Residencies

Application Deadline February 26, 2025

Program Dates May 23, 2025 - Jun 06, 2025

Overview  

Twenty selected participants will have the unique opportunity to study with world-class piano faculty, engage meaningfully with both mentors and peers, and practice in the inspiring setting of the Banff Centre, surrounded by the breathtaking beauty of the Canadian Rockies.

Art of the Piano seeks well-rounded, advanced pianists who are confident in public speaking and eager to embrace and draw inspiration from their natural surroundings.

Description

Define your artistic vision, enhance your performance confidence, and advance your career through:

• A one-on one mentorship lesson with each of the internationally renowned faculty.
• Masterclasses
• Faculty-led workshops.
• Showcase of learnings.
• Recordings of participant performances will be available.
• Faculty concerts
• 24-hour access to a studio.

Requirements

The program is open to national and international advanced pianists who have completed or are in the process of post-secondary studies, or equivalent, in piano performance. 

Qualifications include ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) Diploma and above, and RCM (Royal Conservatory of Music) ARCT and above.

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Application Deadline February 19, 2025

Program Dates Jul 21, 2025 - Aug 15, 2025

Overview

The Audio Recording Engineer program is a continuing education opportunity designed for emerging recording engineers with mature artistic insight, professional experience and/or formal professional/educational training. Learning objectives have been integrated into artistic residency programs, inviting exciting opportunities for collaboration and connection in this redeveloped applied-learning program.

Participants will receive mentorship from experienced professionals, enhancing their technical abilities and learning about new equipment, software, and recording techniques while supporting selected musicians in the Jazz and Sonic Arts 2025 program.

Description

Emerging Audio Engineers from around the world are invited to participate in our program to expand their technical proficiency, nurture creativity, and elevate their recording abilities in diverse genres of music. Successful applicants will benefit from:

• Close mentorship by international faculty, staff producers, engineers, and technologists.
• Experience recording live concerts in jazz and related genres, dependent on the repertoire of accepted musicians.
• Developing communication skills and interactive strategies to engage with musicians for an optimal recording experience.
• Gaining experience in studio recording sessions with diverse repertoire.
• A deepened knowledge of industry trends and best practices.
• Networking opportunities with other audio engineers, professional musicians, artists in other disciplines, and invited guests.
• Access to professionally equipped studio spaces.
• Materials/assets for professional portfolio.

Requirements 

Applicants should have a combination of formal training and/or professional experience or aptitude in audio engineering. Required skills include:

• A working knowledge of Pyramix, and ProTools is desirable.
• A practical understanding of file creation and management.
• Ability to participate collaboratively and thrive in a dynamic and fast-paced environment.

Applicants should be able to manage resources, produce to schedule, and multitask effectively with strong time management, diplomacy, and communication skills. Please note, Banff Centre Professional training programs are instructed in English. 

You Pay (accommodation & meal plan costs after scholarship applied): $2 097.90

Apply online

Dates

Application Deadline: January 15, 2025
Program Dates: May 12 - May 23, 2025

Overview  

This two-week residency encourages the exploration of new ideas in literary journalism (creative non-fiction) and experimentation in writing. Designed to challenge and stimulate, the program aims to inspire creative pieces of non-fiction and to assist the writers in their completion. 
A preeminent space for long-form journalism, this residency emphasizes the strengths of thorough and articulate reporting, distinctive storytelling, and literary devices. 
Work created in this program has been published in many outlets including The Globe and Mail, The Walrus, and The Atlantic, and pieces have gone on to win National Magazine and National Newspaper Awards.

Description

Writers will have time to:

• work on their manuscripts in their individual studios.
• consult with faculty members Kyo Maclear, Taras Grescoe, Sarah Berman, and Amanda Crocker (Between the Lines Press).
• participate in group discussions. 

Faculty will provide mentorship and one-on-one workshops to discuss:

• story ideas. 
• craft concepts such as voice and structure. 
• challenges writers may be encountering with their literary journalism.

