The Banff Centre: Communications

Georgia Straight – December 31, 2003. &nbsp A review of Mary of Canada, by Joan Skogan, published by Banff Centre Press.

What’s the deal with Canada and Mary? Joan Skogan contemplates this question, among many others, in a pilgrimage that took her to hundreds of nooks and crannies across Canada, to wayside shrines, lonely prairie coulees, big-city churches, and small-town gas stations. The result is something astonishing, echoing the work of such writers as John McPhee and Peter Matthiessen. It’s not that much of a stretch to say Mary of Canada: The Virgin Mary in Canadian Culture, Spirituality, History and Geography warrants comparison to James Joyce’s Ulysses.

The Globe and Mail – December 29, 2003.   AA Bronson’s first Canadian solo exhibit since the deaths of his General Idea artist-partners reveals both the pain of the past decade and something deeper, Sarah Milroy writes. Bronson has participated in recent Media & Visual Arts programs.

Toronto Star – December 24, 2003.  
Patrick “Paddy” Crean died on December 22 in Stratford, Ontario, at the age of 93 after a long illness.

In acknowledgment of Mr. Crean’s ongoing influence, a group of fight directors from around the world met in 2003 at a Paddy Crean International Stage Combat Workshop held in Banff.

The Globe and Mail – December 5, 2003 (Page R3).   The mayor of Regina has asked the city’s library board to withdraw its controversial decision to close the Dunlop Art Gallery, and has apologized for the lack of public consultation.

Anthony Kiendl, a former director of the Dunlop, now director of Visual Arts and the Walter Phillips Gallery at The Banff Centre, says he hopes the board members will support the mayor’s recommendation. But he says they also need to start rebuilding the public’s trust. “They need to put a director in place,” says Kiendl. “They need to re-examine the board’s relationship to, and understanding of, the gallery. And they need to find alternatives to cutting the other library services.”

Edmonton Journal – December 2, 2003.  
“The Edmonton Symphony is losing one of its greatest ambassadors. David Hoyt, the orchestra’s principal French horn player and resident conductor, is leaving the ESO April 1 to become artistic director and executive producer of the Banff Centre’s Music and Sound festival” [the title is not quite right: Hoyt becomes artistic director of Music & Sound; see the official release].

Hoyt beat out 40 other candidates for the Banff Centre position. Joanne Morrow, senior vice-president of programming for the Banff Centre, said Hoyt got the job because he has an international reputation and he knows the Banff Centre well. He was in the summer orchestra in 1971, and since then he has worked as a mentor and administrator with the centre. Morrow says Hoyt’s reputation as a world-class musician and a leader with the Edmonton Symphony as resident conductor for 18 years helped. “He is such an atypical orchestral player. He has been so active in community work. He became a conductor in mid-career. He’s a good programmer. He has many skills that can be put to excellent use in Banff. We feel we’ve been very lucky to attract him here.”