Stefanie Blondal of Mise en Scene rocks out in The Club. Photo: Donald Lee.

Morning coffee queue at The Banff Centre’s Maclab Bistro, and the line-up consists of the usual suspects: a poet with a post-yoga glow, a sculptor in a postparty funk, and a conference suit with a pre-caffeine twitch. At the front of the line, two girls in knee-high boots, sequinned silver skirts, and massive, winged fur coats wait for their skim lattes. I sneak a glance at the taller one – her brown hair teased into an electrified madness, one glittering oversized eyelash peeling away from her face. The girls/women/amazons look as though they have fought the wilds for this coffee. Small pieces of bracken fall from their hair onto the floor. “Music video,” one of the she-beasts says with a tired smile in response to my staring. “Indie Band,” she adds. It all becomes clear. The cool kids.

I am about to slink away with my herbal tea to my way uncool day job when the king of the cool kids shuffles in. With long, dishevelled hair, an old-man cardigan, and the kind of loafers Jesus would wear if he was a drummer/producer/audio-engineer wunderkind, “Hey”, Shawn Everett says to me, just like he says hey to Bob Dylan, or Eddie Vedder in his real life. “Hey Shawn”, I say back so that the music-videoettes can hear. For a brief moment, I too, rock.

The Banff Indie Band Residency, a two-week program for indie rock groups is only in its third session, but the energy it is putting out is far from acoustic. An intensive writing, recording, and performance program in which three up-and-coming groups are given access to the kinds of resources for which most musicians wait a lifetime, the program is one big amplified band camp. Three bands, Winnipeg’s Mise en Scene, Vancouver’s Abramson Singers, and Doldrums from Toronto/Montreal, have been chosen to board the Banff Indie Band train.

“The success of previous residencies only feeds the calibre of faculty and bands which we’re able to bring together for this program,” says Theresa Leonard, director/executive producer of Audio programs. “These artists are in for an incredible ride.” Supported by the Centre’s Film & Media department, each band receives its own rehearsal and writing hut on Tunnel Mountain, four full days of recording and mixing in the Centre’s studios, and access to more recording engineers, live sound engineers, lighting technicians, filmmakers, and other artists than they can shake a drumstick at. A dozen audio work studies are also involved in the program, including a couple who should have left the Centre a month ago when their original contracts ended. “What are you still doing here?” I ask one guy, remembering his farewell drinks and a girlfriend he was keen to return home to. “Indie Band,” he says.

On top of the professional Banff Centre equipment, the indie artists also have access to specialized equipment donated by program supporter Yamaha Canada Music, and Banff Centre partner, Cantos Music Foundation. Among the rare instruments and tools made available by Cantos for the bands’ creative tinkering are a 1970’s Mellotron (the same instrument used in the psychedelic preamble to The Beatles’ Strawberry Fields Forever), and an American RCA-44 ribbon vocal microphone. “This is the holy grail of microphones,” one work study tells me. “It’s not just the Elvis of mikes, it’s the Elvis mike. The same as he used.”

The attraction of access to The Banff Centre’s A-grade music facilities is one thing, but it’s the faculty in attendance for the program that is Indie’s ultimate draw-card. “You don’t just find yourself in situations where you get to record with these people,” says Shawn Everett of his colleagues, producers Tony Berg and Howard Bilerman. “Any band would have to spend mega-bucks to record with these guys,” an artist says of the three of them.

Howard Bilerman has been at the epicentre of the Canadian indie movement since its inception in the nineties. He’s worked with groups such as Wolf Parade, Bell Orchestre, and Arcade Fire (as well as being a member of the band), and for a week his decades of production experience are at the disposal of the three Banff bands. To Bilerman, a ‘retreat’ such as the Banff Indie Band program offers artists a special kind of recording experience. He references Exile on Main St., which was recorded when The Rolling Stones bunkered down in a mansion in the south of France, as evidence. “A band removes themselves from their normal environment, and immerses themselves away. They get to spend time together and bond as people, and almost as an afterthought, they get to make a record. It’s pretty much what this Banff Centre environment encourages,” Bilerman says. “It’s pretty rare.”

Described by many as the “most connected man in LA,” producer Tony Berg is also in Banff to work with each of the bands. The same ear he lends to artists such as Pink, Randy Newman, and Lupe Fiasco, is applied to the work of the Banff bands. “I have two goals,” Berg says of his Banff Centre work. “One is for the artists to walk away feeling like they’ve gained something from the experience, that they might be able to better realize their own visions in the future. And secondarily, to learn myself from the process. Every time I work with a new artist, I’m exposed to something new, and it improves my work as a producer.”

Audio work studies discuss an Indie Band recording mix. Photo: Donald Lee.

Each of the Banff Centre indie bands walks away from the residency with a fistful of studio recordings, mixes, and music videos, as well as two live recordings. In two weeks they achieve more than many bands would manage in two years. Before the program even enters its final weekend, one of the groups – Mise en Scene – is already getting airtime with a new track on Calgary radio, and the three bands’ live performance in the Margaret Greenham Theatre is being streamed by CBC’s Radio 3.

