February 13, 2025 • 22 mins
Chris Lorway, the visionary President and CEO of Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, is in The Scene Room this week. He discusses his leadership approach—empowering teams, fostering trust, and building a culture of collaboration and excellence with a shared vision and core values.
Chris shares his commitment to nurturing local talent, his interest in Banff Centre’s role and commitment to Indigenous Reconciliation, and his passion for multidisciplinary programming. He also reflects on the transformative experiences available at the Centre and why this position ultimately drew him back to Canada.
Against the stunning backdrop of Banff’s natural beauty, Chris reveals how the outdoors inspires artistic expression and deepens community engagement. Join us for an inspiring conversation that weaves together innovation, heritage, and a bold vision for a future where art and community flourish side by side.
This episode was recorded on February 3, 2025. To stream the video version of this episode, please visit https://youtu.be/jPpED1UEHYQ OR The Scene Room's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/watch/61563953652615/1166248235074214
All episodes are also available in video form on our YouTube Channel. All episodes are hosted by Elizabeth (Lizzie) Bowman.
Don’t forget to subscribe, share the love, and leave us a review to show your support—it means a lot to us!
Don't hesitate to reach out to us with guest ideas, information you'd like covered, or any ideas you might have—the hope is for this to be a continuous resource and dialogue with our listeners.
Visit TheSceneRoom.com for more information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Elizabeth Bowman (00:00):
Hi, I'm Elizabeth Bowman and welcome to
the Scene Room.
Today I have Chris Lorway here,the CEO of Banff Centre for
Arts and Creativity in Canada.
Chris has an extraordinarytrack record in the arts, with
leadership roles that span fromhis time as founding artistic
director of the LuminatoFestival in Toronto to his work
(00:20):
with Stanford Live and theprestigious Lincoln Center in
New York City.
Now he is CEO of Banff Centre,which is a place known for
nurturing artists, fosteringcreativity and leading
transformative arts experiences.
I'm so delighted that he's here, and whether you're an artist
(00:43):
or an arts leader, or simplycurious about the landscape of
the arts, this is a conversationfor you.
Chris, thanks for being here.
Chris Lorway (00:52):
Great to be here, good morning.
Elizabeth Bowman (00:53):
So glad that you accepted this interview
request.
I really was so excited.
I mean, obviously you've got ahuge job right now and you've
had many huge jobs, so I'mreally interested in your
perspective.
Chris Lorway (01:06):
Yeah, really great to be joining you today.
Elizabeth Bowman (01:07):
So why don't I just get right in there?
I just want to know a littlebit about your leadership style.
I haven't.
I've read a lot of articlesabout projects you've been
involved in, but not many giveaway that kind of secret.
How do you lead?
What's your philosophy?
Who are you?
Chris Lorway (01:25):
It's all about, I think, bringing a team together
who shares your vision and yourvalues and figuring out a way to
collectively move somethingforward.
And I think you know it wasinteresting when I was back at
Lincoln Center in the day and Ifirst met Janice Price, who was
one of my mentors and longtimecolleagues in the business.
You would see that she wouldoften bring back people from her
(01:47):
previous lives to come togetherto work with her on whatever
new role she was in.
And I guess, as I get on in mycareer at this point I
understand that sort of impulsewhere you, after you, spend all
that time creating a team, evenif you move, the ability to go
back to people who you know arein alignment with you and share
those values.
It makes your job a heck of alot easier.
(02:08):
And even here at the bouncecenter I'm now I'm working with
four or five people that I'veworked with in the past who
again have been able to jumpright in, get a sense of knowing
how my brain works, but alsohave that independence to be
able to take whatever their roleis and then run with it.
And I think, for for the mostpart I would say that's my main
characteristic of my leadershipis to really trust those people
(02:29):
around me and to build a team ofpeople again that are all
hopefully rowing in the samedirection and work collectively
to achieve whatever goal.
It is no interest inmicromanaging or getting into
the weeds on things, if anything.
You know I might be accused ofbeing a little bit outside the
details, but I think when you'rein a role of CEO your job is
not day-to-day.
It's really about looking fiveyears out and trying to figure
(02:51):
out how you're going to get towhere you're going and
empowering those around you todo what they need to do to help
you get there.
Elizabeth Bowman (02:56):
How did you get into the art specifically?
What's your background growingup?
Chris Lorway (03:01):
Interestingly, I grew up in Cape Breton Island in
Nova Scotia and I was born withI just recently found this out
but a thing called leg calfdisease, which happened a lot in
households where there wassecondhand smoke and it just
meant that blood didn't flowinto the hip bone and so, as a
result, I was born with aseverely distended hip and spent
the first five years of my lifein and out of cast trying to
(03:22):
fix it.
It never really set and in theend I ended up having surgeries
to my hip and knee in gradethree and grade five.
But as a result, I was the oddkid out who wasn't at the hockey
rink or are doing that type ofthing, just because I didn't
have the ability to do that, andinstead I found myself being
immersed in music, and that wasa mix of being a piano student
early on in my life but alsostudying voice and becoming a
(03:44):
boy soprano and a choir boy, andthat sort of took me through my
whole trajectory, sort ofstraddling the world of the arts
, which was eventually, you know, got into the Cape Breton Youth
Choir with an amazing womannamed Sister Rita Clare, and
then I ended up going to musicschool at Dalhousie University
sang with the Rotary Youth Choir, which is the Nova Scotia
provincial choir, got into thenational youth choir as a as a
(04:04):
quartet member and started tobuild that network.
And then I realized at a certainpoint that even though I was
doing a performance degree invoice at Western, eventually
after a couple years at Dal Irealized that I wanted I got
more, or just as much, if notmore, gratification from
actually being behind the scenesand supporting artists as I did
, trying to focus on being anartist myself.
