Editor:
The removal of Donna Kennedy-Glans from the Banff Centre’s board of governors has me concerned about the models of governance this provincial administration is enabling in our cultural institutions. To my neighbours who have not read Donna’s piece in Alberta Views, it comes highly recommended. According to Kennedy-Glans, she was removed for resisting the Banff Centre’s ongoing shift away from what once made it great. It is not lost on many that the Banff Centre has drifted from being a public good that works to enliven our culture and is instead taking great pains to become a destination that must contort itself for private interests. It is one small part of the ongoing hollowing of our institutions. It has lead to an exodus of alienated artists, who have formed an expansive and growing chorus calling for change. It appears Adam Waterous has no patience for hearing that tune in the Centre’s board of governors. The board culture described by Kennedy-Glans sounds downright authoritarian. Developing strategic documents without input from those affected, chastising people for commenting on provincial politics, kangaroo court committee meetings, ignoring criticism, unilateral decision making – all things worthy of our disgust at any level of governance. Absolutely unforgivable in one of our most valuable vehicles for reconciliation with our Indigenous neighbours. What will our province look like on the other side of this interesting era we find ourselves in? The UCP will have driven away doctors, nurses, artists, and scholars. Tuition and rents will be at all-time highs. This is not the picture of a culture moving forward, it’s one of a society in decline. Places like the Banff Centre are where we could have optimistic cohorts of people developing the cultural blueprint for something better. That will not happen with the vision and governance of the Banff Centre’s current leadership. I hope other concerned Albertans will join me in calling for Adam Waterous to resign from the Banff Centre’s board of governors.
Jessia Arsenio,
Banff
