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Great Northern Arts Festival
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Great Northern Arts Festival
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Terry Halifax
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Great Northern Arts Festival
By Marie Horstead, photos courtesy Great Northern Arts Festival
The 29th annual Great Northern Arts Festival brings ten days of visual and performing arts to the town of Inuvik under the midnight sun. Situated 200 km north of the Arctic Circle, Inuvik sits at the end of the Dempster, a scenic adventure highway that takes you through beautiful territorial parks as well as rugged Arctic beauty. Inuvik is a vibrant arctic hub with rich cultural traditions. The Great Northern Arts Festival is the largest circumpolar arts festival in Canada, every year we welcome as many as 100 artists to participate in our programming, many of who hail from the Yukon, Nunavut and other circumpolar regions such as Greenland or Russia. GNAF is open to all Northern artists and we see a significant representation of Inuit, Inuvialuit, Dene, Gwich’in and Métis talent.
The Great Northern Arts Festival grew from a desire to showcase local art and artists to a larger audience and provide professional development opportunities for residents of our communities who often work in remote, insular environments. GNAF now boasts a 5,000 square foot art gallery that is open to the public stocked with powerful carvings, traditional apparel, prints, paintings, intricate beadwork and glimmering jewelry. Every year each artist receives a studio space so they can create their work and interface with the public. GNAF is also proud to present 60+ public workshops every year. Every workshop is facilitated by one of our artists in a traditional or modern medium for a project than can be completed in a day or a weekend.
The evenings are dominated by cultural programming in our community hall. Opening ceremonies mark the start of our event and feature keynote speakers and a preview of the gallery. Inuvialuit drumming and dancing is a must as well as Arctic hand game demonstrations. An Old Tyme Dance features energetic fiddle playing and square dancing. Local and visiting performers grace the stage throughout the ten days to entertain crowds with original music. Previous years have boasted Northern acts such as Tanya Tagaq, Susan Aglukark and 2017 Juno award winners Quantum Tangle. We close the final weekend with the much-anticipated Northern Fashion Show featuring traditional apparel as well as items with a modern twist.
In our 29 years the festival has seen thousands of visitors to our special town to experience the unique offerings of the Western Arctic. By visiting us, in addition to enjoying the cultural content of the festival, you are supporting the continued creation of northern art and the nurturing our northern artists! Drive the Dempster in 2017, or plan for 2018 when the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway is open and experience the Arctic Ocean. There’s plenty to see and do in this beautiful region.
Editors Note: What better way to Celebrate Canada 150 than an immersive experience in our First Nations (aboriginal) culture. For more information visit www.gnaf.org. Marie Horstead is Executive Director of the Great Northern Arts Festival.