The Banff CentreAboriginal Arts at The Banff Centre
Whats Happening in Aboriginal Arts at The Banff Centre

What’s Happening in Aboriginal Arts at The Banff Centre

  • Sandra Laronde, director of Aboriginal Arts at The Banff Centre is pleased to announce two new recipients of Paul D. Fleck Fellowship awards. Congratulations to Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk) and Leela Gilday (Dene) who have been awarded 2008 Paul D. Fleck Fellowship awards that enable established artists an opportunity to enjoy a self-directed residency at The Banff Centre. more…
  • Visual artist Greg Staats will lead Archive Restored, a thematic residency taking place January 5 – February 20, 2009 at the Centre. In this residency, Greg Staats will bring together First Nations artists, curators, art historians, archivists, and critics who explore the sources of strength inherent in the model of the archive. Staats has first-hand experience of the loss of Mohawk language and the networks defined by that culture. more…
  • In February 2009, a second research forum will be held through Aboriginal Leadership and Management at The Banff Centre. It will bring together key invited Aboriginal community and business leaders and Aboriginal arts administrators. Key themes will include building an appreciation for leadership and the arts, and ways in which to link these areas within Aboriginal communities.
  • The Banff Centre is now offering Self-directed Residencies for Aboriginal artists, enabling the time and space for focused work and providing the freedom to conceptualize, create, research, or complete any project. Writers, composers, singer-songwriters, dancers, choreographers, film makers, visual artists, new media artists, screenwriters, playwrights, curators—all are invited to apply. more…

Recent Aboriginal Arts Events and Programming

  • The latest in the ongoing series of the Banff International Curatorial Institute (BICI) conferences, Trade Secrets focused the collective discussion about the curatorial profession by exploring the challenges facing collection-based curators, trends in curatorial research, and the writing of curatorial histories. Trade Secrets examined the state of curatorial practice by bringing influential museum professionals, independent curators, educators, critics, students, and visual artists into dialogue to illuminate and identify strategies for the future. Aboriginal guest speakers included curators Edgar Heap of Birds and Candice Hopkins. (November 12-14, 2008) more…
  • Good Medicine is an experimental documentary project exploring issues surrounding the concepts of health and wellness in First Nation communities in Alberta. During the three week residency and post-production phase hosted by the Banff New Media Institute (BNMI), selected Aboriginal artists edited and polished their footage while critiquing, debating and deconstructing the issues and process of creating their art. The first self-critical documentary of its kind, Good Medicine aims to promote social, cultural, educational, and economic development in Alberta’s aboriginal communities, as well as support the growth and creative achievement of independent Aboriginal filmmakers. (October 1-19, 2008) more…
  • Songs Above the Treeline celebrated the rarely heard sounds, sights and talents of five of Canada’s most accomplished Aboriginal women artists who are from the northern landscape - above the treeline. Award-winning artists included Tanya Tagaq, Leela Gilday, Lucie Idlout, and Inuit throat singers Kendra Tagoona and Becky Kilabuk. Complementing the project was a four-day voice intensive workshop for Aboriginal women from across Canada. Participants explored traditional and contemporary song creation, singing as physical experience, breath control and capacity, resonance, understanding the vocal apparatus, care of the voice, relationship to space and audience, and personal expression through interpretation of song. (September 23 & 27, 2008) more…
  • The Aboriginal Emerging Writers program is a partnership with the En’owkin Centre and the Canada Council for the Arts. Created in 2005, this two-week intensive residency program is designed to encourage the artistic development of emerging Aboriginal writers and storytellers in a supportive, professional, artistic, and cultural environment. This year’s program included a public reading series with award-winning faculty writers Richard Van Camp and Louise Bernice Halfe. (September 14-26, 2008) more…
  • As part of Aboriginal Leadership, the first stage of the Creative Cross-Cultural Exchange within the Indigenous Deep Listening Project took place September 7-15, 2008. Members of the Koori Cohort of Researchers and Friends enjoyed a cross-cultural exchange with First Nation Canadians that included cultural ceremonies led by Elder Tom Crane Bear from the Blackfoot Nation. Over 25 Indigenous artists and musicians from Canada and Australia participated in this project.
  • Red Sky brought together eleven dancers and musicians from the Indigenous cultures of Canada, Mongolia and China for a new dance project heavily grounded in the theme of horse culture, spanning plains traditions in North America and Asia. Red Sky kicked off the 2008 Banff Summer Arts Festival with a six-week residency and three sold-out performances on July 3, 4 & 5. Tono then toured to Beijing and Inner Mongolia as part of the cultural programming of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2008 Meet in Beijing Festival, and the International Festival of Art & Culture in Inner Mongolia. Red Sky performed to over 15,000 audience members. (May 19- July 5, 2008) more…
  • In July 2008, as part of the Walter Phillips Gallery exhibition Bureau de change, artist Rebecca Belmore presented her work Ayum-ee-aawach Oomama-mowan. Originally developed at The Banff Centre in 1991, the work is composed of a giant wooden megaphone. It acts as a literal mouthpiece for Aboriginal artists and activists to address the land. First performed in a mountain meadow in Banff that summer, Belmore’s performance has since travelled to various locations across Canada for political demonstrations. more…
  • In June 2008, Sandra Laronde, director of Aboriginal Arts, was a panelist at the Luminato festival’s Illuminations series event called Aboriginal Encounters. Moderated by Paul Seesequasis, the panel also featured Aboriginal writers Tomson Highway, Joseph Boyden and Kevin Loring.
  • In May 2008, The Banff Centre and Citytv announced the Citytv Scholarships, which will provide annual support of $5,000 to Aboriginal participants in Banff New Media Institute programs. more…
  • In May 2008, Enbridge Inc. donated $1 million to support the construction of a dedicated Aboriginal program building at the Centre. The first of its kind in Canada, the new building will house The Banff Centre’s Aboriginal Leadership and Aboriginal Arts programs. It will include the Enbridge Indigenous Cultural Circle — a central meeting area — classrooms, multidisciplinary performance and rehearsal facilities, and rooms for ceremonial and social gatherings. more…
  • In April 2008, Sandra Laronde was a panelist at the inspirational 11th Annual Canadian Arts Summit moderated by The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson.
  • In April 2008, Sandra Laronde participated in a national forum with 30 other Canadian artists called Art Matters, hosted at The Banff Centre by The Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada.
  • On Saturday April 26, 2008 the Tipi Transfer Ceremony occurred in conjunction with the Aboriginal Leadership Development Alumni Event. It was an honour to have the Governor General of Canada Michaëlle Jean and her husband Jean-Daniel Lafond join Aboriginal Leadership Development director Brian Calliou and program manager Janice Tanton and their families in the tipi for the transfer ceremony. Elders present included Robert Breaker, Bruce and Anne Marie Wolf Child, John Healy, Joe Spotted Bull, and Tom Crane Bear. Jason Goodstriker, a member of the Aboriginal Program Council, also assisted in the facilitation of the ceremony.
  • In February 2008, a research forum was held through Aboriginal Leadership and Arts Management at The Banff Centre. It brought together key invited Aboriginal community and business leaders and Aboriginal arts administrators. Key themes included building an appreciation for leadership and the arts, and ways in which to link these areas within Aboriginal communities.