“I’ve never heard of any other program like this in the world,” Everett tells me during a coffee break on the final studio day. “There are a lot of schools that teach pop and rock recording, but here, these things are not just being taught, they’re actually happening. There are no classes for the audio work studies. Instead, the bands are recording songs for actual albums, and the engineering and production is real. It’s hands-on in the way that the jazz and classical audio programs have been run here for years, and it makes crazy sense for the Centre to run a program like this. Production for rock and pop – this is the audio industry.” Everett waves his hands and laughs through his mop of hair. “And it’s fun to have this party vibe. It’s just cool, you know?”

“Sure,” I tell him, remembering how I spent last night watching Coronation Street reruns. “Cool.”

Sadness because my term as Banff Centre president ended on December 31. And excitement, as I contemplate the future potential of The Banff Centre.

My successor, Jeff Melanson, and the hundreds of staff and faculty who provide outstanding creative support to the artists enrolled in our programs, and top notch service to our Centre guests and audiences, will continue to build the impact and influence of The Banff Centre.

I leave knowing our programming vision is clear. The Banff Centre will continue to inspire creativity by fostering artistic growth and enabling transformational career development. We will maintain our role as Canada’s creative leader by providing exceptional programming, by commissioning and supporting new works of art, and by fostering strong relationships with our educational and cultural partners.

 I leave knowing the Centre is on a sound financial footing. Despite challenging economic times, we continue to be a creative entrepreneur in support of our goals. And I leave knowing that our partnerships with the Governments of Alberta and Canada are strong ones, and that our many donors and supporters continue to believe in, and contribute to, our mission.

At this important turning point in my own life, I find it personally inspiring to reflect on the turning points that The Banff Centre enables in the lives and careers of artists from across Canada and around the world. There are several such stories in this issue of Inspired – from the ‘cool kids’ in the Indie Band Residency to the scientists and researchers who find new career paths thanks to our Science Communications program. But the turning point that touches my heart the most comes from playwright Joan MacLeod.

Last month, when she accepted the 2011 Siminovitch Prize in Theatre, Joan recounted the story of how The Banff Centre helped her discover she was a playwright. She told the Toronto crowd, “I wouldn’t be here tonight if I hadn’t gone to Banff, if funding for places like Banff didn’t exist. And Banff is there because governments, corporations and individuals … value art and understand that sometimes the creation of art can’t exist without a hand.”

These are words to cherish, and to inspire all of us whose passion for the arts and culture is a life-long love affair.

My warmest appreciation to each one of you for sharing the passion and inspiring the evolution of this extraordinary place.

Mary E. Hofstetter
President & CEO

Jeff Melanson became Banff Centre president on January 1, 2012. Photo: Laura Vanags.

It’s easy to spot Jeff Melanson on campus. He’s the tall guy with the big smile, who never forgets your name once you’ve been introduced, and who is eager to hear about your connection to the Centre.

On January 1, 2012 Melanson begins his term as Banff Centre president. A trained singer and leading arts manager, Melanson served as executive director and co-CEO of Canada’s National Ballet School from 2006 to fall 2011, and previous to that as dean of The Royal Conservatory of Music School. Since earning his undergraduate degree in music from the University of Manitoba (BMus’98) and Master’s degree in business administration (MBA’99) from Wilfrid Laurier University, Melanson has spent his career to date bringing together his strong arts and business skill sets in the service of building a more robust arts sector and stronger communities through the arts. In 2009, he became the first arts leader to be appointed one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40™.

Melanson cherishes the opportunity, and the challenge, of leading Canada’s premier multidisciplinary arts institution. “I am looking forward to working with The Banff Centre’s fantastic community of artists, staff, Board, and supporters to ensure that we continue to build on a remarkable legacy of growth, innovation, and excellence,” he says.

Joan MacLeod at home in Victoria. Photo: Darren Stone, Victoria Times Columnist.

When Joan MacLeod mounted a stage in Toronto last month to accept the Siminovitch Prize, Canada’s richest theatre award, she had a long list of people to thank. The Victoria-based playwright is the creative force behind ten acclaimed plays, including Amigo’s Blue Guitar, Little Sister, and The Shape of a Girl. Tarragon Theatre’s production of her latest play, Another Home Invasion, is currently on a national tour, and The Shape of a Girl, written in part at The Banff Centre, has been produced continuously since its 2001 premiere. In her remarks, MacLeod thanked the theatre companies across Canada that have presented her works, including Alberta Theatre Projects, Vancouver Playhouse, the Belfry Theatre, Green Thumb Theatre, and Tarragon Theatre.

