Submitted by Carla Snow via… on
English
A string quartet poses for a photo

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From its inception in 2006, Afiara was built on the Spanish word fiar, meaning trust. A dynamic and award-winning ensemble, the Afiara has been described as "a revelation" (La Presse) with performances balancing "intensity and commitment" and "frequent moments of tenderness" (Montreal Gazette). Afiara has held residencies at The Juilliard School and San Francisco State University, and Fellowship Ensemble at the Royal Conservatory of Music. Afiara is also winner of the Young Canadian Musicians Award and Concert Artist Guild, in addition to 2nd Prizes at Munich ARD, and Banff International String Quartet Competitions, including the latter's Szekely Prize for the best interpretation of Beethoven. They have performed throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia, at such venues as Carnegie Hall’s Zankel and Weill Halls, the Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Library of Congress in DC, Sao Paulo’s Museum of Modern Art, Pro Musica of San Miguel de Allende, London's Wigmore Hall, Austria's Esterhazy Palace, Munich’s Prinz Regenten Theatre, Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw, and the Royal Library in Copenhagen. Their journey is documented in over 30 commissions of new music, new educational outreach initiatives for school children funded by the Ontario Arts Council, and projects with jazz virtuoso Uri Caine, Latin Grammy Award-winning producer Javier Limon, and innovative scratch DJ, Kid Koala. 

String Quartet

Submitted by Carla Snow via… on
English
A man holding a cello and a bow

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British cellist Steven Isserlis CBE enjoys an international career as a soloist, chamber musician, author, educator, and broadcaster. Equally at home in music from baroque to the present day, he performs with the world’s greatest orchestras, including period ensembles, and has given many world premieres, including Sir John Tavener’s The Protecting Veil, Thomas Adès’s Lieux retrouvés, four works for solo cello by György Kurtág, and pieces by Heinz Holliger, Jörg Widmann, Olli Mustonen, Mikhail Pletnev and many others.


His vast award-winning discography includes most of the cello repertoire, including the JS Bach suites (Gramophone Instrumental Album of the Year), Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano, and the Brahms double concerto with Joshua Bell and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. He has received two Grammy nominations, for his recordings of Haydn’s cello concertos, and Martinů’s cello sonatas with Olli Mustonen. Premiere recordings include late works by Sir John Tavener (BBC Music magazine Premiere Award). His latest recordings, Mendelssohn Piano Trios with Joshua Bell and Jeremy Denk, and Boccherini Cello Concertos, Sonatas & Quintets, were released in 2024.


As an author, his latest book is a critically acclaimed companion to the Bach cello suites, while his two books for children about music are among the genre’s most popular ever written and have been translated into many languages. He has also authored a commentary on Schumann’s famous Advice for Young Musicians. As a broadcaster, he has written and presented two in-depth documentaries for BBC Radio, on Robert Schumann and Harpo Marx.


An insightful musical explorer and curator, he has programmed imaginative series for London’s Wigmore Hall, New York’s 92nd St Y, and the Salzburg Festival. Unusually, he also directs orchestras from the cello, including Luzerner Sinfonieorchester in 2019 with Radu Lupu in his final public performance.


He was awarded a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998, in recognition of his services to music. International recognition includes the Piatigorsky Prize (USA) and the Glashütte Original Music Festival Award (Germany). Since 1997, he has been Artistic Director of the International Musicians Seminar, Prussia Cove, Cornwall.
He plays the 1726 ‘Marquis de Corberon’ Stradivarius, on loan from the Royal Academy of Music.

Cellist

Submitted by Carla Snow via… on
English
Jan Lisiecki is seated on a piano bench next to a grand piano

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Jan Lisiecki’s interpretations and technique speak to a maturity beyond his age. At 28, the Canadian performs over a hundred yearly concerts worldwide, and has worked closely with conductors such as Antonio Pappano, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Daniel Harding, Manfred Honeck, and Claudio Abbado (†). 

