Artsincubator.ca news

Home » @1860 Winnipeg Arts News » Highlights from our Results Sharing Workshop during Auviqsaqtut Inuit Studies Conference 2022

Highlights from our Results Sharing Workshop during Auviqsaqtut Inuit Studies Conference 2022

CBC News producer Pauline Pemik interviews emerging Tuktoyaktuk filmmaker Eriel Lugt in Qaumajuq during the Auviqsaqtut 2022 Inuit Studies Conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Youth, artists and culture connectors from Arviat, Victoria and Tuktoyaktuk and the Carving Out Climate Testimony; Happening to Us and Our People, Our Climate digital arts and cultural entrepreneurship and Inclusion in Northern Research projects gathered at Qaumajuq and the Winnipeg Art Gallery during the 2022 Auviqsaqtut Inuit Studies Conference. The community-driven initiatives will present next during ArcticNet's Annual Scientific Meetings in Toronto, Ontario Dec 5-8, 2022. — Youth, artists and culture connectors from Arviat, Victoria and Tuktoyaktuk and the Carving Out Climate Testimony; Happening to Us and Our People, Our Climate digital arts and cultural entrepreneurship and Inclusion in Northern Research projects gathered at Qaumajuq and the Winnipeg Art Gallery during the 2022 Auviqsaqtut Inuit Studies Conference. The community-driven initiatives will present next during ArcticNet’s Annual Scientific Meetings in Toronto, Ontario Dec 5-8, 2022.

Arviat, Winnipeg and Tuktoyaktuk were interviewed and appeared on CBC North and Igalaaq.

The Winnipeg and Nunavut artists also learned aabout the incredible work being done to establish a new cultural heritage centre in Tuktoyaktuk called Saliqmiut: Tuktuuyaqtuuq Centre for Arts and Culture.

Named after the people of Tuktoyaktuk, Saliqmiut: Tuktuuyaqtuuq Centre for Arts and Culture will be dedicated to the preservation of Saliqmiut and Inuvialuit culture and heritage through the perpetuation of traditional knowledge and historical documentation in cultural activities, visual and performing arts by engaging the local community with a special focus on youth and Elders from the Western Arctic region in creative development and educational exchanges between each other and visitors from around the world.

Emerging artists and culture connectors from Arviat, Winnipeg and Tuktoyaktuk explored Winnipeg together during a resiults sharing workshop this summer. The communities are collaborating on projects including the CINUK programme-supported Carving Out Climate Testimony projects.

Learning about VR at Kishaadigeh Collaborative Research Centre and Aabijijiwan New Media Lab at the University of Winnipeg. — Learning about VR at **Kishaadigeh Collaborative Research Centre** and **Aabijijiwan New Media Lab** at the University of Winnipeg.

Teams also visited incubator spaces that were not possible to visit or experience throughout the last two years of the pandemic.

Kishaadigeh Collaborative Research Centre is a collaborative space designed, driven, and governed according to Indigenous methodologies. The centre is for transdisciplinary and creative research, allowing for dynamic and engaging space for workshops, intergenerational gatherings, dialogues, and work.

This area contains individual workspaces for tablets or laptops, a family space for babies, mothers, parents and children, it can host community events and gatherings from all disciplines.

Aabijijiwan New Media Lab houses four digital media labs each with a specific production focus – sound, projection, virtual reality (VR), animation and video – and a collaborative interactive studio space for engagement between these mediums, as well as a collaborative space for workshops, intergenerational gatherings, dialogues, and work with older media, such as sewing, caribou hide tufting, beading, and other materials. Grounded in Indigenous ways of being in relation – with other people, with the land, and with non-human entities.

Carving Out Climate Testimony: Inuit Youth, Wellness & Environmental Stewardship and Inuit Qaujisarnirmut Pilirijjutit on Arctic Shipping Risks in Inuit Nunangat are among 13 projects announced for funding under the new Canada-Inuit Nunangat-United Kingdom (CINUK) Arctic Research Programme.

Tony Eetak (Inclusion in Northern Research), Jaro Malanowski, Maeva Gauthier (Happening to Us; Carving Out Climate Testimony) and Dr. Heather Igloliorte (Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership) connect at the Aabijijiwan New Media Lab during Auviqsaqtut.

CINUK is funded through a partnership between Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI), POLAR Knowledge Canada, the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), Parks Canada Agency, and Fonds de recherche du Québec. The programme will run from 2021 to 2025.

CBC News reporters Pauline Pemik and Jaison Empson share a moment with emerging Tuktoyaktuk filmmaker Eriel Lugt at Qaumajuq. — CBC News reporters Pauline Pemik and Jaison Empson share a moment with emerging Tuktoyaktuk filmmaker Eriel Lugt after filming a news interview at Qaumajuq during the Auviqsaqtut 2022 Inuit Studies Conference.

Based on years of experiences with the Arviat Film Society, the Digital Arts and Culture Incubator is an experimental urban and land-based arts and culture training program for next-generation Indigenous talent, with the goal to incubate sustainable self-employment.

Cultural Entrepreneurship incubator and emerging artist Tony Eetak meets with Jordan Konek from the Nanisiniq Arviat History Project. Ten years ago Jordan was presenting at the Inuit Studies Conference as a student. Youth like Tony are able to learn from the experiences of previous community-based research and the arts. — Cultural Entrepreneurship incubator and emerging artist Tony Eetak meets with Jordan Konek from the Nanisiniq Arviat History Project. Ten years ago Jordan was presenting at the 2012 Inuit Studies Conference as a youth. Ten years later, like Tony are able to learn from those past community-based research and arts experiences.

We presented some of the curriculum content created at the beginning of our project as part of our Results Sharing Workshops.

It builds upon proven cultural entrepreneurship training to foster new arts industry employment through a careful balance of traditional knowledge, science and modern technologies. Indigenous artists from Northwestern Ontario, Nunavut and Manitoba will learn alongside an inclusive team of researchers, arts educators and professional artists to:

Explore and better understand the role and impacts of culture and creativity in driving community-based research and economic development.
Provide hands-on digital arts and cultural entrepreneurship training and advanced mentorship for emerging urban, rural and remote Indigenous artists
Develop and launch art and culture-based businesses utilizing digital technologies (animation, augmented reality, virtual reality, lights and visual projection, film, and immersive digital art).

This pilot project aims to contribute to and expand on existing work on entrepreneurship incubation, and adds a specific training focused on creating capacity for digital products and services. It explores lean start-up methodologies and has learned from examples set by Indigenous and People-of-Color-focused incubation programs such as Inclusion in Northern Research (Canada), Creative Startups (Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA), the Neighborhood Development Center (Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA), Indigenous Talent Portal (Canada), the Incubator for Digital Entrepreneurship in the Arctic(Alaska, USA).

Thank you to the organizers of Auviqsaqtut, Canada Council for the Arts Digital Greenhouse, Tuktoyaktuk Community Corporation, Qaumajuq and the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the University of Winnipeg, Aabijijiwan New Media Lab, Kishaadigeh Collaborative Research Centre, Lembas Works, Global Dignity, the University of Victoria, CBC North, ArcticNet and the Government of Canada for supporting these incredible learning experiences.

This experimental pilot program was made possible with financial investment from the following organizations and we gratefully acknowledge their encouragement and support.