She also thanked The Banff Centre. As MacLeod told the Toronto crowd, it was in Banff that she first discovered she was a playwright:

“I always wanted to be a writer. My parents gave me lined paper for Christmas and birthdays and dozens and dozens of notebooks. I survived high school, probably like a lot of people did, by writing reams and reams of terrible poetry, by reading profusely and listening to Joni Mitchell as much as was humanly possible. Thank you Joni Mitchell. Thank you Margaret Laurence and Alice Munro. You were my introduction to great writing and you carried me right through my adolescence on your strong and splendid backs. I studied Creative Writing at UVIC and UBC and was blessed with many great teachers. I first started publishing with poetry and went to The Banff Centre as a poet in the mid-eighties and two important things happened.

I asked an actor from the Playwrights Colony if she could read a poem of mine at a public reading. So for the first time I was in an audience and watching an actor lift my words off the page and transform them into something beautiful. I was astounded. I didn’t know then that actors do that all the time – that they are in the business of making writers look good. The second event took place in the third floor lounge of Lloyd Hall when Alan Williams, the brilliant monologist, performed The Cockroach Trilogy for us one magical and snowy evening in June. I wasn’t quite thirty and I had been to the theatre twice in my life. After watching Alan I understood with absolute certainty that I was supposed to be a playwright. And within a year I had moved to Toronto and become part of the playwrights unit at Tarragon.

Flukey. I guess. But here’s what I know for certain. That I wouldn’t be here tonight if I hadn’t gone to Banff, if funding for places like Banff didn’t exist. And Banff is there because governments, corporations and individuals, just like so many of you in this room tonight, value art and understand that sometimes the creation of art can’t exist without a hand. More than 25 years after that snowy night in June, with ten plays and a libretto behind me, significant portions of all those scripts were written at The Banff Centre – and most of them at the Playwrights Colony. Thank you — I am your most grateful genre-swapping participant. I truly don’t know how to write for the stage unless I can look out the window, at some point in the process, and lock eyes with an elk.”

Joan MacLeod will return to The Banff Centre in 2012 to revise her award-winning libretto for The Secret Garden, which will be presented as part of the 2012 Opera as Theatre program.

The Siminovitch Prize in Theatre is dedicated to scientist Lou Siminovitch and his late wife Elinore, a playwright. Sponsored by BMO Financial Group, Canada’s largest annual theatre arts award recognizes direction, playwriting and design in three-year cycles. The Banff Playwrights Colony is a partnership between The Banff Centre, The Canada Council for the Arts, and Alberta Theatre Projects.

Onlea Gilbertson in her Banff Blanche performance. Photo: Donald Lee.

Five years agao, Calgary singer and theatre artist Onalea Gilbertson received a phone call from Banff Summer Arts Festival producer Casey Prescott, who asked if she could create a new work for the intimate Club, a cabaret-style room beneath The Banff Centre’s theatre complex.

The following summer, Gilbertson debuted a work very close to her heart. Blanche: The Bittersweet Life of a Wild Prairie Dame is a onewoman theatrical song cycle that lives in between music and theatre. Blanche is also the story of Gilbertson’s grandma, Blanche Gilbertson, who was windowed twice, first at age 23 when already the mother of two children, and later at age 55.

Fast forward to this past autumn, and Gilbertson was over the moon to present Blanche at the New York Musical Theatre Festival, the “Sundance of musical theatre,” and the largest musical theatre event in North America. “The festival is known for discovering shows and talent,” Gilbertson reports, “and they receive hundreds of submissions from around the world.”

Of her off-Broadway premiere, The Huffington Post critic in New York commented, “What a treat. It’s unvarnished, but paired with the right music and Gilbertson’s marvelous vocals, it’s catchy and memorable and funny and true.”

Gilbertson recalls her feelings from five years ago. “When Blanche was originally commissioned by The Banff Centre it was absolutely a gift from the universe.” The Theatre Arts department supported the show through two residencies in 2008, focused on writing and later production.

“I am forever thankful to The Banff Centre for believing in me and supporting me as an artist, for giving me the time and the resources to create this piece,” she adds. “My life is forever changed.”

She dedicates the work to her grandmother, who passed away just after Mother’s Day this past year. Gilbertson says, “My Gram Blanche (1915-2011) was a special soul, an inspiration, and definitely a wild prairie dame!” Blanche Gilbertson is survived by five children, 15 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren — and one off-Broadway success story.

BLANCHE: The Bittersweet Life Of A Wild Prairie Dame

Written and Conceived by Onalea Gilbertson

Music by Onalea Gilbertson
with Morag Northey and Jonathan Lewis

Directed by Rachel Avery

World Premiere July 2007 at the Banff Summer Arts Festival
Off Broadway Debut Oct 6, 2011 at the
New York Musical Theatre Festival

Tara Birtwhistle as the Red Queen in Wonderland. Photo: David Cooper, courtesy of the Winnipeg Ballet.

You could be forgiven for not noticing that Tara Birtwhistle has officially retired from the ballet stage. This fall and winter, she is on the road with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s original work Wonderland. Birtwhistle is unforgettable as the hilarious, kinetic, inyour-face Queen of Hearts. The role was created for her by Wonderland choreographer and Banff Centre alumni Shawn Hounsell, and brought fully to life, in the studio and on stage, by the ballerina herself. But the Queen is, in fact, a non-dancing role, one that calls more on Birtwhistle’s skills as an actress, rather than her celebrated prowess as a soloist.

