Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity

The centre was founded in 1933 by the University of Alberta, with a grant from the U.S.-based Carnegie Foundation. Elizabeth Sterling Haynes, Theodore and Eliot Cohen, Gwillym Edwards, and Gwen Pharis served as the centre's first employees, with Haynes and Cohen teaching approximately 230 students that first summer. Initially only a single course in drama was offered.

In 1934, the centre established its special children's drama division and hired instructors Wallace House, Roy Mitchell, and Jocelyn Taylor Mitchell. During the 1935 summer school, the students performed Relief by Minnie Bicknell.

In 1935, the centre became known as The Banff School of Fine Arts. The Carnegie grant that initially funded the centre was suspended from August to December 1935 to be assessed by the Carnegie Foundation. The grant was renewed for two years, though the foundation recommended the University of Alberta should assume financial responsibility at the end of that term.

As arts programming continued to succeed and develop, conferences were introduced in 1953 and management programs in 1954. The facility was renamed The Banff Centre for Continuing Education (The Banff Centre for short) in 1970. The centre was granted full autonomy as a non-degree granting educational institution under the governance of a board of directors by the province of Alberta in 1978.

The centre is now affiliated with the University of Calgary, which became its trustee and a significant student feeder in 1966.

In the mid-1990s, in response to a cut in its provincial operating grant, the centre launched a capital campaign (The Creative Edge). Proceeds were used to develop conference and arts facilities, which opened in 1996. The centre was designated as a National Training Institute by the federal government in 1999, and became home to the Banff International Research Station in 2003. The centre's name was officially changed to "The Banff Centre" in 2008, and to the "Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity" in 2016.

On June 11, 2020, the institution laid off 284 staff members via Zoom. The layoff subsequently sparked an open letter from several prominent artists, curators, arts figures, alumni and current and former staff expressing concern for the institution's commitment to values supporting its visual arts programming and operations.

Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity facilities offer resources to support artists of all disciplines. Facilities include a writers' lounge and the Library and Archives. The Leighton Artists' Studios has nine studio cottages.

The centre also operates the Walter Phillips Gallery, an art museum located within the Banff Centre. In addition to its arts programming, conferences were introduced in 1953 and management programs in 1954. Banff Centre hosts 500 conferences a year, with proceeds dedicated to supporting arts programming. In 2003, it became host to the Banff International Research Station for Mathematical Innovation and Discovery.