And that's when I thetransition.
So I did a little bit of adetour back to Cape Breton and
(04:27):
helped to start the CelticColors International Festival,
which is a big Celtic festival,and then went to New York City
to do Columbia's Masters in ArtsAdministration, which set my
career off where I am now.
Elizabeth Bowman (04:37):
I also come from the choral background, so I
relate to that heavily To allthose young choristers out there
wondering what they might dowith their music education.
I mean there's a lot ofpossibility out there.
Chris Lorway (04:48):
One of my roommates in college at Western
is the conductor for the ACCCthis year doing the big National
Youth Choir project, and soit's fun to sort of see where
people end up.
I ran into another colleaguewhen I was in Auckland, new
Zealand, who was a formerchorister, was a former
chorister and even my friendlance, who I sang with at
juilliard, went on to be a musicdirector for broadway and got
me connected with amazing peoplelike alan cumming Kristin
(05:09):
Chenoweth and that whole side ofthe industry.
So so choir has done me welland connected me to many
wonderful people.
Singers in some ways are thisweird amalgam of the music brain
which you know tends to bemathematical and analytical, but
at the same time we're alsolike actors, in that we tend to
have a more extrovertedpersonality than a lot of other
musicians in the world.
I know there's alwaysexceptions, but I think blending
(05:30):
those two things of that, themathematical prowess plus a lot
of extroversion, kind of sets usup to be arts administrators, I
think.
Elizabeth Bowman (05:38):
And on that topic, what do you believe are
the most critical skills forarts leaders today?
I guess it follows from whatyou were just saying.
Chris Lorway (05:46):
Yeah, it's interesting.
I was just talking the other daywith Andrew Taylor, who runs
the Arts Administration Programat American University in
Washington, and he was sort ofsaying what advice do you have
for students who are comingthrough these programs now?
And I would say, definitely,given the world that we're in
and that we're heading into, thereliance on the old systems and
the old models I think issetting people up for failure in
a lot of ways and there needsto be a whole new way of
(06:09):
thinking.
And one of the things that I'vebeen lucky enough to do over
the course of my career isreally have an opportunity to be
entrepreneurial within my role,whether it was at Luminato or
when I was at Roy Thompson,massey Halls, certainly at
Stanford and now Banff.
There's a whole for-profit,commercial part of my job which
has me thinking very, verydifferently, but where the art
lies is how you figure out howto bridge those two worlds and,
(06:32):
being committed to the missionof the organization, how you use
those for-profit ventures andthat revenue to actually enable
you to dream big and do thingsthat really support the mission
and the underlying goals of theorganization.
Elizabeth Bowman (06:43):
How do you approach balancing artistic
vision with financial stability,especially in the digital age?
Chris Lorway (06:49):
There's often that question about how far as
performing arts or the arts ingeneral do we have to immerse
ourselves and shift and changeand adapt to digital, and I have
mixed feelings about that, inthe way that as we become
digital nomads and certainlylive our life in front of a
screen in some ways, thequestion becomes do we become
part of that community andimmerse ourselves wholly in it,
(07:12):
or do we actually createexperiences that differentiate
ourself from that experience andgive people an outlet to in
some ways take a step back andrelease themselves from the
screen?
And I think that's what the artshave always done and you see
that I think even with youngerpeople who are trying to figure
out ways to have experientialtheater and things where poor
people are having, theseimmersive experiences tend to be
(07:32):
that response, in a lot of ways, to the immersion in digital
for a big part of our lives.
So I think, while we have tosort of think about ways we can
embrace the technology andcertainly think about ways to
utilize it to make work moreinteresting and to give artists
another set of tools to be ableto experiment, it ultimately
comes down to that original twoplanks and a passion about
(07:52):
getting people on a stage orinto a gallery and really
experiencing things firsthand,and that, for me, is the
transformational aspect of whatwe do, and I don't know whether
doubling down on just trying torecreate that in digital space
is the answer.
Elizabeth Bowman (08:06):
I agree.
I feel like the digitalcomponent to it.
It sort of complements it insome ways through marketing
efforts and getting people tosee from the outside the
mainstream.
I think that digitaladvertising like I was saying in
the last episode aboutaugmented reality, the actual
(08:27):
idea of the production is nothow I would want to necessarily
experience art or a production,but educating those who might
not otherwise come across it.
That is a tool to do that with.
But I totally agree thatultimately when you're going
into a performing artsexperience, it's a much more
(08:49):
saturated experience If youdon't have that barrier.
It is like a barrier sort oflike using a music stand, the
comparison of using a musicstand versus not using a music
stand.
Somehow that creates thatbarrier between you and the
audience.
Even though you're stillstanding there looking at them
and singing to them.
There's nothing physicalbetween you that cuts off that
(09:11):
communication somehow.
And it's so interesting and I'msure that that digital
interface would do the same.
So I guess it's a matter ofusing those tools intelligently
and complementary in order togrow that experience ultimately.
Chris Lorway (09:29):
Yeah, and I think you know what also is sort of
fascinating, from just anobservational standpoint, is
most of digital culture isconsumed in such bite-sized
amounts, and I'm very much thatguy who, at the end of the day,
will sit down and scroll throughYouTube and just watch a bunch
of you know five to seven minuteclips of various things or less
.
But then you know the responseto that is the sort of immersive
festivals or productions wherepeople will go and spend 10
(09:51):
hours.
So it seems like in some ways,we capture people's attention in
a more meaningful way than thedigital world can do.
When you're actually togetherwith friends, experiencing
something collectively with anaudience, it's just, it's a very
different experience and onethat I don't think we
necessarily value enough.