The Wonderland tour marks part of a longer farewell for Birtwhistle. After 30 years of dancing with the RWB, she officially retired as a principal dancer in the spring. She chose, as a final full performance, a staging of the Norbert Vesak ballet The Ecstasy of Rita Joe, which was adapted from a play by George Ryga in 1971, and had become a signature original work for the company. The ballet had a particular significance for Birtwhistle – it was the first ballet she ever saw the company perform, and it made her want to dance with them.

After growing up in Alberta, Birtwhistle was accepted into the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School in 1986 at the age of 14. She chose the Winnipeg school because she could see a direct line between the style of dance taught, and the style of dance on stage. She also liked that the RWB was “constantly evolving.” She was accepted into the corps in 1991, becoming a soloist four years later. In 1993, she joined The Banff Centre’s Festival Dance summer program, and would spend three summers in Banff, returning in later years as a soloist. Her time in Banff, and working with program director and choreographer Brian Macdonald, was critical to her development as a dancer.

From the beginning of her career with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Birtwhistle knew that she wanted to explore dance as a form of expression and character, and her work with the company and Festival Dance were integral to that. “Brian saw something in me that I knew I had,” she recalls. “He guided me in finding my voice, and I started to approach dance almost as if I were an actress.” From that first summer in 1993, she found roles that helped her develop the expressive, character-driven style she would bring to the Winnipeg stage for the next 20 years. “I knew from that summer that my path was to be a storyteller,” she says.

Birtwhistle was immersed in the work of two companies that nurtured and valued the work of young choreographers, and continue to be devoted to the creation of new work. At Banff, she danced in premieres of works by winners of the Clifford E. Lee Choreography Award, including Bengt Jorgen, Michael Downing, and Crystal Pite. In 2002, Macdonald set his ballet Requiem 9/11 on her. At the RWB, she became muse to choreographer Mark Godden, who created the dynamic role of Lucy in Dracula just for her (she describes it as her favourite role, and she reprised it for a screen version of the ballet, directed by Guy Maddin).

The opportunity to originate roles, in addition to dancing classical roles, can shape the career of a dancer like Birtwhistle, and keep things interesting for many years. The last role created for her, Hounsell’s Queen of Hearts, gave her a rousing, magnetic character to go out on. “This role is as far away from being a ballerina as it’s possible to get,” she says with a laugh. But Wonderland, an original work with a long development period, also gave her the opportunity to wind down from dance slowly, and to move more into the role of actress. “It’s been fun because in some ways this role has taken me to the other side, closer to leaving the stage. I hadn’t been dancing too much.” And becoming a mother two years ago, to her daughter Isabella, has helped make the transition easier.

Birtwhistle will stay in Winnipeg, where her husband, Dmitri Dovgoselets, is a soloist with RWB. Without much of a break, she has stepped into the role of ballet mistress with the company, teaching and coaching the next generation of Royal Winnipeg Ballet dancers into potentially long-lived careers. In that role, she’ll be working directly with the handful of RWB dancers chosen annually for The Banff Centre’s summer dance program, young artists who are at exactly the stage she was at when she first came to Banff.

Wonderland was co-produced with The Banff Centre.

Mary Hofstetter, October 2011. Photo: Donald Lee.

For 12 years, she has been the face – and for many, the heart – of The Banff Centre. Mary Hofstetter, who retired as the Centre’s president and CEO on December 31, has led this institution through 12 remarkable years. Under her leadership, The Banff Centre has broadened its reach as an international centre for creativity, and deepened its support for artists from across Alberta, Canada, and beyond.

The most visible evidence of Mary Hofstetter’s leadership is the physical transformation of The Banff Centre campus—the new Dining Centre, the Kinnear Centre for Creativity & Innovation, the Shaw Amphitheatre, and the greening of the Centre’s 44 acres. But it is Hofstetter’s ability to forge partnerships, and to build understanding and support for the Centre’s mission, that will have the most lasting impact. Among her many accomplishments: a robust program plan bolstered by increased endowment support, a renewed commitment to the creation and showcasing of new creative works, the establishment of the Banff International Research Station for Mathematical Innovation and Discovery (BIRS), and – not least – the Campaign for The Banff Centre, which raised over $128 million – the most successful fundraising effort in the Centre’s history.

On the eve of her departure, Mary Hofstetter sat down to talk with Inspired.

What drew you to The Banff Centre in the first place?
The Banff Centre has been in my heart for a very long time. I first came here to take arts courses in the summers during high school, and over the years came back from time to time, never thinking one day I’d end up staying for over 12 years!

When you were appointed President & CEO, did you know immediately what you wanted to accomplish — or did it take some time for that vision to develop?
Yes and yes!

I knew some things needed to be addressed right away — getting our finances in order and rejuvenating some of the programming, for example.