Requirements

Literary Journalism is designed for writers seeking a professional development opportunity in a community of peers with the guidance of an experienced writer/editor, as each participant prepares a long form piece.

Applicants should be experienced professionals, active in the diversified fields of writing, including print or electronic media. This program is open to fiction and non-fiction writers, journalists, freelance critics or curators, artists, and academics, with an emphasis on those who can write for a lay audience with logic, vigour, and charm—and those who have a portfolio to prove it.

This program is not open to:

• applicants who have taken part in a Banff Centre residency in the last year.
• current faculty members of any other Banff Centre programming.

This program is run in English and only accepts projects that are being written in English. English is the language of Banff Centre correspondence.

For more information and to apply.

Dates

Application Deadline: March 5, 2025
Program Dates: August 18 - August 29, 2025

Overview  

Summer Writers is a self-directed residency that provides writers with the time and space to focus on their work away from the constraints of everyday life. During the residency, writers can take advantage of one-on-one mentorship opportunities with faculty as well as a community of artistic peers. 
Faculty include Dr. Douglas Kearney, Dr. Holly Melgard, Dr. Eric Sneathen and professional guest Hazel Millar (Book*hug Press). 

Description

This two-week self-directed residency offers time and space for writers to focus, reconnect, and re-energize their writing practice. In addition to a single room and a small private studio, writers will be able to engage with other writers on the program.
As a flexible self-guided program with optional elements, the Summer Writers residency allows participants to choose the amount of support they are looking for. 
Optional program elements include:

• talks from faculty members Dr. Holly Melgard, Dr. Eric Sneathen, Dr. Douglas Kearney, and professional guest Hazel Millar (Book*hug Press).
• Q & A sessions. 
• public readings.
• one-on-one mentoring with faculty to discuss ideas, experiences, and writing obstacles.

Requirements

The program is designed for established writers with a proven publication record seeking a period of dedicated time to work on a project in any genre. Participants will benefit most if they are comfortable working autonomously in an unstructured environment. 
This program is not open to:

• applicants who have taken part in a Banff Centre residency in the last year.
• current faculty members of any other Banff Centre programming.

This program is run in English and only accepts projects that are being written in English. English is the language of Banff Centre correspondence.

For more infrormation and to apply.

Dates

Application Deadline: January 29, 2025
Program Dates: June 2 – July 4, 2025

Overview  

Visual Arts Residency – Kapishkum: Métis Gathering is a five-week program designed for Métis visual artists, creative makers, and curators. 
In Michif, kapishkum means “to transcend”, and this residency comes at a pivotal point. As Indigenous creative production from Northern Turtle Island increasingly attracts local, national, and global interest, individual Métis artists remain underrepresented and contemporary Métis culture is little known. More importantly, Métis, while in solidarity with all Indigenous peoples, are looking to bolster Métis-specific art, creative forms, methodologies, and unique ways of being, knowing, and doing.
Participants will join celebrated Métis faculty mentors to produce a nurturing, collaborative, critical, and productive environment. In addition to access to world-class facilities and technical support, participants can build community with their artistic peers within the spectacular natural landscape of Banff National Park, Minihrpa, Treaty 7 territory.

Description

This residency fosters the exchange of ideas and knowledge among artists, encouraging them to produce work that embodies the diverse and complex nature of Métis culture while addressing contemporary Métis-specific issues. 
Participants in this residency will be supported with:

• lectures.
• workshops.
• feedback from celebrated faculty members Jason Baerg, Marjorie Beaucage, Daphne Boyer, Liz Barron, and David Garneau, who will be available for both group and one-on-one consultations.

Artists are provided with a studio, as well as targeted access to our extensive facilities. This includes:

• access to personal studio spaces equipped for creative work, available 24/7, providing a dedicated environment for artistic expression.
• targeted access to shared production facilities and knowledgeable staff who are available to provide technical assistance and support.