But I certainly see, even withthis new generation coming off
social media, coming offFacebook, coming off Instagram
(10:13):
and trying to focus on beingpresent in the now, that we
could see an amazing shift overthe next decade as to how people
actually want to come togetherin community and what role the
arts can play in actuallyfacilitating that.
Elizabeth Bowman (10:25):
That with the tariffs that are now coming into
play?
Uh, with the united states.
Uh, and canada.
Uh, well, the united statesputting on tariffs on canada.
Um, what do you?
How does that impact yourprogramming?
Is that going to impact yourprogramming?
And all these visa delays thathave happened with the current
(10:47):
administration in the UnitedStates, with cross-country
collaboration?
Chris Lorway (10:51):
Yeah, I mean we're still very much in a moment
where we don't really know whatthis looks like and what's going
to happen.
When I was in the US and tryingto bring international artists
in, I think I would be moreconcerned if I was on that side
of the border, given thecomplexities of securing that
type of visa and I think this ingeneral.
We're seeing this move towardsnationalism, I would say, around
(11:12):
the world, and as we sort oftighten our borders and really
look at who's coming in and out,it obviously makes it more
difficult for artists, who oftenneed to be able to transverse
the world in order to make aliving.
So it's a very interesting timeand the US has always been a
major market For Canada.
Right now, you know, we'reslightly different in that our
(11:34):
role at the advanced center isfirst and foremost that of a
post-secondary, and so we're atraining institution.
So at this point, even my othercolleagues at U of A, u of C, u
of T, the bigger universities,are dealing with like
international student caps.
But because our programs aredifferent and shorter in nature,
the same types of restrictionsdon't apply to us.
(11:54):
So for now, unless Canada has aresponse that tightens up our
borders in an equal way towhat's happening in the US.
I'm not currently concernedabout it and we will still be
able to do our thing.
The bigger issue is that withthe increasing exchange rate, I
know I sent some money acrossthe border the other day and it
was $1.48 to send a dollaracross, and it just means that
(12:15):
US artists start to be pricedout if they're coming through or
touring because of the almost50% increase in fees based on
that exchange rate.
So those are the things that Ithink are a bit more limiting,
but again, we're in such avolatile moment right now where
so much change is happening,that none of us really know
where things are going and whatthings will look like in a
year's time.
Elizabeth Bowman (12:33):
It's a very concerning time for Canadian
artists, I think, obviously thevisa wait times are so epic to
work in the United States andhopefully we'll see Canadian
presenters take moreresponsibility, I guess, for our
Canadian talent.
You know, hire them Becauseobviously not all Canadian
(12:55):
presenters have a mandate tohire Canadians above a certain
percentage.
But it's looking really direfor Canadian artists Canadian
artists, as far as I can seefrom my nightly scrolling on
YouTube and various social mediaplatforms, where you know I'm
accumulating a very wide varietyof information.
(13:17):
But yeah, I'm hearing theconcern there from artists.
Chris Lorway (13:22):
Yeah, I think the other piece of it is that
whenever you are given a set ofparameters that in some ways
impose constraints on how younormally do business, I see that
as a bit of an opportunity totake a moment to rethink about
how you can change or modify tofit into that new operating
context, and I'll give COVID asan example.
(13:43):
When that happened in California, we like everybody, everybody
else shut the doors in mid-marchand very quickly what I called
did a period of unproducing,where we had to look at all the
things that we had lined up forthe next four to six months and
figure out how to be, first andforemost, empathetic to artists
who were being impacted by thatimmediate turn off of the spigot
and and figure out ways at thesame time to keep your audience
(14:06):
engaged with your institution.
And so what I found during thatperiod, where we were a hub that
really focused the majority ofour energy about bringing people
into our community, covidreally made us turn inwards and
focus on the artists that wereliving in our community and how
to support them and therelationships that we developed
through.
We became a bit of adistribution hub for creating
digital content as a one-stopshop.
(14:28):
So we put together a team andinvited people like Chanticleer
and Zakir Hussain and KronosQuartet and Daniel opened the
New Century Chamber Orchestraand Tuck and Patty like all
these artists came in and wemade digital content with them
and as a result, you know,turning inward and really
focusing on community allowed usto strengthen those
relationships and showed us howmuch amazing things were
(14:48):
happening in our own backyard.
So I think, as Canadians, as weface what could be a tough
period in terms of having thatpermeability across the border,
it does offer us thatopportunity to look inwards and
say how can we actually use thisas an opportunity to really
invest in Canadian artists andto create maybe a next boom for
the arts in Canada as a resultof that constraint?
Elizabeth Bowman (15:10):
Yeah, it's a positive outlook, which is great
.
I mean that's what we need.
I guess major change alwaysresults in some sort of
transformation and, like yousaid, we saw that from COVID.
A lot of people have thatnarrative where they were doing
one job before COVID and thenafter COVID, suddenly they were
(15:31):
either in a new line of work orsuddenly pursuing their dreams
that they had zero time forbefore.
But yeah, so those were thepositives that definitely came
from that.
Banff is the best place on theearth.
I mean I love Banff.
There's no secret there.
(15:52):
On my social media Every time Igo to Banff it's just pictures
and hiking and all the things.
What was your most excitingthing when you were considering
this position and moving there?
Chris Lorway (16:04):
For me I had been, I'd done more work in my
current states than in Canada 10years in New York City and then
seven in California, with a 10years in Toronto in between.
But when I looked back to sayyou know what would draw me back
to Canada as an artsadministrator, the job that was
at the top of my list was thisrole at the Banff Centre, and I
think it's because I've workedin a multidisciplinary
(16:25):
environment for most of mycareer and so going into a
single institution a symphony ora ballet or an opera was not as
exciting to me, even though atthis point in my career that
would have been a natural stepto go into a bigger institution.