Other things, such as the development of a new Campus Master Plan, the vision for our campus revitalization project, and our major capital campaign evolved over time.

When you and the Board of Governors decided to move forward with the Banff Centre Revitalization Plan in 2005, you were taking a giant leap of faith. Can you talk about the magnitude of that challenge?
It was certainly a challenge! Especially when the consultant we engaged to do a fundraising feasibility study said we’d be lucky to raise $5 million. So we did the only sensible thing under the circumstances, and disregarded the study and forged ahead!

We knew that so many people had strong emotional links to The Banff Centre, and we also knew the pride of many Albertans in “Alberta’s Jewel”, as The Banff Centre is frequently referred to, and we knew that there is no other institution on the planet like The Banff Centre, so we took a deep breath and plunged in.

One of the hallmarks of your years at the Centre has been the strong partnerships you have forged with governments and donors.
Those relationships really were in need of nurturing. Fortunately our Board of Governors, throughout my tenure, has been most adroit at fostering relationships, and that has been a tremendous support to my team and me. We have collectively worked very hard on this, and we are tremendously grateful for the strong support we have received — particularly from the Province of Alberta and the Government of Canada.

One real highlight for me has been working over the years with The Kahanoff Foundation. Their $10 million Campaign gift was extraordinary in several ways. Apart from the sheer magnitude, the most significant element was that while $2 million went to capital, the balance was specifically to be dedicated to ‘transforming’ our programming – and the impact of this gift on programming vision and quality has been enormous.

We’ve also focused on creating strong relationships right here in Banff and the Bow Valley. Having an institution like The Banff Centre located in a small town like Banff is a huge cultural advantage to the Town, but we also need to be careful to not be ‘the elephant in the room’!

When you look around the campus today — what are you personally most proud of?
It is always going to be the programming. That’s why I mentioned the Kahanoff gift. While our campus was in dire need of redevelopment, we always knew that if we weren’t also paying close attention to the calibre of the programming — the content, the leadership, the participants, the faculty — there was no point in having wonderful new amenities. I think we’ve been able to achieve an elegant balance. The complementarity between the performance programming and the Shaw Amphitheatre is a great example. We are just beginning to explore the myriad ways we are going to use that amphitheatre – the potential is limited only by our creativity – and as you know, that’s a resource we have in abundant supply here!

You’ve successfully advocated for the arts in Alberta for over a decade — what role do you see for the arts in Alberta’s future?
I think the arts, writ large, are integral to the DNA of Alberta – much more so than is commonly acknowledged. And I think that there are some new young leaders in Alberta, beginning with our new Premier, who really get the value – competitive and social – created by the arts. My gut tells me that the next few years will see a real flourishing of the arts in Alberta.

Looking back over the past 12 years, is there a particular creative project that holds a special place in your heart?
Oh dear, that’s a loaded question! There have been so many wonderful artists and projects over the years.

I’ll select just two. Years ago, our Aboriginal Arts department did a new dance piece called Miniigooweziwin…the Gift. It was one of the most beautiful and emotional performances I’ve ever seen.

The other one I’ll mention, because unlike The Gift, which was so ephemeral, this one will endure for the ages, is The ghosts on top of my head – our wonderful trio of sculptures by the brilliant Canadian artist, Brian Jungen. These pieces, a visionary gift of the Black Family, already feature in photos beamed from Banff around the world. When we completed the Kinnear Centre, I had wanted one iconic, signature sculpture as the ‘exclamation point’, and it was our great good fortune that we got three!

Your husband David has played an important, though rarely acknowledged, role throughout your time in Banff…
David and I are a team. When we made the decision to come here, it had to work for us both. Given that his consulting work takes him all over North America, he’s been flying to work every week for over 12 years. He has been a real trooper, and he is absolutely my rock! He shares my passion for the arts, and we share a passion for fine audio, so it was such fun for us together to work with our Audio department in planning the Isobel and Tom Rolston Audio Listening Room, which is part of our shared legacy here.

What’s next for Mary Hofstetter?
A long nap?

Well, first we have to move to Stratford and settle in there, and then I expect to do some Board work and some consulting, and of course some volunteer work. And if they’ll have me, I’ll always be a passionate Banff Centre ambassador!

One thing that people don’t know about you?
To lull myself to sleep, I read murder mysteries. David says it’s positively scary how many ways I know to kill someone!

25 years from now, what would you like people to remember about Mary Hofstetter?
I would like it to be said that I made a difference; that my years of championing the arts and culture, creativity and education, have borne fruit – and David and I hope there will be amazing new generations of artists making extraordinary art and music as they benefit from our two legacy projects.

How has The Banff Centre changed you?
It has inspired me to dream a bigger dream than I ever thought realizable, and it has taught me that with passion, strong vision, and a tremendous team of colleagues, we could make that dream come true.

