Festival puts spotlight on art
Rankin selected to host prestigious arts festival
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
RANKIN INLET
There's excitement within the Kivalliq arts community with the announcement that Rankin Inlet will host the annual Nunavut Arts Festival this coming August.
Sherlyn Kadjuk of Arviat, shown learning to weave trim, is very excited about the uses for qiviut after a qiviut workshop was held in her community. - NNSL file photo |
Government of Nunavut advisor for arts and traditional economy, Theresie Tungilik, said the festival used to move around from community to community when it first began in 1998.
She said then, for several years, it was held only in Iqaluit before heading out to the other communities again, beginning in 2014 at Cambridge Bay.
"I'm so totally excited about the festival coming to Rankin this summer, that it's always on my mind now," said Tungilik.
"This will be a great benefit to Rankin Inlet because we're already Nunavut's transportation hub, so nobody will have any problem coming here who wants to attend.
"It will increase hotel and restaurant business in the Rankin area, as well as business for the airlines.
"Rankin Inlet has always been a great host to big events and this will be no different when our community welcomes artists from across Nunavut to the festival."
Tungilik said the festival was always held in late June or early July when it was being hosted by Iqaluit.
She said that's when Inuit, traditionally, want to live out on the land because school is out.
"Being held from Aug. 20-26 means people are back producing again because their kids are back in school.
"The fish have also already gone upstream, so people are back in their communities.
"It's a great time for them to produce their work and that's why I think the timing for the festival here in Rankin is really good.
"This timing will help attract more artists from the Kivalliq, as well as those from the Kitikmeot and Baffin regions."
The festival will hold a number of workshops, in addition to displaying various crafts and staging a dazzling fashion show.
Tungilik said the number of artists to appear will depend mainly on how much funding the Nunavut Arts and Craft Association (NACA) receives.
She said NACA will provide artists with airline tickets, per diems and things of that nature.
"We will definitely see a variety of arts in different mediums.
"We are still very much in the planning stages, so we'll know more of what, exactly, we'll be featuring as the festival draws closer.
"They had a qiviut workshop in Arviat recently and it was very popular.
"We expect the one we're hosting to be quite popular as well, because muskox produces the best and warmest wool and it's almost endless what can be done with qiviut."
