The Banff Centre Annual Report April 2007 - March 2008 The Banff Centre Annual Report Inspiring Creativity April 2007 - March 2008 Message from the Board Chair and the President Creativity and innovation will drive Alberta and Canada’s future. For 75 years, The Banff Centre has supported healthy communities and fuelled our economy by inspiring creativity and fostering innovation. Our multidisciplinary programs provoke thought, spark debate, and embrace new ideas. In doing so, they nurture tomorrow’s artists and leaders and advance our understanding of the world. The Banff Centre’s programs attract exceptional artists and thinkers, and support the creation and presentation of new performance and art works. By encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration, we foster applied research and the development of innovative processes and products within cultural industries. Our Leadership Development programming explores new methodologies, informed by artistic practice and by the Centre’s inspirational location. Our Mountain Culture programs and events celebrate our human connection to mountain landscapes and explore solutions to global environmental concerns. During 2007-08, the Centre completed the first project in our transformational Banff Centre Revitalization Project. Thanks to significant support from the Governments of Alberta and Canada, and generous donations from corporate, private, and foundation supporters, the Campaign for The Banff Centre exceeded our Phase One Goal, raising $122.2 million in support of new facilities and programming and scholarship endowments. The Banff Centre’s focus on the future in 2007-08 did not compromise our attention on the present. The Centre continued to deliver exceptional programming, consistently achieving high participant satisfaction ratings. We carefully stewarded our resources, and for the sixth consecutive year the Centre achieved a positive financial year end, enabling us to deploy our annual operating contingency funds to capital maintenance priorities. Buoyed by these efforts and the support of our donors and investors, Banff Centre programs will continue to provide life-changing learning opportunities for Albertans and Canadians, and our multi-talented alumni will enrich our lives and communities through exceptional art, performance, and leadership. Philip G. Ponting, QC Mary E. Hofstetter Chair, Board of Governors President & CEO Statement of Accountability The Banff Centre’s Annual Report for the 12-month period ended March 31, 2007 was prepared under the Board’s direction in accordance with the Government Accountability Act and ministerial guidelines established pursuant to the Accountability Act. All material economic, environmental, and fiscal implications of which we are aware have been considered in the preparation of this Report. Banff Centre mission The Banff Centre is a catalyst for creativity, with a transformative impact on those who attend our programs, conferences, and events. Our alumni create, produce, and perform works of art all over the world, lead our institutions, organizations, and businesses, and play significant roles in our cultural, social, intellectual, and economic well-being, and in the preservation of our environment. Banff Centre Fast Facts 2007-08 Founded: 1933 Annual program participants: 4,194 Scholarships, Support, and Financial Assistance provided: $3.8 million Percentage of Canadian participants: 82 per cent Original performances, concerts, and exhibitions per year: 417 Total audience all Centre events: 87,199, plus an additional 7,014 visitors to the Walter Phillips Gallery Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour audience: 198,500 in 30 countries Conference client guest days: 68,892 Campus size: 43 acres/17 hectares Staff : 536 full time equivalents The Banff Centre is a globally respected arts, cultural, and educational institution and conference facility. An integral part of Alberta’s post- secondary educational system, the Centre is also designated as one of Canada’s national arts training institutions. Institutional Overview: Inspiring Creativity Program focus Banff Centre programs target emerging and established leaders in the The guiding principle underlying all Banff Centre programming is arts, sciences, business, and public service, providing intensive, short- “inspiring creativity”. This is accomplished by: term residential programs that accelerate creative ideas and innovative solutions. The Centre’s multidisciplinary, multicultural environment • focusing on each individual learner’s quest to achieve excellence; inspires program participants to experiment, to share knowledge, and • attracting to The Banff Centre the world’s leading creators and to create and showcase new work. creative thinkers; • supporting the creation of new work through residencies, commissions, presentation and production; • fostering traditional and contemporary forms of Aboriginal cultural The experience at The Banff Centre of creating work in expression; such a focused, supportive professional environment • developing and implementing leadership programs that are informed has been invaluable. by the creative process; Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg • producing programs within Mountain Culture that seek creative solutions to global environmental concerns; dancer/choreographer • encouraging research and innovation. While every program is first evaluated on its connection to The Banff Arts programs support artistic and creative renewal, the creation Centre’s mission and strategic objectives, each one must also possess of new work, creative collaborations, performance preparation, and the following characteristics: provide intellectual and physical resources for applied research. Professional development is offered in over a dozen art forms: music, • Unique. Each individual program is unique among, or significantly theatre, dance, opera, audio engineering, ceramics, print-making, different from, other national and international programs of its type. painting, papermaking, photography, sculpture, film and video, new • Residential. Banff Centre programs are residential. The campus offers media, and literature. Programs are non-degree granting, and target a safe space to take risks, to experiment, to explore, to be allowed individuals who function professionally at a post-graduate level. the freedom to fail, as well as to succeed – to work alone as well as Programs welcome participants from a diversity of disciplines, cultures, to interact. and languages, with a special niche for Aboriginal arts and artists. • Fostering Interdisciplinary Collaboration. The Banff Centre is a catalyst for interdisciplinary collaborative activity across all areas. Leadership Development at The Banff Centre offers custom and Through strategic partnerships, The Banff Centre extends the reach of public programs to mid- to senior-level leaders and decision makers work created here to wider communities of learners. in the corporate, government, arts and non-profit sectors. Through • Committed to Research, Innovation, and Creative Activity. Research experiential arts- and nature-based learning, participants explore is not only the foundation of scholarly inquiry, it is also a creative ideas and innovative solutions. The Centre’s Aboriginal fundamental component of creative activity. With a new strategic Leadership and Management programs build the capacities of First research plan, The Banff Centre is committed to increasing its Nation, Metis, and Inuit leaders to help their organizations and research activity, particularly in the area of applied research, and sees communities continue to move forward. this as a rich vehicle for inter-institutional collaboration. Since 1952, Conferences have been a central activity of The Banff Centre, providing delegates from Alberta, Canada, and around the This program has given me the knowledge and world with exceptional meeting facilities in an environment that fosters inspiration to pursue bigger goals for myself as an inspirational learning experiences. Delegates benefit from the creative Indigenous woman. energies and showcasing of our arts, leadership, and mountain culture Elizabeth Rowan, programming and events. Revenues from conference activity support arts programming. Pigeon Lake Health Centre, Hobbema Indian Health Services The Banff Mountain Film Festival has a big impact on Mountain Culture programs promote understanding and appreciation of the world’s mountain places by creating opportunities people all over the world. It makes people dream. It for people to share – and find inspiration in – mountain experiences, makes people care and aware of cultures and nature. ideas, and challenges. Showcase events include the Banff Mountain Olivier Higgins, Book and Film Festivals and World Tour. By engaging audiences through Co-director/producer, Asiemut mountain film, literature, and photography and through think-tanks and conferences, the Centre sparks dialogue on the environmental and cultural issues facing mountain regions. Programs that shape careers and Cross-country impact change lives The impact of Banff Centre programs is woven into the fabric of Alberta and Canadian culture. Our participants tell us that The Banff Centre experience changes their lives. Theatre, opera, and dance productions workshopped at The Banff Centre illuminate stages from coast to coast. Award-winning art and literature produced at the Centre is featured in galleries, bookstores, and libraries across the country. Business and community leaders from The Banff Centre has been