Circumpolar performers lining up to strum, fiddle and tie knots at arts festival

It might only be January, but deadlines for this year's Alianait! performing arts festival are fast approaching.

Applications from performers are due by Jan. 31 for the 2008 festival, organizers announced Tuesday.

Organizer Heather Daley said the festival has already received applications from artists looking to perform this summer.

"They're coming in fast and steady now," she said. "And they're coming from all over the world."

The circumpolar theme that defined last year's festival has been adopted as a permanent component of Alianait! and organizers are recruiting acts from the other territories, Alaska, Greenland and Scandinavia, all of which were represented last year.

Applicants will then be vetted by a selection committee. Daley wouldn't say who's on that committee, but said it's comprised mostly of Inuit artists.

"That's really important for a Nunavut festival," she said.

This year's edition carries the theme "strings," which is meant to symbolize interconnectedness and harmony, and is represented by stringed instruments and Inuit string games, Daley said.

Daley also admitted to a personal stake in this year's theme.

"Selfishly, I was the one who said ‘we're doing strings [this] year' because I'm a fiddle player," she said.

Alianait! is coming off its best ever year, posting record attendance and critically acclaimed performances from both international and domestic artists.

Daley said Igloolik's much-loved circus troupe Artcirq will return for another engagement at this year's festival and that organizers hope to have as many as three theatre performances. The rest of the lineup has yet to be finalized, and once again Daley is encouraging Nunavut artists of all stripes to apply.

As in previous years, Alianait begins on National Aboriginal Day June 21, and ends Canada Day, July 1. To apply for this year's festival visit or email nadia@alianait.ca.