But I still wanted to be able towork across both the visual and
the performing arts and mediaand everything else, and the
Banff Centre really offered that.
(16:46):
The other piece for me was wehave a leadership mandate and
the work in particular that wedo with Indigenous leaders and
artists.
I again, have had a lot ofexperience over the years of
working in that space withcommunity and really enjoyed the
role that I personally and theinstitutions I work with can
play in the reconciliationprocess and so being able to
combine all those differentelements and then having it
(17:07):
dropped into incrediblefacilities and, arguably, one of
the most beautiful places inthe world.
It's a bit of a no brainer atthat point.
Elizabeth Bowman (17:14):
Definitely, and I mean I just love the cross
disciplinariness of Banff, allthe people that you see in the
cafeteria and interact with thecafeteria and interact with.
When I was there, I sat down ata table with a bunch of print
makers who were trying to figureout how to ship their creative
products that they had made overtheir time.
(17:36):
They were trying to figure outhow to ship them home and some
of them they were giving awayand I was like, oh my goodness,
like these artists are justgiving away their some of their
stuff.
And, yeah, I had some amazinginteractions there.
I just think it's, if you everneed a reset creatively, I mean
it's the perfect place to go.
Chris Lorway (17:55):
Yeah, it's kind of like we jokingly call it like
arts camp a little bit.
We just had a really greatmonth actually, with the way
that I sort of dream in my mindBanff would look and feel.
We had the Banff Musicians inResonance in for three weeks and
in the first two weeks we hadthe Kronos Quartet in as faculty
and mentors, working with awhole range of musicians from
around the world.
Then we had Shad in working forthe last week and we had a
(18:16):
couple of younger hip-hopmusicians that he was mentoring
and at the same time we had apoetry program on initial mixing
of the poets and the musicians,some pretty interesting artists
and residents.
We had Taylor Mack was herealong with Timothy White, Eagle
and Tigger, two of hiscollaborators, and they were in
one of our latent studios.
And then we had the launch ofour new cultural leadership
(18:39):
program.
We did a pilot, so we had abunch of arts administrators on
campus.
And then we had this really sortof fun and unusual thing at the
Banff Center, which is arelationship with an
organisation called BIRS, whichis the Banff International
Research Station, and every weekwe have 40 mathematicians from
around the world come to theBanff Centre campus to solve a
problem.
So it's like this alchemy whenyou throw all these ingredients
(18:59):
into a pot, what will happen?
And we had a really fun nightwhere Timothy White Eagle led a
programme it was very improvised, sorry where he put flyers up
around campus to come andparticipate in what he called
the Chaos Orchestra, which wasessentially three hours of
unmitigated adult play wherepeople just were able to be
silly and roll around on thefloor and make sounds, and it
(19:19):
was a mix of all these worlds.
Oh, and we also had theMahabharata, the why Not?
Theatre production hererehearsing before they were off
to mount the project to thePerth Festival in Australia.
So again we had members of thatcompany, the mathematicians,
some of the musicians inresidence, some of the poets,
all in this room kind of playingtogether as adults.
It was a very fascinating wayto sort of look at what is
(19:40):
possible here at the BoundCentre and how bringing people
from all these differentcommunities and lives really
enriches the entire community.
Elizabeth Bowman (19:47):
It's important to gain different perspectives,
no matter what industry you'rein, so that it is the perfect
place to check in with othersand have those conversations
about what you do and what theydo and the industry and all the
things.
So, yeah, it's.
I mean, it's just a fantasticplace.
Are you now hiking all the timeI am?
Yeah, I just went out for Areyou now hiking all the time?
Chris Lorway (20:08):
I am, yeah, I just went out for a big walk on
Saturday as the snow was falling, which was pretty magical.
I'm also a downhill skierLiving in the Bay Area.
It used to be, depending on thetraffic, a three to five hour
drive up to Lake Tahoe, so it'smuch nicer when you're only 20
or 40 minutes away from somepretty incredible skiing.
We're hoping to get a bit moresnow.
We're in a bit of a cold snapright now, but we had about 10
centimeters over the weekend andit's always nice when you have
(20:30):
the bluebird sky days with freshpowder and can get out on the
hill.
Elizabeth Bowman (20:34):
So that's the other thing I mean.
Hiking is the perfect way toconnect with people who also you
may not know very well, andthen by the end of that three
hour hike everyone's.
You know, fast friends yeahwhen I was last there I did ha
ling, yeah in canmore, and thenI mean I always do sulfur
because that's fantastic and getcoffee on top.
Chris Lorway (20:55):
So I still haven't done sulfur yet.
I've been used to give me ahard time because I haven't done
the gondola yet either, butit's definitely on the list you
haven't been up sulfur, like atall, like not even the gondola
oh yeah, I go up the hot springsall the time, but never made
the trip up the gondola yet.
Elizabeth Bowman (21:10):
What's one unexpected thing that most
people don't know about you?
Chris Lorway (21:15):
I guess you know it's something that I think we
all do.
We sort of ask ourselves whenwe get into groups like this and
are trying to figure out eachother's histories what is your
art and how do you sort of findthat expression?
And that's evolved for me overthe years, but I've enjoyed
everything from you know,writing and starting to think
about ways in which not in thenonfiction space to sort of
think about ways in which wework within the sector.
(21:38):
I've certainly piano for a longtime was my therapy, where I
would come home and just sort ofsit and play, and I have a
beautiful grand piano downstairsin my living room and I haven't
had a chance to really immersemyself back into that space, but
it's something I definitelywant to do this year.
And also you know a lot of my.
The way I got into thisbusiness, as I mentioned earlier
was was through singing and ithasn't been something that used
(21:58):
to be.
