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Festival set for summer

Jennifer Geens
Northern News Services

Inuvik (May 24/04) - The Great Northern Arts Society has its image for the 2004 festival. This year's festival runs from July 16 to 25. That's just eight weeks away.

"The other day I looked at the calendar and that's not a good thing to do on a Monday morning," said Lynn Feasey, the festival's acting executive director.

The 2004 theme is 170 degrees: A survey of circumpolar art from Greenland to Alaska. For the festival's promotional image, Feasey put out a call earlier this year for images of masks created by artists in the circumpolar region.

The society has selected five, one from each circumpolar region: masks made by Abraham Ruben of Paulatuk, Billy Merkosak of Pond Inlet, Jack Abraham of Anchorage, Alaska, Eugene Alfred of Pelly Crossing, Yukon and Gideon Qeqe of Ammassalik, Greenland.

Feasey has been arranging the festival on her own since the departure of executive director Darrin White. But she now has help in the festival's Inuvik office in the form of new festival co-ordinator Jeremy McLeod.

Volunteer recruitment night, held last Wednesday, went smoothly, though Feasey encourages anyone who wants to volunteer for the festival to sign up. Also, she needs billets for the artists who will be travelling from all over the North to take part in the festival.

"We're getting confirmations every day," said Feasey.

The online database of NWT artists the Great Northern Arts Society set up with the help of the Government of the NWT is up and running, but Feasey needs more artists to register.

The more artists who use the site, the more useful the site will be for artists. In addition to the database, there's a discussion forum where announcements about grants, festivals, and arts issues can be posted.

The Web site's address is www.nwtartists.ca.