...with Chris Lorway

BY QUINN CURTIS AND LINDA GARSON,

PHOTO BY RITA TAYLOR

Chris Lorway grew up in Nova Scotia, attending school in Sydney, transferring to Dalhousie University to study music, and then transferring again to Western University to study music education. “I went back to Cape Breton for a bit and worked on the Celtic Colours Festival, getting that off the ground. And then went to graduate school at Columbia University in New York City,” says Lorway.

With his extensive music education under his belt, Lorway quickly integrated himself into the arts, culture, and entertainment sector. This is where he worked on everything from the strategic planning for the Edinburgh Festivals to the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong, and the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site after 9/11 to strategy for New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. “So lots of really interesting projects that got me under the hood of so many different arts organizations and so many important projects as well,” says Lorway.

After spending seven years as the first Executive Artistic Director of Stanford Live, Lorway got the call to head down to the Banff Centre, where he is now president and CEO. “The big thing since I've arrived here is understanding the history and using that as a tool to think about the future. I don't want to get trapped in nostalgia, but I also want to be grounded in all the amazing things that have happened here,” says Lorway.

“The big thing that I did right away as there was a whole history of summer arts festivals here, a time when all the differentt programs that we do were collectively curated and thought through so that from June until Labour Day weekend, amazing things were happening at the Centre,” he says. “I wanted to essentially bring that back. We've launched that this year, and we're seeing a great response.”

But one thing that Lorway is proudest of is his team at the Banff Centre. “We have a great team that is a mixture of people who've been here forever along with some really great new thinkers. And I think as we head towards our hundredth anniversary in 2033, we have so many exciting opportunities to really take the Centre forward. So that's what I'm focused on,” he says.

So what bottle has Lorway been saving for a special occasion?

Well, living in California meant that he had direct access to Napa and Sonoma, and many other great wine regions. This means that he spent a lot of weekends going out and indulging in great wine. “After a while, you decide what your favourite places are. And in some cases, you also get a bit of a palate upgrade as well, where your tastes become more and more expensive. And what I found was that the wines that I was often drawn to were ones where I had to wait for some time to get on a list to be able to even access the wines,” says Lorway.

He discovered his special occasion wine at a wine class at Stanford during the pandemic, which was hosted by Karen MacNeil, author of The Wine Bible. “I was asking if there were any producers in California who did a really nice job of the buttery, oaky Chardonnays that you get in California. And she said, well, actually Andy Erickson, who was one of the top winemakers in Napa, had bought a farm and he and his wife had a few vineyards right on the property. And one of those was a brand called Carbone, which was a very French-style Chardonnay,” he says. So, being the bold person he is, he sent an email directly to their website, asking if he could try a bottle. “It wasn't a winery that was open to the public; it was a sort of private space. But Andy and Annie invited me up to see their cellar and sit in their back garden to try a few things, and it was wonderful,” he says. “I think as I head into year two at the Banff Centre it'll probably be the perfect time to drink it. And, the perfect time to celebrate having survived two years in Banff.”