Even when I moved to New Yorkand the whole decade I spent
there, I was very active in theJuilliard Choral Union and
gigging around the city with asmall chamber group, and so I
miss that.
It was a great outlet to staydirectly connected to work, and
I would say that's probably theone thing that I'm missing in my
life right now, that I want tofigure out a way to sort of
circle back to.
Elizabeth Bowman (22:18):
Thanks so much for being in the scene room and
it's been great to chat withyou and you know I'll look
forward to seeing you at somepoint, hopefully in Banff.
Chris Lorway (22:27):
Yeah, down in New York City at some point.
Elizabeth Bowman (22:29):
Great.
Chris Lorway (22:30):
Thanks, Elizabeth.
Hi, I'm Elizabeth Bowman and welcome to
the Scene Room.
Today I have Chris Lorway here,the CEO of Banff Centre for
Arts and Creativity in Canada.
Chris has an extraordinarytrack record in the arts, with
leadership roles that span fromhis time as founding artistic
director of the LuminatoFestival in Toronto to his work
(00:20):
with Stanford Live and theprestigious Lincoln Center in
New York City.
Now he is CEO of Banff Centre,which is a place known for
nurturing artists, fosteringcreativity and leading
transformative arts experiences.
I'm so delighted that he's here, and whether you're an artist
(00:43):
or an arts leader, or simplycurious about the landscape of
the arts, this is a conversationfor you.
Chris, thanks for being here.
Chris Lorway (00:52):
Great to be here, good morning.
Elizabeth Bowman (00:53):
So glad that you accepted this interview
request.
I really was so excited.
I mean, obviously you've got ahuge job right now and you've
had many huge jobs, so I'mreally interested in your
perspective.
Chris Lorway (01:06):
Yeah, really great to be joining you today.
Elizabeth Bowman (01:07):
So why don't I just get right in there?
I just want to know a littlebit about your leadership style.
I haven't.
I've read a lot of articlesabout projects you've been
involved in, but not many giveaway that kind of secret.
How do you lead?
What's your philosophy?
Who are you?
Chris Lorway (01:25):
It's all about, I think, bringing a team together
who shares your vision and yourvalues and figuring out a way to
collectively move somethingforward.
And I think you know it wasinteresting when I was back at
Lincoln Center in the day and Ifirst met Janice Price, who was
one of my mentors and longtimecolleagues in the business.
You would see that she wouldoften bring back people from her
(01:47):
previous lives to come togetherto work with her on whatever
new role she was in.
And I guess, as I get on in mycareer at this point I
understand that sort of impulsewhere you, after you, spend all
that time creating a team, evenif you move, the ability to go
back to people who you know arein alignment with you and share
those values.
It makes your job a heck of alot easier.
(02:08):
And even here at the bouncecenter I'm now I'm working with
four or five people that I'veworked with in the past who
again have been able to jumpright in, get a sense of knowing
how my brain works, but alsohave that independence to be
able to take whatever their roleis and then run with it.
And I think, for for the mostpart I would say that's my main
characteristic of my leadershipis to really trust those people
(02:29):
around me and to build a team ofpeople again that are all
hopefully rowing in the samedirection and work collectively
to achieve whatever goal.
It is no interest inmicromanaging or getting into
the weeds on things, if anything.
You know I might be accused ofbeing a little bit outside the
details, but I think when you'rein a role of CEO your job is
not day-to-day.
It's really about looking fiveyears out and trying to figure
(02:51):
out how you're going to get towhere you're going and
empowering those around you todo what they need to do to help
you get there.
Elizabeth Bowman (02:56):
How did you get into the art specifically?
What's your background growingup?
Chris Lorway (03:01):
Interestingly, I grew up in Cape Breton Island in
Nova Scotia and I was born withI just recently found this out
but a thing called leg calfdisease, which happened a lot in
households where there wassecondhand smoke and it just
meant that blood didn't flowinto the hip bone and so, as a
result, I was born with aseverely distended hip and spent
the first five years of my lifein and out of cast trying to
(03:22):
fix it.
It never really set and in theend I ended up having surgeries
to my hip and knee in gradethree and grade five.
But as a result, I was the oddkid out who wasn't at the hockey
rink or are doing that type ofthing, just because I didn't
have the ability to do that, andinstead I found myself being
immersed in music, and that wasa mix of being a piano student
early on in my life but alsostudying voice and becoming a
(03:44):
boy soprano and a choir boy, andthat sort of took me through my
whole trajectory, sort ofstraddling the world of the arts
, which was eventually, you know, got into the Cape Breton Youth
Choir with an amazing womannamed Sister Rita Clare, and
then I ended up going to musicschool at Dalhousie University
sang with the Rotary Youth Choir, which is the Nova Scotia
provincial choir, got into thenational youth choir as a as a
(04:04):
quartet member and started tobuild that network.
And then I realized at a certainpoint that even though I was
doing a performance degree invoice at Western, eventually
after a couple years at Dal Irealized that I wanted I got
more, or just as much, if notmore, gratification from
actually being behind the scenesand supporting artists as I did
, trying to focus on being anartist myself.
And that's when I thetransition.
So I did a little bit of adetour back to Cape Breton and
(04:27):
helped to start the CelticColors International Festival,
which is a big Celtic festival,and then went to New York City
to do Columbia's Masters in ArtsAdministration, which set my
career off where I am now.
Elizabeth Bowman (04:37):
I also come from the choral background, so I
relate to that heavily To allthose young choristers out there
wondering what they might dowith their music education.
I mean there's a lot ofpossibility out there.
Chris Lorway (04:48):
One of my roommates in college at Western
is the conductor for the ACCCthis year doing the big National
Youth Choir project, and soit's fun to sort of see where
people end up.
