Nunavut arts foundation gets renewed support to digitize art works

The Kinngait Arts Foundation says it’s received a new financial boost to continue its work digitizing pieces from the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative’s permanent collection.

The Kinngait-based studio is home to more than 155,000 paper and sculpture works by Inuit artists, housed in three different locations. The Department of Canadian Heritage’s Museum Assistance Program is providing another $50,000 to the Cape Dorset Legacy Project: Digital History Initiative—funding that will largely go to the human resources needed to help the digital documentation of two- and three-dimensional pieces.

“The art of Kinngait is core to the identity of the Inuit from our region and is an important part of the Canadian creative personality,” said the cooperative’s president, Pauloosie Kowmageak, in a July 23 news release.

“My organization has always taken very seriously the maintenance and promotion of that history. Our partnership with Kinngait Arts Foundation and this renewed support from Canadian heritage will allow us to continue that vital mission.”

The federal Museums Assistance Program supports heritage institutions and their staff to both preserve and present collections.

Kinngait’s digital history initiative aims to create a virtual gallery of Inuit art that will eventually be accessible to a global audience.