Location: Banff, Alberta, Canada

Mission: The Banff Centre’s Visual Arts programs focus on professional development, research, and training opportunities in media and visual arts. The programs provide access to world-class facilities in photography, sculpture, printmaking, papermaking, ceramics, textiles, painting, performance, media arts, film, and video, as well as curatorial and critical studies. Residencies are for professional artists with an exhibition record who have had formal training in visual arts, or equivalent experience and recognition from their peers.

Thematic Residencies offer a structured program where artists, curators, and other arts professionals are brought together to research a specific theme. Through peer interaction, discussion groups, studio work, formal lectures, and studio visits from world-renowned visiting artists and curators, participants gain new ideas and insights that can be applied to creative exploration and the development of their work.

Program structure and benefits:

• Fees vary according to programs
• Individual studio with 24-hour access
• Access to Visual Arts facilities
• On-campus meals and accommodations
• Scholarships of up to 50% of the program fee available

Cost: Around $1,500 USD plus cost of travel.

Facilities & Medium-specific Studio Fees found here

Financial aid is available for participants to attend many of The Banff Centre’s programs. The amount of financial aid varies for each program. Subsidized program fees, rather than financial aid in the form of scholarships, applies to Workshops or Self-directed Residencies. Details on the amount of financial aid available for specific programs is available on the “Program Fees” section of the webpage for each program.

Application Fee: Program depending, $35 – $60

Number of Artists: information unavailable

Accommodations: Participants in residency programs and most workshops stay at The Banff Centre for the duration of their program. The residential aspect of our programs offers participants the ability to take part in the larger artistic community of the Centre while having day-to-day concerns of cooking and cleaning taken care of.

Rooms have all the amenities of a hotel, furnishings, work desk and chair, bath and/or shower, towels, bedding, phone, radio/alarm clocks, housekeeping services, and expansive windows that allow participants to enjoy the full beauty of The Banff Centre’s natural setting. Over 150 rooms are available in two residence halls. Wireless internet is available throughout the campus.

The program fee for most Residency and Workshop programs at The Banff Centre includes a meal plan with access to several on-campus dining facilities, offering artists a range of meal options during their stay.

Length of Stay: 6 days or less or 7 days or more, thematic program depending. Typically, about a month

Demographic: Residencies are for professional artists with an exhibition record who have had formal training in visual arts, or equivalent experience and recognition from their peers.

Medium: Visual Artists, audio, curatorial, literary translation, dance, digital film, drama, indigenous arts, interactive media, Leighton Artists’ Colony, literary arts, music, opera and voice, photography, theatre, theatre production, design, stage management, music residencies, work study programs, Walter Philips Gallery, sculpture, printmaking, papermaking, ceramics, textiles, painting, performance, media arts, film, and video

Benefits: World class facilities, residency programs are offered in every artistic area, and include both structured residencies of a fixed length and self-directed residencies of variable length, a work space suitable to their needs and practice, access to facilities, and the opportunity to interact with a faculty of visiting artists associated with the residency, an environment of support, camaraderie, and professional development for artists to create new work, explore ideas, collaborate in a community of working artists, or concentrate on focused work in a retreat setting, located in the incredible setting of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, 43-acre “village for the arts” in the heart of Banff National Park, the luxury of daily housekeeping service, Artists take their meals on campus at one of our sumptuous dining facilities. No cooking, cleaning, or distractions — just mountains of inspiration, Faculty are visiting artists, luminaries in their fields, who are brought in from around the world to share their experience and expertise with artists participating in our programs, artists can participate in the larger community of the Centre, mingling with artists in all disciplines; attending world-class concerts, performances, readings, exhibitions, and other events; and enjoying swimming, yoga, and fitness classes at our Recreation Centre as well as outdoors adventures throughout Banff National Park, and much much much more

Deadline: TBA, look for opportunities posted here

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