I ran into another colleaguewhen I was in Auckland, new
Zealand, who was a formerchorister, was a former
chorister and even my friendlance, who I sang with at
juilliard, went on to be a musicdirector for broadway and got
me connected with amazing peoplelike alan cumming Kristin
(05:09):
Chenoweth and that whole side ofthe industry.
So so choir has done me welland connected me to many
wonderful people.
Singers in some ways are thisweird amalgam of the music brain
which you know tends to bemathematical and analytical, but
at the same time we're alsolike actors, in that we tend to
have a more extrovertedpersonality than a lot of other
musicians in the world.
I know there's alwaysexceptions, but I think blending
(05:30):
those two things of that, themathematical prowess plus a lot
of extroversion, kind of sets usup to be arts administrators, I
think.
Elizabeth Bowman (05:38):
And on that topic, what do you believe are
the most critical skills forarts leaders today?
I guess it follows from whatyou were just saying.
Chris Lorway (05:46):
Yeah, it's interesting.
I was just talking the other daywith Andrew Taylor, who runs
the Arts Administration Programat American University in
Washington, and he was sort ofsaying what advice do you have
for students who are comingthrough these programs now?
And I would say, definitely,given the world that we're in
and that we're heading into, thereliance on the old systems and
the old models I think issetting people up for failure in
a lot of ways and there needsto be a whole new way of
(06:09):
thinking.
And one of the things that I'vebeen lucky enough to do over
the course of my career isreally have an opportunity to be
entrepreneurial within my role,whether it was at Luminato or
when I was at Roy Thompson,massey Halls, certainly at
Stanford and now Banff.
There's a whole for-profit,commercial part of my job which
has me thinking very, verydifferently, but where the art
lies is how you figure out howto bridge those two worlds and,
(06:32):
being committed to the missionof the organization, how you use
those for-profit ventures andthat revenue to actually enable
you to dream big and do thingsthat really support the mission
and the underlying goals of theorganization.
Elizabeth Bowman (06:43):
How do you approach balancing artistic
vision with financial stability,especially in the digital age?
Chris Lorway (06:49):
There's often that question about how far as
performing arts or the arts ingeneral do we have to immerse
ourselves and shift and changeand adapt to digital, and I have
mixed feelings about that, inthe way that as we become
digital nomads and certainlylive our life in front of a
screen in some ways, thequestion becomes do we become
part of that community andimmerse ourselves wholly in it,
(07:12):
or do we actually createexperiences that differentiate
ourself from that experience andgive people an outlet to in
some ways take a step back andrelease themselves from the
screen?
And I think that's what the artshave always done and you see
that I think even with youngerpeople who are trying to figure
out ways to have experientialtheater and things where poor
people are having, theseimmersive experiences tend to be
(07:32):
that response, in a lot of ways, to the immersion in digital
for a big part of our lives.
So I think, while we have tosort of think about ways we can
embrace the technology andcertainly think about ways to
utilize it to make work moreinteresting and to give artists
another set of tools to be ableto experiment, it ultimately
comes down to that original twoplanks and a passion about
(07:52):
getting people on a stage orinto a gallery and really
experiencing things firsthand,and that, for me, is the
transformational aspect of whatwe do, and I don't know whether
doubling down on just trying torecreate that in digital space
is the answer.
Elizabeth Bowman (08:06):
I agree.
I feel like the digitalcomponent to it.
It sort of complements it insome ways through marketing
efforts and getting people tosee from the outside the
mainstream.
I think that digitaladvertising like I was saying in
the last episode aboutaugmented reality, the actual
(08:27):
idea of the production is nothow I would want to necessarily
experience art or a production,but educating those who might
not otherwise come across it.
That is a tool to do that with.
But I totally agree thatultimately when you're going
into a performing artsexperience, it's a much more
(08:49):
saturated experience If youdon't have that barrier.
It is like a barrier sort oflike using a music stand, the
comparison of using a musicstand versus not using a music
stand.
Somehow that creates thatbarrier between you and the
audience.
Even though you're stillstanding there looking at them
and singing to them.
There's nothing physicalbetween you that cuts off that
(09:11):
communication somehow.
And it's so interesting and I'msure that that digital
interface would do the same.
So I guess it's a matter ofusing those tools intelligently
and complementary in order togrow that experience ultimately.
Chris Lorway (09:29):
Yeah, and I think you know what also is sort of
fascinating, from just anobservational standpoint, is
most of digital culture isconsumed in such bite-sized
amounts, and I'm very much thatguy who, at the end of the day,
will sit down and scroll throughYouTube and just watch a bunch
of you know five to seven minuteclips of various things or less
.
But then you know the responseto that is the sort of immersive
festivals or productions wherepeople will go and spend 10
(09:51):
hours.
So it seems like in some ways,we capture people's attention in
a more meaningful way than thedigital world can do.
When you're actually togetherwith friends, experiencing
something collectively with anaudience, it's just, it's a very
different experience and onethat I don't think we
necessarily value enough.
But I certainly see, even withthis new generation coming off
social media, coming offFacebook, coming off Instagram
(10:13):
and trying to focus on beingpresent in the now, that we
could see an amazing shift overthe next decade as to how people
actually want to come togetherin community and what role the
arts can play in actuallyfacilitating that.
Elizabeth Bowman (10:25):
That with the tariffs that are now coming into
play?
Uh, with the united states.
Uh, and canada.
Uh, well, the united statesputting on tariffs on canada.
Um, what do you?
How does that impact yourprogramming?
Is that going to impact yourprogramming?
And all these visa delays thathave happened with the current
(10:47):
administration in the UnitedStates, with cross-country
collaboration?
Chris Lorway (10:51):
Yeah, I mean we're still very much in a moment
where we don't really know whatthis looks like and what's going
to happen.
