Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity

The centre was founded in 1933 by the University of Alberta, with a grant from the U.S.-based Carnegie Foundation. Elizabeth Sterling Haynes, Theodore and Eliot Cohen, Gwillym Edwards, and Gwen Pharis served as the centre's first employees, with Haynes and Cohen teaching approximately 230 students that first summer. Initially only a single course in drama was offered. In 1934, the centre established its special children's drama division and hired instructors Wallace House, Roy Mitchell, and Jocelyn Taylor Mitchell. During the 1935 summer school, the students performed Relief by Minnie Bicknell. The layoff subsequently sparked an open letter from several prominent artists, curators, arts figures, alumni and current and former staff expressing concern for the institution's commitment to values supporting its visual arts programming and operations. == Programming ==

Programs include residencies, workshops, practicum programs, the Leighton Artists' Studios (an artist retreat opened by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, on 20 August 1985), and the multidisciplinary Banff Summer Arts Festival. ==Media==

In 2013, the centre applied to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to acquire two tourist information radio stations serving the area, CFPE-FM and CFPF-FM, from Friends of Banff National Park Fellowship, and to launch an additional new station, CJXB-FM. Under the Banff Centre's ownership, the existing stations would be expanded to incorporate some community radio talk and information programming, while the new CJXB would program an adult album alternative music format. The approval to acquire CFPE and CFPF from the Friends of Banff was granted on July 19, 2013, while the new station was approved on August 6, 2013. The centre formally launched its new community radio programming on the existing stations in June 2014. The CRTC revoked the CFPE and CFPF licenses on April 10, 2015. == Facilities ==

Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity facilities offer resources to support artists of all disciplines. Facilities include a writers' lounge and the Library and Archives. The Leighton Artists' Studios has nine studio cottages. The centre also operates the Walter Phillips Gallery, an art museum located within the Banff Centre. In addition to its arts programming, conferences were introduced in 1953 and management programs in 1954. Banff Centre hosts 500 conferences a year, with proceeds dedicated to supporting arts programming. In 2003, it became host to the Banff International Research Station for Mathematical Innovation and Discovery. ==Notable people==

Alumni • Valri Bromfield • Claire and Antoinette Cann • Shawn Everett • Moira Walley-Beckett • Ashan Pillai (violist) • Richard Kelly Kemick (writer) • Conrad Bain (Actor) • Fiona Reid (Actor) • Bruno Gerussi (Actor) • John Vernon (Actor) • Mary Knickle (Musical artist) Staff • Mary E. Hofstetter, president and CEO 1999-2011 == References ==