UQQURMIUT CENTRE FOR ARTS & CRAFTS
(Galleries/ Exhibits/Shows, Public Art Gallery)
The Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts and Crafts draws visitors from all over the world to the small community of Pangnirtung on Baffin Island, in Nunavut, Canada’s newest northern territory (1999).
(Galleries/ Exhibits/Shows, Public Art Gallery)
A new era in arts and crafts management and development in Pangnirtung began in 1991 with the opening of the Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts & Crafts. Initially solely owned by the Uqqurmiut Inuit Artists Association, a community-based, not-for-profit business directed by an Inuit board, the Uqqurmiut Centre is now partnered by the recently formed Nunavut Development Corporation.
The Uqqurmiut Centre serves the entire arts and crafts community of Pangnirtung, with facilities and equipment for the Pangnirtung Print Shop, the Pangnirtung Tapestry Studio, a retail Craft Gallery, and space for administration and board activities. The three buildings that comprise the Uqqurmiut Centre represent a significant presence for Inuit in the arts-and-crafts economy of Nunavut, while providing the community of Pangnirtung with a major share in one of the most important economic activities on Baffin Island. The buildings provide a control center from which to operate effectively and focus arts and crafts activities.
Ultimately, the Uqqurmiut Centre is the chief vehicle through which the Uqqurmiut (the people of the leeside) carry out their mission to promote and preserve their local culture, and to foster the continued development of the artistic heritage of their community. In this way, the presence of Uqqurmiut Centre helps to preserve the fragile artistic record of the culture and traditions of the Inuit of the Cumberland Sound region.