In 2021/2022, Lisiecki presents a new recital programme featuring Chopins Nocturnes and Études in more than 30 cities all around the globe. Recent return invitations include Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for performances at Carnegie Hall and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. Lisiecki recently performed a Beethoven Lieder cycle with baritone Matthias Goerne, among others at the Salzburg Festival, and has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Staatskapelle Dresden, Orchestre de Paris, Bavarian Radio Symphony and London Symphony Orchestra. 

At the age of fifteen, Lisiecki signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. The label launched its celebrations of the Beethoven Year 2020 with the release of a live recording of all five Beethoven concertos from Konzerthaus Berlin, with Lisiecki leading the Academy of St Martin in the Fields from the piano. His Beethoven Lieder cycle with Matthias Goerne, released shortly after, was awarded the Diapason d’Or. Lisiecki’s eighth recording for the prestigious label, a double album of Frédéric Chopin's Complete Nocturnes which he also showcases in his current recital programme, appeared in August 2021 and in February 2022 on vinyl, immediately topping the classical charts in North America and Europe. Most recently, his previous solo programme Night Music, featuring works by Mozart, Ravel, Schumann and Paderewski, was released as a digital album. His recordings have been awarded with the JUNO and ECHO Klassik. At eighteen, Lisiecki became both the youngest ever recipient of Gramophone’s Young Artist Award and received the Leonard Bernstein Award. He was named UNICEF Ambassador to Canada in 2012. 

Pianist

Submitted by Dolson Rhona on
English
Headshot of Sarah Kitz

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Sarah Kitz (she/they) is the Artistic Director of GCTC and the Vice President of PACT. She is a theatre creator, performer, mentor, arts leader and award winning director. Much of their time in theatre has been dedicated to new creation, re-envisioning classical works for contemporary interpretation, and helping to bring underrepresented voices to the stage.

Sarah has participated in the Michael Langham Workshop in Directing at Stratford Festival, Shaw Festival’s Neil Munro Intern Directors Project, and is a member of Directors Lab North in participation with Lincoln Centre. They have worked at GCTC, NAC, Luminato Festival, Shakespeare in the Ruins, Tarragon Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Crow’s Theatre, Canadian Stage, Buddies in Bad Times, Nightwood Theatre, Next Stage Festival, SummerWorks, Pandemic Theatre, The Canadian Music Theatre Project, Studio 180, and more. Sarah has taught and directed at Sheridan College, University of Windsor, Toronto Metropolitan University and University of Ottawa, mentored with Paprika Festival, and was extensively involved with The A.M.Y. Project, which supports the creative trajectories of young female and non-binary youth in Toronto through arts mentorship.

Hailing from Tkaronto, Sarah now resides with her family on unceded Algonquin Territory and is grateful to be a guest on this beautiful land.

Dolson Rhona
Description

FUSE in Concert features a series of new works created by participants and faculty during the FUSE residency.

Working in small ensembles, participants collaborate with faculty from multiple artistic disciplines to create 10-15 minute works. Each group draws on a unique combination of music, storytelling, movement, video, projection, and physical performance, resulting in a program that reflects the residency’s inspired and diverse creative environment.

Rooted in improvisation and collaboration, these works highlight FUSE’s emphasis on accessing creative flow and pushing beyond conventional concert formats. This presentation offers a glimpse into new artistic possibilities, shaped through collective creation and cross-disciplinary exchange.

Faculty artists contributing to the program include:

John De Lancie (actor, narrator)
Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser (conductor, program director)
Malo Lacroix (projection artist)
Bridie Hooper (aerialist)
Isabella Diaz and Keaton Hentoff-Killian (circus artists)
Laura Hickli (video artist, musician)
Alex Clark (composer, arranger, musician)

Faculty of Fuse (top to bottom, left to right): John de Lancie, Keaton Hentoff‑Killian, Isabella Diaz, Malo Lacroix, Laura Hickli, Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, Alex Clark, and Bridie Hooper.
Page Summary
A presentation of short interdisciplinary works created by FUSE participants and faculty, combining music, movement, storytelling, and visual elements.
Exhibition
No
Free
No
Donation
Off
Banff Centre Artist/Practicum/Staff Only
Off
Licensed
Off
Performance Date
Date
Audience View Micro Site URL
https://tickets.banffcentre.ca/online/mapSelect.asp?BOset::WSmap::seatmap::performance_ids=CD4FC3AA-2213-4A2E-A1EA-553BD5081852
Computed Sort Date
1777771800
Description

This casual, open session offers a behind-the-scenes look at the creative processes unfolding during FUSE, a residency centred on experimentation, collaboration, and artistic play.

