The The Banff Centre for Continuing Education, commonly known as The Banff Centre is an arts, cultural, and educational institution and conference complex located in Banff, Alberta. A part of Alberta's post-secondary educational system, the Centre consists of four divisions: The Banff Centre for the Arts, The Banff Centre for Management, and the Banff Centre for Conferences, Banff Centre for Mountain Culture and Environment.

The Centre for the Arts (the largest and oldest division) was founded in 1933 by the University of Alberta as an experimental theatre school and became known as the Banff School of Fine Arts in 1935. By 1936, music became an important part of the program and remains so today. The Banff International String Quartet Competition was established in 1983 and the Banff Festival of the Arts, established in 1971, has seen several Canadian premieres including Michael Daugherty's opera Jackie O, John Metcalf's Kafka's Chimp and Jonathan Dove's Siren Song. In 1947 the centre moved from the town of Banff to its present location on Tunnel Mountain in Banff National Park. Although the centre operates year round, its summer school is Canada's oldest major summer school of the arts.^[1] During Metcalf's period as artistic director of the department of music theatre in Banff, he workshopped a number of operas, including his own Tornrak.

In addition to its arts programming, conferences were introduced in 1953 and management programs in 1954. It was renamed the The Banff Centre for Continuing Education in 1970 and has full autonomy as a non-degree-granting educational institution under the governance of an appointed board. In 2003 mathematics programs were also introduced.

[edit] References

[edit] Sources

• Clark, Bob, "Lured in by siren song", Calgary Herald, 20 July 2009
• Greene, Gordon K. and Spier, Susan, "Banff Centre for the Arts", Encyclopaedia of Music in Canada
• History of The Banff Centre – on the official web site of The Banff Centre

[edit] External links

• The Banff Centre official site
• Banff International Research Station for Mathematical Innovation and Discovery

Coordinates: 51°10′19″N 115°33′42″W / 51.171843°N 115.561677°W / 51.171843; -115.561677

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