In addition to Mary Hofstetter’s many achievements as President and CEO, she and husband R. David Riggs have funded the creation of the Isobel and Tom Rolston Audio Listening Room, a state-of-the art facility that allows Centre musicians and audio engineers to experience the best possible audiophile listening experience. They have also made a bequest to The Banff Centre through the Centre’s Planned Giving program, and David, not surprisingly, is supporting the Mary E. Hofstetter Legacy Fund for the Visual Arts.

In October, Mary Hofstetter was awarded an honourary Doctor of Laws from the University of Western Ontario in recognition of her contribution to Canadian arts. In the award citation, Hofstetter was recognized as a “stellar advocate of education, training, and creativity in the arts, sciences, and business leadership in Canada.”

Science Communications participants at work: shooting a video at Mount Norquay. Photo: Sandra Haney.

A set of coincidences brought Elie Dolgin to The Banff’s Centre’s Science Communications program, and ended up charting the course of his career.

While completing his PhD in evolutionary genetics at the University of Edinburgh, Dolgin flew home to Vancouver for his father’s 60th birthday party. When he gave a tribute to his father by talking about what he knew best – evolutionary genetics – he caught the attention of a scientist in the audience who was a faculty member with the Science Communications program.

The resulting two-week immersive residency in the 2007 Science Communications program was a blur of deadlines. Faculty member Tom Hayden, an instructor at Stanford, suggested Dolgin pitch one of his stories to Science magazine. He showed it to fellow faculty member Ivan Semeniuk, who “ripped it to shreds,” says Dolgin, “and said ‘where’s your who, what, when, where, why?’ He covered it in red ink, which was great feedback.” Making revisions in half an hour, Dolgin sent it off to Science. It was published a week later.

A journalism internship at The Scientist, a fellowship at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and a contract at Nature quickly followed. Today Elie is an editor at Nature Medicine. Semeniuk is now not only a mentor, but a colleague as well.

Dolgin’s story, while unique, is not unusual amongst Science Communication alumni.

Mary Ann Moser at the launch of Science She Loves Me, a collection of essays published by The Banff Centre Press.

“For some people, careers are really opened up,” says program director Mary Anne Moser. The program is Moser’s brainchild, an idea that struck during an unusually entertaining research funding announcement. The physicist presenter “had over 100 people laughing,” recounts Moser. She decided then and there to look for support to create a program that would help people be more engaging and entertaining when talking about science.

The Banff Centre, with its focus on creativity and its ability to support interdisciplinary work, was a natural home. Renowned science broadcaster and writer Jay Ingram was keen from the outset. Gathering stakeholders in Banff for a weekend of “kicking tires,” Ingram became a champion for the program, says Moser, and it launched in 2006. Every year since, Ingram’s focus on having fun while having impact has shaped the program’s character.

Science Communications has given birth to books, blogs, newspaper and magazine articles, TV hosting, podcasts, radio spots, TED talks, websites, and inspired science teaching. Jessa Gamble arrived at the program with what she describes as a “laughable version of the book proposal that was to follow.” Now published by Penguin, she proudly describes her book on circadian rhythms, The Siesta and the Midnight Sun, as a “Banff (2008) baby.”

Jennifer Gardy attended the program’s inaugural year in 2006. With a PhD in bioinformatics and experience in print journalism, she’d always thought television would be fun, attending Banff with the goal of “figuring out how to dip my toe into science TV,” she says. Relentlessly picking the brains of Jay Ingram and TV producer Henry Kowalski, she borrowed “Daily Planet” scripts for presenting practice. She has subsequently appeared twice as guest host for CBC’s “The Nature of Things.”

Jay Ingram at a Banff lecture.

“There are a lot of people who love science, who track a career in science but have a creative side that never gets realized,” says Ingram, chair of the program. “I’ve been convinced for decades that the better you can communicate science, the more people in the general public will understand that it really is fascinating and it really is magic.”

The program provides an intense collaborative work environment that could be described as inspiring shotgun creativity. Supported by the Centre’s Film & Media, and Literary Arts departments, program participants work in small groups to conceive, research, design, shoot, edit, and produce a website, video, and two podcasts – all with a goal of effectively and enthusiastically communicating science.

The essence of what many participants take away from Banff is profoundly simple: “that sometimes the only reason you’re not doing it is that you’re not doing it,” a comment Moser made on the program’s first day. “That’s stuck with me every single day,” says 2011 participant Jennifer Gagné.

Science Communications teaches you to let go, take risks, unblock your inner creativity – to stop dreaming and start doing. After six years, the program has established a network of more than 100 science communicators across Canada and beyond, and in October, 2011, Moser was recognized for her collaborative vision and effort with an Alberta Science and Technology Leadership Foundation award. The award is external validation of what alumni of the program already know — that taking a creative approach to science can make all the difference.

Lesley Evans Ogden is a BC-based science writer and an alumna of the 2011 Science Communications program.

Holger Petersen, Guy Vanderhaeghe, and Justin Rutledge in conversation in the Margaret Greenham Theatre during Wordfest 2011. Photo: Drew Hoshkiw.

