The City of St. Albert’s cultural services department is losing one the town’s biggest arts boosters.
Casey Prescott, the professional programming presenter for the Arden Theatre and Northern Alberta International Children’s Festival, was wooed back to the Banff Centre with an offer he couldn’t refuse.
Prescott returns to Banff in a newly created position as theatre arts associate director where he will curate year-round presentations for five performance venues, including the newly constructed Shaw Amphitheatre.
In his role, Prescott will also lead a new division that produces and manages all in-house productions and commissions in opera, theatre, dance and musical theatre. This position was created as part of the Banff Centre’s $100 million revitalization project.
“There’s nothing like it in the country. It’s a fantastic opportunity I couldn’t turn down,” Prescott said. “It was very unexpected, but it was the kind of classic phone call in the middle of the night that changes your life.”
There’s an excited energy in his voice for future prospects and his passion for arts comes pouring out.
“There’s so much happening around the world and I’m excited about bringing it to Banff. We are going to go beyond the workshop experience. We will bring a work in and take it to full production.”
Artists of every discipline are living in a constantly evolving world. One just has to look at the last decade’s rapid technological advances in digital media and scenic projection.
“There are some shows built interacting with social media in real time. We’re always looking to the future and what’s next, and the Banff Centre has always been at the crossroads of new ideas.”
As much as he is excited about the new position, Prescott feels dissatisfied with his achievements for cultural services in St. Albert.
“I had a five-year plan to come and shake up audiences. It feels very unsatisfying to make the decisions I was committed to making. I have a shock in my system – sort of an empty feeling. I feel there’s still more to be done. One of my regrets is that if this new job came in five years, I would have felt I accomplished more.”
Prescott reported directly to Nancy Abrahamson, festival director for International Children’s Festival, who said he did manage to “diversify and change our audiences because of the different programs he brought in. He was thinking outside the box and it worked. We wanted to challenge our audiences creatively and he did just that.”
After arriving at the Arden following Brenda Heatherington’s departure, Prescott opted to steer a course with some risks.
“I tried to strike a balance that brought out different people, which you need for the long term health and sustainability of the theatre. That was one of my biggest goals – reaching out and starting a conversation,” he added.
Some of his fondest memories are from performance poet Shane Koyczan, singer Patricia Callaghan, Ghost River Theatre’s production of The Highest Step in the World, and L’Orchestre D’Hommes-Orchestres’ rendition of Tom Waits’ music.
Although Prescott will no longer navigate the Arden ship, there are advantages for cultural services in having built a strong relationship with him.
As Abrahamson said, “Having him so close, it’s easy to pick up the phone and call. There may be opportunities in the future to co-present. It’s less expensive to share travel costs. Or it might mean we might do something we might not otherwise. We’ve got the best of both worlds.”
Prescott’s officially ends his tenure on April 27. However, he will be on part-time contract with the children’s festival until it finishes in June.
