Yellowknife (Jan 05/05) - For Paul Davie, manager of Nor-Art gallery in Centre Square Mall, one of the highlights of 2004 was the highly visible spread of art in outdoor spaces.

Diane Boudreau's urban art project grew along the southern wall of the Yk Inn, the Aurora Arts Society unveiled new murals downtown, and Elyse Parchoma and Carla Gilday beautified the stage in Somba K'e park.

For 2005, Davie hopes that a Yellowknife arts festival in the late spring or early summer gets off the ground.

"It's still in the very early stages," said Davie. "But there's definitely room for more promotion of NWT art."

Travis Armour, whose band Anodyne released its first CD in 2004, said the highlight of the year for him was a special moment at the South Slave Friendship Festival in Fort Smith.

"I was watching Mandeville Drive play and people were into it and the whole energy just shot up," he said.

Armour was proud that all three Yellowknife bands who made the trip down - Mandeville Drive, Anodyne and Northern Skies - made a splash in Fort Smith, proving the Yellowknife music scene is a force to be reckoned with.

Armour's New Year's wish is for the city's more popular nightspots to start opening their doors to local bands.

"There are alternatives to canned dance music," said Armour.

"People need a chance to see there are some really good live bands to dance to."