Participants and faculty will share how ideas are being tested, shaped, and reimagined throughout the program, with reflections on improvisation, collaboration, and finding creative flow. Rather than a formal performance, this workshop functions as an artist talk, an opportunity to hear directly from the artists about what they are exploring, questioning, and discovering in the studio.

Two musicians in bright red coveralls perform in front of a blue backdrop
Page Summary
An informal artist talk where FUSE participants and faculty share what they are exploring, questioning, and discovering in the studio.
Exhibition
No
Free
Yes
Banff Centre Artist/Practicum/Staff Only
Off
Licensed
Off
Performance Date
Date
Audience View Micro Site URL
https://tickets.banffcentre.ca/Online/seatSelect.asp?BOset::WSmap::seatmap::performance_ids=217D7518-37F8-4465-B49E-20A3A65B5E08
Computed Sort Date
1777512600
Description

Following a celebrated visit to Banff Centre in the summer of 2024, IN A LANDSCAPE: Classical Music in the Wild™ returns with its signature concert experience set within expansive natural environments.

For the 11th season, IN A LANDSCAPE: Classical Music in the Wild™ tours the American West. Mountain tops, old-growth forests, and sunny meadows replace the traditional concert hall in the series featuring pianist Hunter Noack on a 9-foot Steinway concert grand piano. Listen through wireless headphones and wander afield, with the music as a soundtrack to your experience in the wild.

Founded in 2016, IN A LANDSCAPE has presented more than 350 concerts across Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, California, New York, and Canada. The organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Oregon. For more information visit inalandscape.org.

Press

“Audacious.” — CBS Mornings

“Transforming the classical concert experience.”— CBS Mornings

“Hunter Noack has reached the mountain top.” — The New York Times

“A rare musical experience.” — Forbes

“Reimagining classical music from a symbol of eminence to an opportunity for unity.” — Flaunt

“Just as Thomas Moran painted scenes of Yellowstone and Yosemite to help Congress understand their significance and advocate for their protection, Hunter Noack does this for the public with his outdoor concert series, IN A LANDSCAPE: Classical Music in the Wild. His performances connect people with these treasured landscapes, fostering support and enthusiasm for their continued stewardship.” — Charles F. Sams III, 19th Director of the National Park System
 

Supported by:

Supported by partners
Banff Center, 2024. Arthur Hitchcock for IN A LANDSCAPE
Page Summary
IN A LANDSCAPE: Classical Music in the Wild™ returns to Banff Centre with an outdoor concert featuring pianist Hunter Noack on a 9-foot Steinway grand piano.
Exhibition
No
Free
No
Donation
Off
Banff Centre Artist/Practicum/Staff Only
Off
Licensed
Off
Performance Date
Date
Audience View Micro Site URL
https://inalandscape.org/banff-cantre-for-arts-and-creativity-6-28-2026/?utm_source=host+newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tickets_announcement&utm_id=Banff-Newsletter
Extra Description

Please note this event is ticketed by In a Landscape

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1782684000
Description

Join us for I Dream in Wampum, choreographed by the 2025 Clifford E. Lee Choreography Award winner Barbara Kaneratonni Diabo. The work is a dynamic, powerful science-fiction dance journey where Indigenous people show a future of strength and celebration.

Originally from Kahnawake, Diabo is a Kanien'keha:ka choreographer and dancer whose work draws from diverse dance styles including powwow, Haudenosaunee, and contemporary dance traditions. As Artistic Director of A’nó:wara Dance Theatre, she creates works that centre Indigenous worldviews while expanding the possibilities of contemporary dance through story, movement, and cultural continuity.

