearly two decades in Indigenous media, she has played a key role in supporting and promoting Indigenous stories across Canada and globally.

Kerry began her career at APTN in 2006 as a Programming Coordinator and held various leadership roles over the years. When she left the network in 2023, she was the Executive in Charge of Indigenous Language Programming. From 2023 to 2025 she served as the International Market Development Senior Manager at the Indigenous Screen Office - supporting filmmakers in development, production and navigating international markets.

Kerry has shared her knowledge as a guest speaker for students and emerging professionals. She is honoured to serve as faculty for the Digital Constellations: Production & Post-Production Residency 2026 at Banff Centre. There, she will support Indigenous filmmakers to develop and refine their stories, encouraging experimentation. Helps strengthen production skills and connect talent with industry opportunities.

Known for her collaborative approach and deep understanding of Indigenous media, Kerry brings insight, experience, and a passion for mentoring creative talent to every project she supports

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Dr. Alison Criscitiello at the Pemberton Icefield, photo credit: Ben Girardi

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Media Release | September 10, 2025 | Banff, AB

The 50th anniversary Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival is delighted to announce that world-renowned ice core scientist, glaciologist, advocate for gender equity, mother, and high-altitude mountaineer, Dr. Alison Criscitiello is the recipient of the 2025 Summit of Excellence Award.

The 2025 Summit of Excellence Award is sponsored by Norseman Outdoor Specialist and the Town of Cochrane. The Award celebrates long-term contributions, service, and demonstrated impact within the mountain culture community in Canada by an individual or group from across the country, and will be presented during the Festival on Saturday, November 1, 7:30 p.m in the Jenny Belzberg Theatre at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

Dr. Alison Criscitiello is a world-renowned ice core scientist, glaciologist, advocate for gender equity, mother, and high-altitude mountaineer. She is an Assistant Professor and the Director of the Canadian Ice Core Lab at the University of Alberta, co-founder of Girls* on Ice Canada – and received the first PhD in glaciology ever conferred by MIT.

As a scientist, her work has taken her to ice caps around the world including Antarctica, Greenland, and the Canadian High Arctic not to mention the summit of Canada’s highest peak, Mount Logan. Criscitiello explores the history of climate and glaciers in polar and high-alpine regions by tracking environmental contaminant histories using ice core chemistry. Many of the glaciers she has visited are at extreme risk due to climate change and Criscitiello is at the forefront of data capture and documentation of ice loss in these volatile zones.

Criscitiello’s expedition to collect ice core samples from close to the summit of Mount Logan was groundbreaking (and back-breaking) work. While polar ice coring science has been around for half a century, no one had conducted such an extensive collection from such a high altitude. Alongside her academic and scientific accolades, she is also an exceptional storyteller whose work has appeared in high-impact film projects, print, television, and her article Contraindications won a Banff Mountain Book Competition award in 2018.

Criscitiello is committed to making science more accessible to young women as well. As a founder of the Girls* on Ice Canada program, Criscitiello hopes to merge science, art, and adventure to inspire leadership, curiosity, and confidence in the next generation of leaders. Her work has motivated a community of young women to pursue their interests in science and dive into their passions in the outdoors.

In 2021, she was elected to the Royal Canadian Geographic Society’s College of Fellows and she is Fellow International with The Explorer’s Club. She was recently awarded a Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Medal for her significant contributions to Arctic climate research. She has been the recipient of three American Alpine Club (AAC) climbing awards, The John Lauchlan Award, and the Mugs Stump alpine climbing award.

Join Criscitiello live at the 2025 Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival’s Fire and Ice Symposium morning session: Ice (Tuesday, November 4, 9 a.m.). This panel will explore the importance of women in glaciology and how speakers are lifting up the next generation of girls and women to enter these fields and contribute to climate research. Panelists Alison Criscitiello, Jocelyn Hirose, and Corinne Schuster-Wallace will explore the role that storytelling, art, and communication play in the programs they founded and continue to champion.

Presented by Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival since 1987, the annual Summit of Excellence Award 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 award recipients include Karsten Heuer and Leanne Allison (2024), Andy Genereux (2023), Grant Statham (2022), Helen Sovdat (2021), Raphael Slawinski (2020), David Smart (2019), Jacques Olek (2018), Don Serl (2017), David P. Jones (2016), Pierre Lemire (2015), Urs Kallen (2014), Ben Gadd (2013), and Geoff Powter (2012).

This year’s 50th anniversary Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival (November 1-9) will welcome adventurers, filmmakers, authors, and photographers from around the world for an exceptional lineup featuring over 80 epic films (including World and North American premieres), plus a special Fire and Ice Symposium (November 4-5), the bustling Festival Marketplace, free talks on the Rab Stage, happy hours with live music, downtown events, exhibitions, and much more!

The Festival schedule is available to view online. Tickets and passes can be purchased at banffmountainfestival.ca or Banff Centre Box Office.

Film competition finalists will be announced October 2.

Online films will be available following the Festival from November 12-23, 2025 (available in CAN/USA only).

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If you’d like to provide media coverage of the 2025 Festival, please submit a media accreditation application form (submissions open until October 1).

For more information or image requests, please contact:
Jess Elliott
Media and Communications, Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival
Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
Box 1020,107 Tunnel Mountain Drive
Banff, Alberta
Canada T1L 1H5
jess_elliott@banffcentre.ca

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About Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival: Created 50 years ago, Banff Centre 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 $40,000 in prizes for films and books submitted to this year’s Festival competitions. banffmountainfestival.ca

Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival Partners: The 2025 Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival Presenting Sponsors are Rab and Banff and Lake Louise Tourism. The Festival is also supported by YETI, Oboz Footwear, World Expeditions, The Lake Louise Ski Resort, Grangers, SLY Foods, Duer, Alpine Club of Canada, Arc’teryx, Durston, Wild Life Distillery, Wild Rose Brewery, and KORE.

About Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity: Founded in 1933, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity 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 the global organization leading in arts, culture, and creative decision-making across dozens of disciplines. From our home on Treaty 7 territory 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

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