A longtime member of Winnipeg’s music community has been tapped to be the next musical leadership at one of Canada’s most prestigious arts institutions.
Musician, arts administrator and producer Michael Falk officially began his tenure as Director of Music at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity at the beginning of June. Prior to his arrival, Falk was the Senior Director of Artistic Operations for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and has also previously served as the artistic director with Jazz Winnipeg and the West End Cultural Centre. In addition, Falk has played in several local bands including Touching and Les Jupes.
In spite of a full musical life in Winnipeg, Falk admits he’s had his eye on the Banff Centre for many years since touring through the Rocky Mountains some two decades. “It’s been like, ‘Oh, if something ever works out, that’s a place I’d like to be,’ you know?” he says. “I love being in a place where all the other art forms are happening as well. It’s really, really important to me, and I love that I can go talk to some painters and ceramic artists... I can talk with the literary writers and work on this program we have on right now with the opera.”
“It’s a place where risks are encouraged. I’m a guy that likes to take some artistic risks,” he smiles.
The spirit of artistic risk has been a key part of the Banff Centre’s mission since being established over nine decades ago. Falk notes that even in his short tenure, artists and administrators alike have supported that ethos and have been keen to try new things to support creativity. “It’s like, come to us with an idea,” Falk explains, “and we’ll see if we can make it happen.”
Falk credits the energy and drive to pursue that creativity to his time in Winnipeg, highlighting the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for continuing to inspire his own innovative approach. “The unfiltered, unquestioned desire to be excellent is something that I have so much respect for at the orchestra that they’re constantly chasing that extra 2%,” he says. “Maybe the other thing that I bring from Manitoba is a love for hard work. I think that there’s a willingness to just do whatever you’ve got to do to get the job done and figure it out and work hard.
As he begins his tenure, Falk already has an eye on some new additions to the Banff Centre’s musical programming. “One thing we’re looking at adding for next year is an interdisciplinary music-led program,” he says, noting that this was an idea that had been in talks by his predecessor in the role, fellow Manitoban Megumi Masaki. “The goal is to bring people together that maybe wouldn’t otherwise always work together, and that if we can assemble the right Petri dish, so to speak, that you can make some magic.”