A post-show conversation with choreographer Barbara Kaneratonni Diabo will follow the performance.
 

I Dream in Wampum

Enter into a world of Indigenous Futurism. This is a story inspired by Kanien’keha:ka (Mohawk) teachings, allowing us to imagine worlds where colonialism never happened.  We follow Kahente, an Indigenous youth, on his journey to the stars. After finding seven wampum belts from the constellation, we call the Seven Dancers (Tsata Teienonniakhwa), he starts his journey to each of these worlds to discover his ancestors and star-beings. If successful, this path can lead him to Sky World (Karonhiakehson Ohontsa), the place of his people’s origins, and bring him a greater understanding of his past, present, and future. I Dream in Wampum is a dynamic, powerful science-fiction dance journey where Indigenous people show a future of strength and celebration.

Let the journey begin…

I Dream in Wampum has been made possible with support from:

Banff Centre
Canada Council for the Arts
Le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ)
Le Conseil des arts de Montréal

A’nó:wara Dance Theatre benefited from creative residencies for this production from: 
Banff Centre
Centre de Création O Vertigo (CCOV)
Festival of Dance Annapolis Royal (FODAR)
La Danse sur les routes du Québec/Circuit-Est centre chorégraphique/Conseil des arts de Montréal
Place des Arts
Quand l'art passe à l'action (ASTA)

I Dream in Wampam
Page Summary
Clifford E. Lee Choreography Award winner Barbara Kaneratonni Diabo presents a powerful sci-fi dance journey envisioning Indigenous futures.
Exhibition
No
Free
No
Donation
Off
Banff Centre Artist/Practicum/Staff Only
Off
Licensed
Off
Performance Date
Date
Audience View Micro Site URL
https://tickets.banffcentre.ca/online/mapSelect.asp?BOset::WSmap::seatmap::performance_ids=88A446EC-37AA-4CAF-AD4A-97B2C2D6F2DF
Computed Sort Date
1776994200
Event Subtitle
Choreographed by 2025 Clifford E. Lee Choreography Award winner Barbara Kaneratonni Diabo
Body
Image
Image of person wearing red hat and scarf

Image credit: Cheryl L’Hirondelle, nikamon ohci askiy (songs because of the land), 2008. Photo: Red Works

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The exhibition presents L’Hirondelle’s career-spanning exploration of nēhiyawin (Cree worldview), on view from February 13 to June 21, 2026, and features the performance-based artwork, yāhkaskwan mīhkiwap (aka light tipi).

BANFF, AB, FEBRUARY 5, 2026 – Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is thrilled to present the first career survey devoted to the expansive, multi-decade practice of the interdisciplinary artist and singer/songwriter, Cheryl L’Hirondelle at Banff Centre’s Walter Phillips Gallery. The exhibition, Cheryl L’Hirondelle: where the voice touches (((acts, utterances, transmissions for freedom))), running from February 13 to June 21, 2026, brings together decades of works across performance, video, “net.art” originally sited online, and in sound and installation.

Born in Alberta with family ties to Papaschase First Nation and Kikino Métis Settlement, and based in Saskatoon, the artist’s practice is grounded in nēhiyawēwin (Cree language) as the sounding of nēhiyawin (Cree worldview). In her work, nēhiyawēwin appears as syllabic tags marked in chalk or assembled with stones in the land, as voice and radio transmission, and in digital spaces including as net.art. The exhibition’s title references L’Hirondelle’s ongoing interest in echolocation as a means of listening to place and responding, reflecting how her use of sound and song has deeply informed her practice across media and contexts.

L’Hirondelle has produced and exhibited work at Banff Centre throughout her career, making this the ideal venue for her first career survey co-curated by Tarah Hogue (independent) and Jacqueline Bell (Director, Walter Phillips Gallery and Collections). Her first appearance at Banff Centre occurred in 1990, with a number of the artworks on view previously presented or produced on campus over the subsequent decades. 

