Nuuk’s cultural institutions play ‘important’ role in community

Amenities in proposed Nunavut Inuit Heritage Centre are already in place in Greenland capital

Ivaaq Kriegel is the CEO of Katuaq, Greenland’s cultural centre in Nuuk. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier)

By Jeff Pelletier - Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

One of the biggest proposed projects on the horizon in Iqaluit is the Nunavut Inuit Heritage Centre.

Designers presented the plan at a community meeting last month. It includes displays of Inuit artifacts, a performance venue, cafe, workshops and spaces to eat country food. The goal is to have it built within the next five to seven years.

In Nuuk, Greenland, several similar spaces exist with the amenities the Nunavut Inuit Heritage Trust hopes to offer in Iqaluit.

One of them is the Katuaq cultural centre, in the heart of Nuuk.

It offers gallery spaces, rooms to host country food activities, a café, and a theatre that doubles as a performance space and a place where people can watch the latest feature films. At approximately 51,000 square feet, it’s close to one and a half times the size of the Nunavut legislature building.

Ivaaq Kriegel, Katuaq’s CEO, said the centre offers a place where Greenland’s artists can display their work and where people can gather to practise and learn about Inuit culture.

“I have been quite excited about it, how I can work with what I love. It’s art and culture, how we can [strengthen] art and culture here in Greenland,” Kriegel said in an interview.

“I think it’s quite important to have Katuaq here in Greenland.”

On June 27, Katuaq debuted a new showing of works by artist Ivalo Abelsen, which will be open until the end of August.

Abelsen said it’s difficult for artists to earn a living in Greenland, but places like Katuaq help and also serve as valuable spaces to celebrate culture.

“It’s a place where you can show your culture, your art, and preserve [it] so it doesn’t get lost,” she said.

There are several other centres in Nuuk that also showcase culture and history.

The Greenland National Museum and Archives includes a display of artifacts including traditional clothing, hunting tools and carvings.

One of its most striking displays is a family of mummies, believed to have died in 1475. Their preserved remains were discovered by a pair of hunters in 1972 in the Qilakitsoq settlement in northwest Greenland.

Also in Nuuk, the Nuuk Lokalmuseum presents a timeline of the city’s history from its founding to current day, while the Nuuk Art Museum offers a gallery of works from several Greenlandic artists, past and present.

The proposed new centre in Iqaluit is likely to cost more than $100 million, William Beveridge, the executive director of the Nunavut Inuit Heritage Trust, told Nunatsiaq News last month.

One of the goals is to repatriate 140,000 Inuit artifacts currently housed in facilities in the south. Planners hope to build the centre near Iqaluit’s plateau areas but are also eyeing an alternate location near the Arctic Winter Games Arena.

In the meantime, Kriegel sees an opportunity for collaboration.

“We should work together, with Nunavut and Greenland, and think about how we can give some knowledge, about how we drive a cultural house,” he said.

“Maybe Nunavut can visit us to see how we do and prepare something.”

 

  • Katuaq, Greenland's cultural centre in Nuuk, includes, galleries, a theatre and food spaces. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier)

 

Share This Story

(9) Comments:

  1. Posted by Mit on

    Also curious that greenlanders don’t get massive government handouts but they still seem to be happier and much more civil.

    • Posted by Acculturation on

      They aren’t treated like children you mean?

      Their infrastructure is much, much better… their education is good and they really take it seriously.

      Yet, neither of these alone is the silver bullet, so to speak.

    • Posted by Karl on

      The government system in Greenland is different from Canada, social government emphasizes education and training, proper housing and student housing.
      Financial assistance for students starting in high school based on their attendance and school marks.
      Building infrastructure in Greenland is cheaper than Nunavut as they don’t have the expensive tenders and contracts that Nunavut and rest of Canadian governments like to do.
      Building local capabilities in nearly every category, from labourers to higher positions.
      The Danes have done a great job of assisting Greenland in this regard. We can see the differences today, something our governments and Inuit organizations can learn about how to navigate in a western society while maintaining our culture. Amazing place to visit and I do hope more people from Nunavut can experience.

    • Posted by Define please on

      Define “happier”… they have the highest suicide rate in the world.

      4
      2
      • Posted by Correct to some extent on

        They do have the highest suicide rate but I do believe Nunavut’s rates are equal to or greater than that of Greenland’s. Canada’s rates are averaged as a whole, but when you check the stats for each province and Territory Nunavut’s rates are tops in the world.

        • Posted by Define please on

          Oh absolutely, if Nunavut was it’s own country it would be right up there with Greenland. The rest of Canada kind of obscures these tragic number behind the average. I have trouble finding exact recent numbers per capita, some say Nunavut is 10x Canada’s average, which I believe would put it under Greenland, while others say Nunavut is the highest. Largely simplifying it, I would assume the averages are quite similar.

          • Posted by Karl on

            The demographics are also different in the suicide rates, it seems to be all over Nunavut but in Greenland it’s mostly in the eastern part and the high Arctic part of Greenland and the age group seem to be different with older groups in Greenland commit suicide while it’s the younger males in Nunavut.
            If you go by the numbers not the per capita Nunavut’s rates are higher.

  2. Posted by Nuuknatsiaq News on

    This must be the ninth or tenth story in the last couple of weeks about Greenland and the new direct flight.

    4
    1
  3. Posted by Paul on

    The major difference is the Greenland government prioritized their culture and language in their government, spend more in their government for such things,
    Here in Nunavut it’s not a priority, the smallest department with the GN is the department of Culture and Heritage, the least supported department financially and politically.
    If our own government is not proud of our heritage and spend the least amount on it how can we be just as proud and have nice facilities in Nunavut?

Comments are closed.