The Banff Centre has announced Julian Sleath has been appointed executive director of performing arts, effective June 15.
As an experienced event programmer and planner with a long career as a theatre technical and production manager, Sleath brings more than 30 years of experience in performing arts to The Banff Centre.
Sleath was previously programme manager of cultural events for the City of Toronto, where he was responsible for a wide range of large-scale, public events such as Doors Open Toronto, Canada Day, and Scotiabank Nuit Blanche. He has worked for many arts festivals around the world, including the Edinburgh International Festival, Dance Umbrella in London, the European Arts Festival and Toronto’s Luminato.
“Julian brings a wealth of experience from some of the most prestigious national and international arts organizations in Canada and abroad. Throughout his career, Julian has worked with contemporary artists and directors across the disciplines of theatre, opera, music and dance,” said Carolyn Warren, vice-resident, arts at The Banff Centre. “We are thrilled he’ll join the team and know he will bring an exciting new vision to performing arts programs at The Banff Centre.”
Sleath first came to Canada from the U.K. to work for the Canadian Opera Company in 2000.
“A couple of years into that job my wife went to Banff on a creative residency program and rang me from the mountains and said I was crazy for not having gone with her,” Sleath said.
“The next time that opportunity came about I jumped at the chance to spend time in Banff with a creative team on creating work to be shown in Canada. And ever since, I’ve dreamed of going back on a permanent basis and this opportunity arose and they were very gracious to reach out to me.”
Coincidently, the appointment is a perfect blending of Sleath’s background in the arts, and his university studies.
“The Banff Centre is so important to the ecology of the arts here in Canada and internationally it has a fantastic reputation, but my university degree is in forestry and ecology, so I spent four years of my life walking and hiking many mountainous regions, looking at natural resources and trees,” Sleath said.
“It ties together the two sides of my life, being able to work in an area of outstanding natural beauty, but at the same time knowing and understanding The Banff Centre is this marvelous resource to the ecology of the performing arts as a whole.”
Currently, Sleath manages a very diverse portfolio of large-scale outdoor events, mostly for the city of Toronto, ranging from Doors Open Toronto to Canada Day, to even “turning on the Christmas tree lights.”
Sleath also currently sits on the Toronto 2015 PanAm and ParaPan Games Arts & Culture Advisory Committee and the external advisory board of Sensorium – a new research centre based in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design at York University and on the Programming Advisory Committee of Daniels Spectrum in Regent Park, Toronto.