Quotation

We are honoured to work with the artist on this career-spanning exhibition of her practice. Like the voice—central to L’Hirondelle’s work in performance, song, and in sounding in relation to land and others—her practice moves with freedom across multiple spaces of reception, contexts and media. We hope that in assembling many of these works together for the first time, audiences will gain a deeper understanding of the breadth of the artist’s work and its critical and historical impact across numerous fields of practice, from net.art and performance to socially engaged work and installation.

Source
Tarah Hogue and Jacqueline Bell, co-curators of the exhibition
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Across her practice, L’Hirondelle often invites participation and at times works through shared authorship, creating situations that ask visitors to listen attentively and to consider their own position within networks of relation. Many of the works in this exhibition operate through modes of reception that run counter to the constraints of the white cube, emphasizing presence, duration, and responsiveness. In this context, freedom encompasses both L’Hirondelle’s insistence on artistic autonomy and a nēhiyawin understanding of freedom, in which self-determination is exercised through responsibility and in relation to others. 

Among numerous works, the exhibition includes: nikamon ohci askiy (songs because of the land), 2008, restored 2023, a net.art work originally accessible online where sounds reflecting the artist’s practice of singing the landscape can be accessed and changed via the digital interface of the work; ēkaya-pāhkāci – Don’t Freeze Up v2, 2019, a multisensory installation incorporating video projection and sound that evolved from a live performance; and Here I Am (Bless My Mouth), 2013, featuring songs co-written by the artist and a group of incarcerated women and their literacy teacher in Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge, a minimum-security federal prison located at Nekaneet First Nation, Saskatchewan, which are voiced by others and shared through an installation incorporating audio, video and large-scale panorama.

Cheryl L’Hirondelle: where the voice touches (((acts, utterances, transmissions for freedom))) will be celebrated with a free opening reception with the artist present on February 12 at 5 p.m. and a free exhibition tour at Walter Phillips Gallery on April 1 at 5:30 p.m. Attendees of Walter Phillips Gallery are also invited to attend yāhkaskwan mīhkiwap (aka light tipi) on February 13 at 6:15 p.m. yāhkaskwan mīhkiwap (aka light tipi) is an ongoing performance-based artwork that L’Hirondelle has brought to various cities and communities since 2014. In the work, she invites artists, storytellers, and participants to gather around a tipi formed through beams of light cast into the night sky. The drifting smoke from burning sage bundles makes the tipi visible to viewers, welcoming audience members to experience knowledge sharing through storytelling and song. The performance will be co-hosted by L’Hirondelle with performer Anders Hunter (Îyârhe Nakoda) and invites participation from artists in residence and faculty in Banff Centre’s Toga da wôhnagabi: Music Creation Residency 2026. 

Quotation

It has been such a pleasure working with the curators and all the trusted folks from Banff Centre and Queen’s University to bring these works together—such good relations all around. My hope is that people will come to participate and experience the exhibition and the various different projects and make their own good relationships with the work, remembering and honouring the right relations we all need to maintain and uphold, while visiting here on this beautiful land.

Source
Cheryl L'Hirondelle
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Cheryl L’Hirondelle: where the voice touches (((acts, utterances, transmissions for freedom)))

  • Dates: February 13, 2026, to June 21, 2026
  • Venue: Walter Phillips Gallery at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
  • Address: 107 Tunnel Mountain Dr., Banff, Alberta
  • Price: Free
  • Hours: Wednesdays through Sundays, 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Public Events

This exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Government of Canada, and Government of Alberta.

Walter Phillips Gallery is grateful to the Agnes Etherington Art Centre (AGNES) and Vulnerable Media Lab at Queen’s University, who as part of the Emulator Library for Media Art (ELMA) project have revived two works by Cheryl L’Hirondelle and a digital publication she guest directed in the exhibition. AGNES recognizes the Canada Council for the Arts for funding the ELMA project. Walter Phillips Gallery also acknowledges Vulnerable Media Lab’s restoration of the work, nikamon ohci askiy (songs because of the land), 2008 with support from the artist's nephew, Callum Beckford, funded by Queen's University and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The artist would also like to thank SK Arts and the Canada Council for the Arts for funding to assist in preparation for this exhibition.

