Pool party, stage tech training part of 2025 Alianait festival

The big purple and yellow tent is up and a light breeze is in the air in Iqaluit — all signs that it’s nearly showtime for the Alianait Arts Festival.

Alianait opens Wednesday night, then runs through Sunday with performances and events taking place all over Iqaluit.

Under the new leadership of Andrew Morrison and Jaqqa Petersen, organizers are looking forward to making a splash with new programming.

One new initiative involves bringing in eight aspiring stage technicians from Igloolik, Pangnirtung and Pond Inlet, as well as three trainers from Greenland, for a workshop.

With financial support from Kakivak Association, Morrison said they will learn to operate lighting and sound systems. Then they will get to run the show at many of the events.

“There’s currently a strong reliance on southern and non-Inuit support in tech and administration,” Morrison said.

“That’s something we’re trying to address and refocus, to build up capacity in Iqaluit and across the territory.”

In the days leading up to the first events, Morrison assembled his group of stage tech trainees at the Franco Centre, where they learned how to operate the festival’s lighting and sound systems.

Grace Metuq of Pangnirtung is one of eight stage technician trainees who will help run the light and sound systems of this year’s Alianait Arts Festival. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier)

Grace Metuq, who came from Pangnirtung to participate in the Alianait workshop, said she’s looking forward to helping run the show.

With the skills she’s learning, she wants to help revive Pang Fest — a music event that hasn’t been held in her community for a few years, she said.

“There’s a few of us from Pang that are trying to organize it this summer and hopefully we will learn a lot of stuff from this week for the Pang Fest,” she said.

Through this project, Morrison hopes Alianait’s impact will reach beyond Iqaluit. His goal is to establish a “festival ecosystem” to help stage other events across the territory.

“We’re hoping that it can become more sustainable for artists to tour around Nunavut,” he said.

Beyond the workshop, lots of new events are on the Alianait schedule.

A pool party with a DJ and rock band Friday at 3:45 p.m. at the Aquatic Centre is one that Morrison said he’s most excited about.

Other events include a screening of the movie Sumé: The Sound of a Revolution at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Astro Theatre, a Jam Café at the Storehouse Bar & Grill on Thursday, performances in Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park on Saturday, and a country food market Sunday at Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre.

The purple and yellow tent at Nakasuk Elementary School is home to the main stage of Alianait Arts Festival. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier)

The big tent will be centre stage Friday through Sunday for artists such as Northern Haze, Greenland reggae band Sauwestari, Nunavik punk singer-songwriter Niivi, and Igloolik’s ArtCirq.

Also on those days, several artists will perform afternoon pop-up shows at the Black Heart Cafe.

The festival will run alongside some of the City of Iqaluit’s planned National Indigenous Peoples Day events, which are scheduled for Saturday.

“We’re also trying to make Iqaluit one of the biggest places for Inuit excellence on the world stage, so we want Alianait to continue to be that stage on a world-class level,” Morrison said.

The full Alianait schedule and ticket information is on the festival’s website.