Rendering of the new Kenojuak Cultural Centre and Print Shop.
Cape Dorset is internationally famous as the artistic hub of Nunavut. The hamlet of 1,300 has been home to a plethora of creative types, including Kenojuak Ashevak, Peter Pitseolak, Pudlo Pudlat and Annie Pootoogook who in the last 50-plus years have had to work in less-than-ideal conditions. The legendary Kinngait print studios, in particular, being a gimcrack hodgepodge of stick-built wooden buildings.
But in March 2016, the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative will open the new 10,200-square-foot Kenojuak Cultural Centre and Print Shop.
In Toronto on Thusday, Inuit Art Foundation president Jimmy Manning and Tory insider/Alberta premier wannabe Jim Prentice announce the start of a $2.5-million public fundraising campaign to help pay for the building. The federal and territorial governments and Inuit organizations are on tap for $5-million, with construction to start in the summer of 2015.
"If they're going to move forward into another 50 years they should be moving into a nice, new space," consultant Bruce McLeod said.