When I was in the US and tryingto bring international artists
in, I think I would be moreconcerned if I was on that side
of the border, given thecomplexities of securing that
type of visa and I think this ingeneral.
We're seeing this move towardsnationalism, I would say, around
(11:12):
the world, and as we sort oftighten our borders and really
look at who's coming in and out,it obviously makes it more
difficult for artists, who oftenneed to be able to transverse
the world in order to make aliving.
So it's a very interesting timeand the US has always been a
major market For Canada.
Right now, you know, we'reslightly different in that our
(11:34):
role at the advanced center isfirst and foremost that of a
post-secondary, and so we're atraining institution.
So at this point, even my othercolleagues at U of A, u of C, u
of T, the bigger universities,are dealing with like
international student caps.
But because our programs aredifferent and shorter in nature,
the same types of restrictionsdon't apply to us.
(11:54):
So for now, unless Canada has aresponse that tightens up our
borders in an equal way towhat's happening in the US.
I'm not currently concernedabout it and we will still be
able to do our thing.
The bigger issue is that withthe increasing exchange rate, I
know I sent some money acrossthe border the other day and it
was $1.48 to send a dollaracross, and it just means that
(12:15):
US artists start to be pricedout if they're coming through or
touring because of the almost50% increase in fees based on
that exchange rate.
So those are the things that Ithink are a bit more limiting,
but again, we're in such avolatile moment right now where
so much change is happening,that none of us really know
where things are going and whatthings will look like in a
year's time.
Elizabeth Bowman (12:33):
It's a very concerning time for Canadian
artists, I think, obviously thevisa wait times are so epic to
work in the United States andhopefully we'll see Canadian
presenters take moreresponsibility, I guess, for our
Canadian talent.
You know, hire them Becauseobviously not all Canadian
(12:55):
presenters have a mandate tohire Canadians above a certain
percentage.
But it's looking really direfor Canadian artists Canadian
artists, as far as I can seefrom my nightly scrolling on
YouTube and various social mediaplatforms, where you know I'm
accumulating a very wide varietyof information.
(13:17):
But yeah, I'm hearing theconcern there from artists.
Chris Lorway (13:22):
Yeah, I think the other piece of it is that
whenever you are given a set ofparameters that in some ways
impose constraints on how younormally do business, I see that
as a bit of an opportunity totake a moment to rethink about
how you can change or modify tofit into that new operating
context, and I'll give COVID asan example.
(13:43):
When that happened in California, we like everybody, everybody
else shut the doors in mid-marchand very quickly what I called
did a period of unproducing,where we had to look at all the
things that we had lined up forthe next four to six months and
figure out how to be, first andforemost, empathetic to artists
who were being impacted by thatimmediate turn off of the spigot
and and figure out ways at thesame time to keep your audience
(14:06):
engaged with your institution.
And so what I found during thatperiod, where we were a hub that
really focused the majority ofour energy about bringing people
into our community, covidreally made us turn inwards and
focus on the artists that wereliving in our community and how
to support them and therelationships that we developed
through.
We became a bit of adistribution hub for creating
digital content as a one-stopshop.
(14:28):
So we put together a team andinvited people like Chanticleer
and Zakir Hussain and KronosQuartet and Daniel opened the
New Century Chamber Orchestraand Tuck and Patty like all
these artists came in and wemade digital content with them
and as a result, you know,turning inward and really
focusing on community allowed usto strengthen those
relationships and showed us howmuch amazing things were
(14:48):
happening in our own backyard.
So I think, as Canadians, as weface what could be a tough
period in terms of having thatpermeability across the border,
it does offer us thatopportunity to look inwards and
say how can we actually use thisas an opportunity to really
invest in Canadian artists andto create maybe a next boom for
the arts in Canada as a resultof that constraint?
Elizabeth Bowman (15:10):
Yeah, it's a positive outlook, which is great
.
I mean that's what we need.
I guess major change alwaysresults in some sort of
transformation and, like yousaid, we saw that from COVID.
A lot of people have thatnarrative where they were doing
one job before COVID and thenafter COVID, suddenly they were
(15:31):
either in a new line of work orsuddenly pursuing their dreams
that they had zero time forbefore.
But yeah, so those were thepositives that definitely came
from that.
Banff is the best place on theearth.
I mean I love Banff.
There's no secret there.
(15:52):
On my social media Every time Igo to Banff it's just pictures
and hiking and all the things.
What was your most excitingthing when you were considering
this position and moving there?
Chris Lorway (16:04):
For me I had been, I'd done more work in my
current states than in Canada 10years in New York City and then
seven in California, with a 10years in Toronto in between.
But when I looked back to sayyou know what would draw me back
to Canada as an artsadministrator, the job that was
at the top of my list was thisrole at the Banff Centre, and I
think it's because I've workedin a multidisciplinary
(16:25):
environment for most of mycareer and so going into a
single institution a symphony ora ballet or an opera was not as
exciting to me, even though atthis point in my career that
would have been a natural stepto go into a bigger institution.
But I still wanted to be able towork across both the visual and
the performing arts and mediaand everything else, and the
Banff Centre really offered that.
(16:46):
The other piece for me was wehave a leadership mandate and
the work in particular that wedo with Indigenous leaders and
artists.
I again, have had a lot ofexperience over the years of
working in that space withcommunity and really enjoyed the
role that I personally and theinstitutions I work with can
play in the reconciliationprocess and so being able to
combine all those differentelements and then having it
(17:07):
dropped into incrediblefacilities and, arguably, one of
the most beautiful places inthe world.
It's a bit of a no brainer atthat point.