– 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 Cheryl L’Hirondelle

Cheryl L’Hirondelle (Cree/Halfbreed; German/Polish) is an interdisciplinary artist, singer/songwriter, and critical thinker whose family roots are from Papaschase First Nation / amiskwaciy wāskahikan (Edmonton) and Kikino Metis Settlement, Alberta. Her work investigates and articulates a dynamism of nēhiyawin (Cree worldview) in contemporary time-place to create immersive environments towards radical inclusion and decolonisation. As a songwriter, L’Hirondelle focuses on sharing nēhiyawēwin (Cree language) and Indigenous and contemporary hybrid song forms and Indigenous language sound shapes and personal narrative songwriting as methodologies toward survivance. L'Hirondelle has performed, presented, and exhibited nationally and internationally. L’Hirondelle was awarded two imagineNATIVE New Media Awards (2005 and 2006) and two Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards (2006 and 2007). L'Hirondelle also received the 2021 Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Art. In 2025, she was bestowed an Honorary Doctorate from Queen’s University and the King’s Coronation Medal from the Indigenous Curatorial Collective. Her latest album, released in October 2025, is Why the Caged Bird Sings, a collection of songs co-written with incarcerated women, men, and detained youth from across the land now known as Canada and is available on all platforms.

About Tarah Hogue

Tarah Hogue is a curator, writer, and cultural worker based in Treaty 6 and 7 territories and the Métis homeland. Her practice is grounded in relational geographies, attending to how people and artworks shape and are shaped by the territories they belong to and move through. She approaches curating as a form of generative inquiry and connection, where otherwise ways of knowing and being can emerge through encounters between artworks, spaces, and publics.

Hogue is currently Adjunct Curator (Indigenous Art) at Remai Modern and has curated independently since 2009 across a range of venues and collaborations. Her recent projects include Carried by rivers, held by lands (Remai Modern), co-curated with Aileen Burns, Johan Lundh, and Maria Lind—a multi-year initiative that brings together artists from across the northern hemisphere to think with place, build solidarities across distance, and pursue collaborative forms of cultural and environmental restitution. She is also co-curator, with Siri Engberg, of Dyani White Hawk: Love Language (Walker Art Center; Remai Modern), a major survey of fifteen years of the Sičáŋǧu Lakota artist’s practice.

Of Michif and Euro-Canadian ancestry, Hogue is a citizen of the Otipemisiwak Métis Government within Alberta.

About Walter Phillips Gallery

Walter Phillips Gallery is exclusively committed to the production, presentation, collection, and analysis of contemporary art and curatorial practice. For contemporary artists, particularly those engaged in alternative forms of practice, Walter Phillips Gallery remains an essential and principal site where art is presented to an audience for critical reception. banffcentre.ca/walter-phillips-gallery   

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.
 

Media Release
1
Description

Join us for an afternoon presentation by Isabelle Sully, an artist, curator, and writer whose practice often centers on the mechanisms and materiality of administration.

In this talk, she presents her practice through a series of recent projects, drawing on both the institutional contexts she works within and the self-initiated facets of her work. She reflects on projects developed through her current role as Artistic Director at A Tale of A Tub in Rotterdam, alongside initiatives such as DIY publishing and a performance project based in the smallest theatre in the Netherlands. Across these examples, she explores how administrative writing can be refigured as an artistic practice.

She is a faculty member for the Early Career Banff Artist in Residence 2026, a transformative five-week residency that provides mentorship, critical feedback, and studio time to visual artists 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.

Headshot of Isabelle Sully
Page Summary
Isabelle Sully presents recent projects exploring how administrative writing and institutional systems can function as artistic practice.
Exhibition
No
Free
Yes
Banff Centre Artist/Practicum/Staff Only
Off
Licensed
Off
Performance Date
Date
Extra Description

4-5:30 PM

Computed Sort Date
1773698400
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