Yellowknife (Mar 29/04) - The Great Northern Arts Festival needs a new leader. Darrin White, executive director of the GNAF since 2001, will be leaving Inuvik in April for Prince Edward Island.

Great Northern Arts Festival former executive director Darrin White at last year's festival. White leaves Inuvik in April to become the new executive director for the PEI Council of the Arts. - NNSL file photo

White has been hired by the PEI Council of the Arts to be their executive director.

White begins his posting in PEI on April 15. The Great Northern Arts Society has yet to hire another executive director, though a recruitment notice for the position has been posted on jobsnorth.ca.

In the meantime, artistic director Lynn Feasey will be working for two.

"I have every confidence in Lynn Feasey," said White.

"It's a bit of a difficult task, but I have unshakeable confidence in her abilities."

White said his years with the Great Northern Arts festival have helped him become a stronger advocate for artists.

"Artists face common issues wherever they are," said White.

"Artists struggle to find a place to work, and to feed their families and put a roof over their heads."

Proud of input

White said he's most proud of his input into the NWT Arts Council strategy on behalf of artists, and his involvement with a Tourism Canada subcommittee that resulted in the inclusion of the Great Northern Arts Festival in national publications for tourists.

"It's important to show people that up here in Inuvik there's something really special going on," he said.

"The society board and employees have worked nightmarishly hard on this event."

White is a sculptor and a graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. He and his wife Gail Hodder moved to Nunavut in 1997 to teach jewelry and metalwork at Nunavut Arctic College. They came to Inuvik in the fall of 2000 to teach a similar course at Aurora College.

White replaced Tanya Van Valkenburg as executive director of the Great Northern Arts festival in 2001.

Since the birth of their son, White and Hodder have been looking for an opportunity to move back east, to be closer to their families.

Despite its distance from the NWT, White said artists in PEI share many of the challenges faced by artists here.

"If you really look at the unaddressed needs in the North, most pertain to distance and remoteness. A lot of it is true for PEI. It's small and mostly rural. People in rural areas share a lot of the same concerns."

White said he wished to thank the artists and all the people who work in arts and culture in the NWT. He hopes to work with the NWT Arts Council on national issues, like federal funding for the arts.

"The North will always stay close to our hearts," said White.