Interview by Steven Ross Smith

With this fall’s publication of A Good Man, Saskatoon writer Guy Vanderhaeghe completes a literary hat trick – three sweeping historical novels set in the late 19thcentury Canadian/American Wild West. The Englishman’s Boy, the first book in the thematicallyconnected trilogy, won the 1996 Governor General’s award. The second, The Last Crossing, topped the 2004 CBC Canada Reads competition. A Good Man was long-listed for this year’s Scotiabank Giller prize.

No stranger to The Banff Centre, Guy Vanderheaeghe was this year’s Wordfest Banff Distinguished Author. Following the festival, he sat down with the Centre’s Literary Arts director Steven Ross Smith to talk about the challenges of writing historical fiction, and how to craft a perfect sentence.

Steven Ross Smith: One of the things I’ve noticed about your writing is that you really seem to love the sentence.

Guy Vanderhaeghe: Well, I’m not a natural writer, so I think that I have to pay more attention. I’m a big reviser, so I tinker with sentences endlessly. It just doesn’t come immediately. When I begin my morning’s writing I always go back and revise what I have written the day before and sometimes revise it twice. There’s something that’s always stuck in my mind, something that the great Irish short story/writer/novelist John McGahern said. Someone asked him, “How do you write a novel/short story?” He said, “First you write one good sentence, then you write a second good sentence, and then you write your third good sentence.” And that’s been banging around in the back of my mind almost from the time that I began trying to learn how to write.

SRS: You said you’re not a natural writer, what do you mean by that?

GV: I don’t form things as words initially. I form pictures in my mind and then I try to translate those pictures to words. I mean, that obviously sounds very strange, but writing for me is a kind of translation. Ever since I was a child the things that I imagined, I imagined as pictures. Maybe if I had been born slightly later, I might have been more interested in being a film director, for instance. Now that said, I love great writing and one of the reasons I love great writing is that in my mind it does two things; it puts pictures in your mind, and it puts sounds in your head. I do love the sound of words and I like the inflections, particularly of the vernacular, just the way I like the more formal writing of the 19th century. So for me, when I attack the page, I try to attack it with pictures and with sounds in my head.

SRS: What makes a good sentence?

GV: Oh boy, that’s really difficult. Cyril Connolly talked about two different kinds of English – one he called ‘the mandarin’, which is what we might call now poetic prose, and the other one he called the plain – George Orwell, Ernest Hemingway, Christopher Isherwood, people like that. I don’t think of myself as a plain writer in that style, nor do I think of myself as a poetic writer. I stand in the middle. So there are moments when I will indulge myself, but I also sometimes draw back into the plain style. And the reason for that is that style in a novel has to be married to subject. Whatever you’re writing about in that moment might demand either an alteration of style, or perhaps even a new style, at that moment on the page. 

A Good Man is published by McClelland & Stewart. Guy Vanderhaeghe has served as faculty for The Banff Centre's Writing Studio Program.

SRS: A Good Man is the third book in your trilogy of novels set in the West in the late 1800s. You obviously have a deep fascination with this era. Where does that come from?

GV: It actually goes back to a book I read when I was perhaps ten years old by American historian Paul Sharpe. He wrote a book called Whoop-Up Country about a region in Northern Montana, Fort Benton, that extended into southeastern and southwestern Saskatchewan. And that book always stuck in my mind. I did a Master’s Degree in History. I actually thought I might become an academic historian until I discovered I didn’t have the chops for that. But it took me a long time to actually move towards the historical novel, because I was always afraid that my training as a historian would put too many censors in my head.

SRS: These three novels provide a very in-depth insight into that era, even though they are fiction. You’ve really fulfilled a historian’s role as well as a novelist’s role.

GV: I would qualify that. I actually have a disclaimer in this book, even though I do a lot of research and tend to come pretty close to the record. I write what I call ‘intimate history’, which is reimagining history in the way that the people who experienced it dealt with it. All historical writing, even the standard historical writing, comes down to interpretation. There are certain facts that exist, but any writer, whether he or she is a historian or a novelist, brings their own preoccupations, their own perceptions, even what I would call their own world view to the writing of that history.

SRS: Where do you get your insights into character?

GV: When I write a character, I try to comprehend the situation through the character’s point of view and personality. I sometimes tell creative writing students: “don’t put yourself in the position of judging a character when you write”, because I think that if the reader doesn’t make a decision about a character– if the reader feels led by a ring in the nose towards a certain viewpoint of a character – that does nothing but create resistance. So my attitude is I know that I am creating these characters, and I know that I have a certain viewpoint about these characters, but at the same time these characters have to have the freedom to live in a book the way I would imagine them living in, for lack of a better phrase, the real world. So in my case it’s a funny kind of juggling act in which I try and turn my perception of the action, and run it through the character’s eyes whenever I can.

SRS: You’ve said that A Good Man completes the trilogy and that you are ready to move on. Are the characters in A Good Man still with you?

