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American artist says Banff Centre provides unique experience

BANFF – Saul Williams is a poet, a musician, a performer and a creator.
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Saul Williams

BANFF – Saul Williams is a poet, a musician, a performer and a creator.

Hailing from New York, but living in Los Angeles, Williams said he has yet to come across something as special as the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in terms of what it aims to provide artists.

“I think Banff is a wonderful venue for artists to come and explore creative ideas and put them on their feet,” he said.

“I think it’s something that artists yearn for, the opportunity to make their imagination turn into something that they can share with others and possibly with the dream of being able to live off their art.”

Williams said at the facility artists are actually given this opportunity and what’s more, the venue allows them the space to share their own skills with others.

“Banff is a really important place, I think, for a lot of artists because it affords them time and space to make sense of their work. I think, for me, just to come and perform and operate as a teacher for a poetry workshop there,” he said.

“That has to do with another phase in an artist’s career, which is being of service to other artists and allowing them to see where their work can go, so it’s a huge honour for me to be invited there to share my work and work with other poets.”

Described on the Banff Centre website as “an American musician, poet, writer, spoken word artist, and actor,” Williams has no shortage of talent. He’ll be performing a multi-disciplined performance on Saturday (April 6), one in which he says is a small part of a much larger project.

“It’s a multimedia performance. It’s just me on stage with a bunch of machines and images,” he said.

“The images come from collaborative work that I’ve been doing with a hacker and computer programmer by the name of Misael Leon who is an amazing graphic artist.”

He has been working on the project for six or seven years, some of that work was done during a residency at the Banff Centre. The project as a whole is called Martyr, Loser, King and will include a graphic novel, three albums and a film. However, his performance will only be a portion of what the project will have to offer.

Williams stressed that what Banff provides isn’t available everywhere.

“There aren’t many facilities that exist like that in the United States,” he said. “As an American artist, when you decide to make a career as an artist, it’s really do or die because there’s not a lot of help you can get unless you get signed. It takes a lot more qualifiers.”

You can catch Williams Saturday (April 6) at 7:30 p.m. at the Margaret Greenham Theatre in the Banff Centre. Tickets are $35 each and available at www.banffcentre.ca.

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