WHAT WE DO:
- Coordinate and manage the Qaggiq School of Performing Arts, a series of programs to train emerging and established Arctic performing artists
- Advocate for Qaggiq: a professional Nunavut Performing Arts & Cultural Learning Hub
- Promote the preservation and maintenance of the Inuit culture and language through the performing arts
- Develop and deliver performing arts programs to Nunavut children and youth
- Support the creation of new Inuit performance work
- Build and maintain an 'artist map' and database of current Nunavut performing artists
- Create aritstic and economic opportunities for Nunavut performing artists
- Research, collect, document and transfer Inuit songs, stories, dances
RATIONALE: WHY DO WE NEED THE QAGGIQ HUB?
- Nunavut is the only territory or province in Canada without a performing arts centre and Iqaluit is the only capital city in North America without a space to present the performing arts.
- Nunavut is rich in the Inuit performing arts—from throat singing to original rap, storytelling to circus, button accordion to drum dancing and theatre.
- Many of the Inuit performing arts were banished during the past century and are only now being reclaimed by artists before they are lost forever.
- The arts honour and nurture the human spirit; they illuminate the meaning of our lives and help us to tell our stories.
- The performing arts reflect a basic human need to find expression for thought and emotion with imagination and creativity.
WHAT QAGGIQ PERFORMING ARTS HUB WILL DO:
- Professionally present the performing arts in Nunavut
- Promote Inuit culture and language through the visual, technical and performing arts
- Promote Inuit arts and culture throughout Canada and the world
- Provide a space for professional development and training to emerging and established Nunavut performing artists
- Provide Inuit performing arts education to children and youth
- Provide training in the technical fields of the performing arts (lighting, sound, recording, filming, stagecraft, digital design, costume and makeup design etc.)
- Broadcast live performances throughout Nunavut, the Arctic, Canada and the world