Made in Banff

Heaslip’s donation will help preserve and highlight archival records such as this maquette by Susan Benson for The Marriage of Fiagaro (1990).

Nona Macdonald Heaslip believes in the magic of the theatre.

This lifelong passion has inspired her involvement in many Canadian theatrical institutions, including her almost 20-year relationship with The Banff Centre. Most recently, it led to the establishment of the Nona Heaslip endowment for Archives at The Banff Centre.

This is the first endowment specifically directed towards the work of The Banff Centre’s archives, and Heaslip’s purpose for it was even more specific: to fund the startup of a theatre section within that collection. “The Banff School of Fine Arts was the first to provide early theatre training in Canada,” she notes, “and I wanted my gift to permit The Banff Centre to research and amalgamate all the archival material from the performing arts from the 1930s.”

Nona Macdonald Heaslip at home in Toronto. Photo: Sophie Giraud.

There’s a more personal connection behind Heaslips’s donation: “I acted all through school,” she says, “and it was always a dream of mine to go to Banff and study in the summer. But my father wouldn’t allow it. he felt I should spend summers at the family cottage. I made up for not going to Banff by seeing every play under the sun…and by working on Theatre Museum Canada.” Heaslip has been involved with Theatre Museum Canada, which is focused on the collection, preservation, and display of Canadian theatre artifacts, for 15 years. “It’s been a work of love,” she says, “and it’s grown by leaps and bounds.” She’s thrilled that Theatre Museum Canada will soon have a permanent home and display space in Toronto, thanks to David Mirvish.

In 2010, the opening of the new Paul D. Fleck Library & Archives within the Kinnear Centre for Creativity & Innovation at The Banff Centre provided a perfect opportunity for Heaslip to marry her interest in theatre artifacts with her long-term support of the Centre. (She has served on The Banff Centre’s Board of Governors and funded artist scholarships and fellowships, among other contributions).

The archives is the central repository for the documented experience of the Centre, including its rich theatrical history. The collection includes hundreds of scripts, scores, programs, posters, designs, drawings, photographs, and video recordings of the Centre’s seven-decade history of production.

Most of these documents are kept safely in storage and can be retrieved when needed by researchers. One special part of the collection that is stored away are the maquettes (scale models of sets), some of which are difficult to display because they are up to four feet square in size. The maquettes dwelling unseen in storage on campus include sets created here by noted designers for major productions. One striking example is the lovely maquette for the Banff Centre opera production of Filumena, which is displayed in a glass case outside the library. Jane Parkinson, the Banff Centre’s archivist, says, “Nona’s endowment is very exciting. It’s planted a seed to get us thinking, and acting, to put our theatre archives out there in a creative way.”

Both Parkinson and heaslip are cognizant of the enormous amount of effort that goes into every theatre production. “A lot of documentation comes out of a theatre production because so much work goes into it: lighting designs, costume designs, and so on,” Parkinson says. heaslip adds, “The work that goes into theatre is unbelievably important – it’s not just the people learning their lines; it’s the writers, technicians, stage hands, makeup artists…a whole legacy.”

This wealth of work is a both a boon and a curse for archivists because of the sheer volume, so a gift like heaslip’s, where a portion supports the ongoing costs associated with growing and maintaining the archives, is very useful indeed. “We can focus on projects to display some of these amazing artifacts,” Parkinson says, “and tell the story of the early days of the theatre here.”

This goal is perfectly in tune with Heaslip’s memories of friends whose parents allowed them to attend the then-Banff School of Fine Arts. “It gave them all sorts of confidence and understanding of the arts. Those summer programs were very enriching – people would come back so advanced!”

Parkinson recognizes that heaslip’s gift will allow The Banff Centre’s archives to begin to bring the early days to life for a new generation of theatre buffs. “We will use this funding to get people excited about the theatre in general and about all that has been done here.”

Until 2015, contributions to arts endowment funds such as the Nona Heaslip endowment for archives are doubly valuable to The Banff Centre because the federal government provides a funding incentive of approximately 70 per cent through the Canada Cultural Investment Fund. Visit www.banffcentre.ca/support to learn more.