John Avery

John Avery started his professional production career over 30 years ago in the entertainment industry as an audio and lighting technician. In 1977, he graduated from the Electronics Engineering Technology program at Holland College, and then attended the three-year intensive Theatre Craft and Design program at The Banff Centre, headed by Laszlo Funtek. After graduating from The Banff Centre, John was appointed Head of Lighting at Theatre Calgary, a post he held from 1980 to 1987. In 1988, he was appointed Technical Director for Alberta Theatre Projects and worked on the 1988 Calgary Olympics Arts Festival and other projects. In 1989, John was invited to join The Banff Centre, Theatre Arts production team as the Technical Director. Since 1994, John Avery has served as the Director of Production in Theatre Arts, responsible for the management and co-ordination of the technical production department as well as the production training and management programs.  While at The Banff Centre, John worked with industry professionals to develop and establish the competency profiles for all the theatre production occupations, building it to become a recognized model of best practice for industry and education.

Aside from his duties at The Banff Centre, John is in demand as a technical consultant and workshop leader for production training and management. John serves on the Cultural Human Resources Council (CHRC) Theatre Technicians Steering Committee, Canmore’s Lamphouse Theatre Design Build Committee, the Opera America Production Technical Committee, the Opera America Education Committee, and Red Deer College Theatre Program Advisory Committee, as well as the Canadian Standards Association’s Luminare Standards Committee.

John received a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2008.