Youth arts program in Rankin Inlet gets ready to expand

A successful arts program in Rankin Inlet is opening its doors to a new sort of client: boys. 

“Not all boys like sports,” Julia Ussak, 15, told Nunatsiaq News. 

“What other boys like, we’re running in this program.”

The teen has been involved with the More Than Words program in Rankin Inlet for nearly four years.

It’s a joint project between McGill University and the Pulaarvik Kablu Friendship Centre. Funding for the project comes from the federal Women and Gender Equality Canada department, but new money from McGill will allow boys in. 

Girls enrolled in the current program are working with paint and clay. They range from six to 10 years old. 

“Our theme for this project is our culture, the Inuit culture, and we’re teaching kids anything from healthy foods, about the land, sewing – stuff like that,” said Julia.

This year she is a mentor to the kids and helped design the program, along with her cousin Haily May Ussak, also 15. Julia said she loved participating so much as a kid that she wanted to keep contributing to More Than Words.

“The kids are amazing and teaching them is fun,” said Julia.

“We get paid but I don’t do it for the money. I just like hanging out with the kids and teaching them things.”

Jennica Barcial works at the Pulaarvik Centre, supervising the mentors. She says More Than Words is offered in communities across Canada, but the only one in Nunavut is in Rankin Inlet.

The money McGill provides goes towards snacks, the mentors’ honorariums, guest speakers and instructors, who are often elders, Barcial said. 

But the university takes a back seat once it has provided the funding.

“They just want to take our lead,” she said.

“And this year, it’s really Julia and Haily’s lead, because they’ve been involved in the program for so long.”

Because the majority of the funding comes from Women and Gender Equality Canada, the program has focused on girls, Barcial said. 

But with new money from McGill, they’ll be able to open the program up to boys.

Barcial said More Than Words has become so popular that they have had to make waiting lists. 

The current program runs until Dec. 12, but More Than Words will start up again with a new cohort early next year.