Great Northern Arts Festival stays alive
'We're having the festival that we can afford to have,' says organizer of scaled-back festival
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Thursday, July 6, 2017
INUVIK
It's not bigger than ever but the Great Northern Arts Festival is surviving for a 29th anniversary. Organizers hope the smaller-scale show can still touch the hearts of viewers and artists alike.
In the photo above, a crowd gathers in Inuvik to gaze at the ceremonial whale bone sculpture, which was carried into the 2015 Great Northern Arts Festival as a symbol of its opening. At right, Hayden McHugh shows off his 2016 work-in-progress carving. - NNSL file photo
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"We're having the festival that we can afford to have," said Marie Horstead, executive director of the society that runs the festival.
Earlier this year, the festival's board floated the option of cancelling this year's show to save money and prepare for the 30th anniversary, as funding and sponsorship is down across the community.
Ultimately, organizers decided against that drastic option.
"I think that we just worry if we lapsed a year that we'd start losing it," said Horstead.
"We'd start losing participants, we'd start losing support and also technically legally as well, funding that had already been secured."
She could see the benefits of suspending for a year but thinks the right decision was made in the end.
"A bigger festival isn't necessarily a better festival," she said. "We're just being flexible with what we can do and there are nice little things that are emerging out of that."
One of those is a new caterer who is being brought on board for the show, offering up a business opportunity to a member of the community.
Another is that most of the artists who will be on display are locals.
Horstead said there are going to be about 40 artists at the show. In years past, the festival has seen more than 100.
"I'm hoping that we can feel out the festival this year and figure out how we're going to go forward, because it's looking like this is the new reality, and it doesn't mean that that's going to be bad," she said.
The Great Northern Arts Festival is all about bringing people together, celebrating Northern culture, being immersed in the many artistic styles of the people in this region and reflecting on this part of the country's beauty, said Horstead.
The show, which takes place at Jim Koe Park and in the Midnight Sun Complex, will hold its opening ceremonies 7 p.m. Friday, July 14.
Galleries, workshops and sales will run all day until the festival closes in the afternoon Sunday, July 23.
