Canada's Northern Artist Collective

As a follow up to my blog post yesterday, I think its essential to highlight a positive story coming out of Nunavut. That story is the Cape Dorset artist community. In a settlement plagued by crime, world renowned art has been used for the past half century as an economic engine.

It is mind blowing to learn that in one community, with a population of roughly 1200, roughly 25 per cent of the population earns their living through the arts. These artists bring in around $1.5 million in revenues each year. This is staggering. I'm not sure if there is an artist's collective like this anywhere in Canada.



Beginning in the late 1950s, Inuit artists set up an artists workshop in Cape Dorset, producing prints and soapstone carvings. Each year, the workshop, known as Kinngait Studios, has issued a print collection and carvings are sold through galleries in Toronto and Winnipeg.



It's interesting to note that a true artist community exists and thrives in Canada's North. While cultural forces have almost completely destroyed their traditional way of life, Cape Dorset Inuit have built an economy based on their past.