YELLOWKNIFE - Robert Sirman, director of Canada Council for the Arts, visited Yellowknife last week as part of a tour of select provinces and territories.

He spent four days meeting with artists and art funders in Northwest Territories before moving on to the Yukon.

Robert Sirman, director of the Canada Council for the Arts, was in the Northwest Territories to meet with artists and art funders last week as part of a tour he is on. Here, he stands in front of a painting of the Northern Lights in the lobby of the Explorer Hotel in Yellowknife. - Laura Power/NNSL photo

Sirman said the trip has two purposes: one is to gather information that may be useful as the council prepares its next strategic plan, and the second is more personal.

"I made a commitment to myself that I would go to each of the provinces and territories in my first year," he said.

"Nothing beats being there in person," he said.

On Sunday June 3, an open reception was held at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife for artists and art funders (such as the arts council), at which he met and mingled with prominent members of the Northern arts community such as members of the Ashoona family.

In the following days, organizations such as the NWT Literacy Council and the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre met with him to give him a broader understanding of the art landscape of Northwest Territories.

"It's really clear that there are many challenges working here," he said, speaking of the lack of specialized space, the lack of an elaborate university system and the small population, which he said makes for a smaller audience for artists.

One of the memorable moments Sirman experienced during his trip was a visit with the Ashoona family, an Inuit family of artists. He said he watched as Sorosilutu Ashoona drew a picture of two people playing with antlers, and that it was jaw-dropping.

"To see someone do this, it was totally disarming," he said.

Sirman said that without a doubt, the work by the various cultures in the North "have had an enormous, powerful impact in branding Canada to the world in the past 50 years."

He said after travelling North, "you can't ever pretend that you haven't seen and experienced the country differently."

So far in his travels across Canada, Sirman has been taking in a lot of information from a lot of different sources to help with the strategic plan, which will cover 2008-2011 and which will be revealed in October. Realizing that not everyone who is interested in participating can meet with him in person during this tour, Sirman said an option to submit suggestions or comments for the strategic plan is now on the council's website.

There are also what he calls "youth dialogues" happening around the country, which are meetings held with young artists between the ages of 18 and 30 who are starting their careers.

On Thursday, one of these dialogues took place in Whitehorse, to which three Northwest Territories residents (Michael Blyth, of Fort Smith, Erin Suliak, of Yellowknife and Azure DeGrow, of Yellowknife) were invited.