Requirements 

The program is designed to cater to Métis artists at all stages of their careers who have completed formal training in fine arts at the post-secondary level or who have equivalent experience and recognition from their peers acquired through traditional knowledge and practices, including:

• multi-generational artists. 
• visual artists.
• curators.
• arts professionals.
• creative makers.
• collaborative groups of no more than two.

Participants will benefit most if they are comfortable working autonomously in an unstructured environment. The program suits those focused on:

• working on a specific project.
• creating new works.
• exploring and researching innovative ideas.

This program is designed for participation over the entire program period. Variable dates will not be considered.

For more information and to apply.

Dates

Application Deadline: April 16, 2025
Program Dates: September 08 - September 19, 2025

Overview  

Science Fiction is a self-directed residency that provides writers with the time and space to focus on their work away from the constraints of everyday life. During the two-week residency science fiction writers can take advantage of one-on-one mentorship opportunities with faculty, group discussions, and a community of artistic peers.
Faculty include Premee Mohamed, Ai Jiang, Amal El-Mohtar, and professional guest Ali Fisher.

Description

This two-week self-directed residency provides participants with individual accommodation and a small private studio for writers to focus, reconnect, and re-energize their writing practice. In addition, participants will be able to engage with other science fiction writers on the program.
As a flexible self-directed program with optional elements, the Science Fiction residency allows you to choose the amount of support you are looking for. 
Optional program elements include:

• thematic teachings from science fiction specialists Premee Mohamed, Ai Jiang, Amal El-Mohtar, and professional guest Ali Fisher.
• one-on-one mentoring sessions with faculty to discuss ideas, experiences and obstacles.
• Q & A sessions. 
• public readings.
• workshops to discuss useful techniques, devices and aspects.

Requirements

The residency is designed to cater to experienced, professional writers with a publication record looking to explore the future of Science Fiction writing and focus on works in progress.
Participants will benefit most if they are comfortable working autonomously in an unstructured environment. The residency suits those focused on:

• working on a specific project.
• creating new works.

This program is run in English and only accepts projects that are being written in English. English is the language of Banff Centre correspondence.

For more information and to apply.

Dates

Application Deadline: February 26, 2025
Program Dates: July 22 – August 21, 2025

Overview  

Early Career Banff Artist in Residence (BAiR) Summer 2025 is an immersive program of studio practice, creative exploration, critical feedback, and mentorship for visual artists and curators in the early stages of their careers. 
Open to visual artists and curators working in all visual arts mediums, this program combines the artistic freedom of a self-directed residency with the benefits of technical and faculty support. As well as having the space to create, research, and experiment, participants are part of a community of emerging artists committed to developing and expanding their practice.

Description

Participants in this residency will be supported with:

• lectures.
• workshops.
• feedback from experienced faculty members who will be available for both group and one-on-one consultations.

Artists are provided with a studio, as well as targeted access to our extensive facilities. This includes:

• access to personal studio spaces equipped for creative work, available 24/7, providing a dedicated environment for artistic expression.
• targeted access to shared production facilities and knowledgeable staff who are available to provide technical assistance and support.

Requirements

This residency is for individual artists and collaborative groups (of no more than two) who have

• completed formal training in visual arts at the post-secondary level, or 
• equivalent experience and recognition from their peers acquired through traditional knowledge and practices. 

The program is designed to cater to visual artists at the early stage of their artistic careers, providing them with tailored opportunities for professional development and creative growth, including:

• ceramicists.
• curators.
• painters.
• paper artists.
• photographers.
• print-makers.
• sculptors.

Participants will benefit most if they are comfortable working autonomously in an unstructured environment. The program suits those focused on:

• working on a specific project.
• creating new works.

Priority will be given to artists who have completed relevant training within five years and who have not previously attended a Visual Arts residency at Banff Centre.
For more information and to apply.