GV: I feel that I want to break from this and turn to something else. I have no idea what that is right now. But I have a feeling that it is time to refresh myself with some other kind of writing. When I look back, I’ve been preoccupied with this for 15 or more years. Which is a long time to give yourself up to anything. It’s an odd thing, only in a few instances have I carried on with characters and I’m pretty sure that these are finished. Once I finish a book, I try to wipe the slate clean. So I would say yes, they’ve left me. The ghosts have left me.

A Good Man is published by McClelland & Stewart. Guy Vanderhaeghe has served as faculty for The Banff Centre’s Writing Studio Program. This interview has been condensed and edited. For a more complete audio version, check the spring issue (#6) of BOULDERPAVEMENT, the Centre’s online magazine of art and ideas, to be published in April 2012. BOULDERPAVEMENT was a finalist at the 2011 Canadian Online Publishing Awards and received an Honourable Mention for Best Digital Design, in the 2011 National Magazine Awards. boulderpavement.ca

Aaron Lazar conjures a vision of Loulou the acrobat during a Banff workshop performance. Photo: Donald Lee.

I will always love Loulou the acrobat.

For six years, that simple phrase has powered a dream of Broadway for Marc Jordan and Kelly Robinson.

It was Juno award-winning singer/songwriter Jordan who found the words.

“I was reading an autobiography of French poet/novelist Jean Genet. He tells a story about being thrown into the drunk tank in Paris, and waking up to discover that message – “I will always love Loulou the acrobat” – scrawled on the stone wall of his cell.

The words stuck in my head — and sometime later I worked with Steve MacKinnon to write and record a song based upon them.”

Robinson, director of the Centre’s Theatre Arts department, continues the story. “Marc sent me the recording — and I could immediately hear an entire story. Who was the prisoner who left the message? Who was the acrobat?What was their story? That launched Loulou, and for six years it has been the heartbeat of the project – both the musical motif, and the driving dramatic force.”

With music and lyrics by Mackinnon, Jordan, and Jordan’s partner Amy Sky, and book by Quincy Long, Loulou is set in Eastern Europe during what Robinson likes to call “the recent past or near future.” A tortured political prisoner discovers the love message to Loulou etched on his prison wall. He conjures a vision of Loulou — a vision of freedom that becomes his only solace, and after he is freed, he sets out to find her. His journey takes him to a circus and to a woman with her own desires and ambitions who may or may not be Loulou.

Past and present collide when his torturer arrives, and the prisoner finds that it is only through the magic of the circus that he can hope to save his dreams.

For Robinson, Loulou marks the culmination of a long-held ambition. “I have always wanted to create a project that involves the circus in a dramatic way — not simply as spectacle, but as an element that is intimately involved in the story. I imagined a work that was very visual, very physical, incorporating dance and circus in a unique way.”

The chorus plays a key role in Loulou -- delivering an energetic blend of pop and gypsy punk, spiced with Baltic harmonies. Photo: Donald Lee.

This September, 25 artists from across North America converged on The Banff Centre for an intensive two-week creative development residency for Loulou, culminating in two preview workshop performances. Performers included Broadway sensation Marcy Harriell ( In the Heights, Rent), Aaron Lazar ( A Little Night Music, Light in the Piazza, and Impressionism), Tony Award winner Chuck Cooper, and Rona Figueroa ( Miss Saigon).

Robinson says the residency, one of several Loulou workshops held over the past few years at the Centre, was an invaluable step on the long road to Broadway. “Having the very best possible performers allows you to focus clearly on the book and the music. Because the performances are of the highest quality, it highlights the challenges and opportunities of the work. And the insight of performers of this caliber is invaluable. Everyone contributed. During those two weeks, we added two new songs, and deepened and enriched the story”

“Having focused time to concentrate solely on the work is so important,” Jordan adds. “Being able to immerse yourself at the Centre without distraction and to collaborate with the performers moves everything forward.”

But Jordan also admits that Loulou has been a long haul. “It’s like docking the Titanic with a rowboat. It is a labour of love. There have been times when I have been ready to give up. But Kelly has always been our champion. He has never wavered in his belief in this project. Every time I’ve hit a wall, he’s been there helping me over.”

Robinson is convinced that the time and effort are worth it. “After years of commercial work for Mirvish Productions, I am very aware of the tendency for works to get onto the stage before they are truly ready. With Loulou I started with a commitment to myself to get it right before taking it to the stage. “

Robinson hopes to bring Loulou back to Banff in the coming year to begin work on the staging and acrobatic elements of the musical. It’s an ambitious undertaking. In its final form, Loulou will offer audiences an experience unlike any other — merging a very human story of redemption and love, showstopping tunes, and eye-popping aerial acrobatics.

“Musical theatre like Loulou brings together everything we were already doing at The Banff Centre: playwriting, music, dance, even circus. The creativity and craft — and the support — required to realize a work like this is enormous, which is why it feels like a perfect fit.”

 Loulou is supported by Kenny and Marleen Alhadeff, Y Not Productions, Ginger Cat Productions/John McKellar and The Banff Centre.