Elizabeth Bowman (17:14):
Definitely, and I mean I just love the cross
disciplinariness of Banff, allthe people that you see in the
cafeteria and interact with thecafeteria and interact with.
When I was there, I sat down ata table with a bunch of print
makers who were trying to figureout how to ship their creative
products that they had made overtheir time.
(17:36):
They were trying to figure outhow to ship them home and some
of them they were giving awayand I was like, oh my goodness,
like these artists are justgiving away their some of their
stuff.
And, yeah, I had some amazinginteractions there.
I just think it's, if you everneed a reset creatively, I mean
it's the perfect place to go.
Chris Lorway (17:55):
Yeah, it's kind of like we jokingly call it like
arts camp a little bit.
We just had a really greatmonth actually, with the way
that I sort of dream in my mindBanff would look and feel.
We had the Banff Musicians inResonance in for three weeks and
in the first two weeks we hadthe Kronos Quartet in as faculty
and mentors, working with awhole range of musicians from
around the world.
Then we had Shad in working forthe last week and we had a
(18:16):
couple of younger hip-hopmusicians that he was mentoring
and at the same time we had apoetry program on initial mixing
of the poets and the musicians,some pretty interesting artists
and residents.
We had Taylor Mack was herealong with Timothy White, Eagle
and Tigger, two of hiscollaborators, and they were in
one of our latent studios.
And then we had the launch ofour new cultural leadership
(18:39):
program.
We did a pilot, so we had abunch of arts administrators on
campus.
And then we had this really sortof fun and unusual thing at the
Banff Center, which is arelationship with an
organisation called BIRS, whichis the Banff International
Research Station, and every weekwe have 40 mathematicians from
around the world come to theBanff Centre campus to solve a
problem.
So it's like this alchemy whenyou throw all these ingredients
(18:59):
into a pot, what will happen?
And we had a really fun nightwhere Timothy White Eagle led a
programme it was very improvised, sorry where he put flyers up
around campus to come andparticipate in what he called
the Chaos Orchestra, which wasessentially three hours of
unmitigated adult play wherepeople just were able to be
silly and roll around on thefloor and make sounds, and it
(19:19):
was a mix of all these worlds.
Oh, and we also had theMahabharata, the why Not?
Theatre production hererehearsing before they were off
to mount the project to thePerth Festival in Australia.
So again we had members of thatcompany, the mathematicians,
some of the musicians inresidence, some of the poets,
all in this room kind of playingtogether as adults.
It was a very fascinating wayto sort of look at what is
(19:40):
possible here at the BoundCentre and how bringing people
from all these differentcommunities and lives really
enriches the entire community.
Elizabeth Bowman (19:47):
It's important to gain different perspectives,
no matter what industry you'rein, so that it is the perfect
place to check in with othersand have those conversations
about what you do and what theydo and the industry and all the
things.
So, yeah, it's.
I mean, it's just a fantasticplace.
Are you now hiking all the timeI am?
Yeah, I just went out for Areyou now hiking all the time?
Chris Lorway (20:08):
I am, yeah, I just went out for a big walk on
Saturday as the snow was falling, which was pretty magical.
I'm also a downhill skierLiving in the Bay Area.
It used to be, depending on thetraffic, a three to five hour
drive up to Lake Tahoe, so it'smuch nicer when you're only 20
or 40 minutes away from somepretty incredible skiing.
We're hoping to get a bit moresnow.
We're in a bit of a cold snapright now, but we had about 10
centimeters over the weekend andit's always nice when you have
(20:30):
the bluebird sky days with freshpowder and can get out on the
hill.
Elizabeth Bowman (20:34):
So that's the other thing I mean.
Hiking is the perfect way toconnect with people who also you
may not know very well, andthen by the end of that three
hour hike everyone's.
You know, fast friends yeahwhen I was last there I did ha
ling, yeah in canmore, and thenI mean I always do sulfur
because that's fantastic and getcoffee on top.
Chris Lorway (20:55):
So I still haven't done sulfur yet.
I've been used to give me ahard time because I haven't done
the gondola yet either, butit's definitely on the list you
haven't been up sulfur, like atall, like not even the gondola
oh yeah, I go up the hot springsall the time, but never made
the trip up the gondola yet.
Elizabeth Bowman (21:10):
What's one unexpected thing that most
people don't know about you?
Chris Lorway (21:15):
I guess you know it's something that I think we
all do.
We sort of ask ourselves whenwe get into groups like this and
are trying to figure out eachother's histories what is your
art and how do you sort of findthat expression?
And that's evolved for me overthe years, but I've enjoyed
everything from you know,writing and starting to think
about ways in which not in thenonfiction space to sort of
think about ways in which wework within the sector.
(21:38):
I've certainly piano for a longtime was my therapy, where I
would come home and just sort ofsit and play, and I have a
beautiful grand piano downstairsin my living room and I haven't
had a chance to really immersemyself back into that space, but
it's something I definitelywant to do this year.
And also you know a lot of my.
The way I got into thisbusiness, as I mentioned earlier
was was through singing and ithasn't been something that used
(21:58):
to be.
Even when I moved to New Yorkand the whole decade I spent
there, I was very active in theJuilliard Choral Union and
gigging around the city with asmall chamber group, and so I
miss that.
It was a great outlet to staydirectly connected to work, and
I would say that's probably theone thing that I'm missing in my
life right now, that I want tofigure out a way to sort of
circle back to.
Elizabeth Bowman (22:18):
Thanks so much for being in the scene room and
it's been great to chat withyou and you know I'll look
forward to seeing you at somepoint, hopefully in Banff.
Chris Lorway (22:27):
Yeah, down in New York City at some point.
Elizabeth Bowman (22:29):
Great.
Chris Lorway (22:30):
Thanks, Elizabeth.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.