Iqaluit (May 29/06) - Sometimes, a press conference is better than firing a gun in the air.

Either way, the plans for the second-annual Alianait! arts festival are off and heading around the bend.

Throat singers Sylvia Cloutier and Celina Kalluk perform during a news conference for the launch of the Alianait arts festival in Iqaluit last Wednesday. The festival will run for 10 days from June 21 to July 1. - Chris Windeyer/NNSL photo

This year's "multi-cultural, multi-discipline" festival was officially announced during a press conference at L'Association des francophones du Nunavut building in Iqaluit last Wednesday.

"It's about local artists and performers sharing with artists from outside Nunavut," said festival spokesperson Kevin Kablutsiak.

The festival will run from June 21 to July 1, as the festival becomes a larger event after its successful first year.

Festival organizer Heather Daley said the $250,000 event will feature many more activities this year. These include hip hop shows, artist workshops and storytelling events, all bookended by two large outdoor concerts in Iqaluit Square on June 21 and Canada Day, July 1.

"The biggest challenge is money, because it costs so much to get here," said Daley, who also represented the Iqaluit Music Society.

She said the Alianait! Arts Festival Coalition was still looking for an airline sponsor to help bring in artists from outside of Nunavut.

Speaking after the conference, organizer Nadia Ciccone said she hopes the event becomes Iqaluit's marquee festival each year, bringing participants and visitors from around Canada.

"Every capital has an arts festival of some sort," she said. "So here it is."

The coalition was created to organize and boost the festival, which was started "at the last minute" by the Francophone association last year, she said. This includes the participation of the Iqaluit Music Society, the Ajjiit Nunavut Media Association, L'Association des francophones du Nunavut, the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association and the Qaggiq Theatre Company, among others.

Ciccone said one act she was particularly excited to see is the Nunavut Floor Masters, the local hip-hop collective that has become "the hottest act in Iqaluit."

At the conference, Daley said she would like to see an arts centre created in Iqaluit, and hoped the festival could play a part in making that happen.

"We need an arts centre," she said. "I'm hoping this (festival) will scream that out to the people of Iqaluit."

- with files from Chris Windeyer