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Cruising with culture

Nattinak Centre busy as always

Neils Christensen
Northern News Services

Pond Inlet (Sep 22/03) - Promoting the Inuit culture is one of the main activities of the Nattinnak Centre in Pond Inlet and there is nothing Karen Nutarak would rather do. "I love my job," she said.

"I love dealing with the tourists who come to Pond Inlet."

Nutarak is the manager of the centre and her job is to promote the community to the cruise ships that stop in the community.

One of the ways she does that is through the centre's cultural performances and community tours.

About 15 people are involved in the performances, which include demonstrations of throat singing, drum dancing, traditional singing and Inuit games.

The summer was busy for Nutarak who had to organize the cultural tours and performances.

"It's a lot of work to organize these visits," she said.

Even though it's a lot of work, Nutarak said it's all worth it when she see the reactions of the tourists.

"Some of the cruise ship passengers are amazed at the performances," she said.

"They all have a good time when they come to our community."

She said it's exciting when they can promote their culture and the community to people from around the world. The elders from the community are also pleased with the performances because it's a way for them to keep the culture alive. "Some of the Inuit communities are losing their culture," she said.

Nutarak said more people in the community are showing interest in her presentations, and want to be involved in the centre, especially the youth. "Every year we have more youth who come to the auditions in the spring," she said. "It's great to see the interest from the youth." The centre will organize a few more performances for the community before their season ends.