Mentors

At Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership: The Pilimmaksarniq / Pijariuqsarniq Project, our mentors work directly with Inuit Futures Ilinniaqtuit in both educational and professional settings. Our mentors are an interdisciplinary group of Inuit and other partners with a proven track record of mounting innovative projects that honour, sustain and advance Inuit and other Indigenous values, histories, philosophies, knowledge, arts, and people. We are always looking to expand our network across the North and South. If you have a project for our Ilinniaqtuit or would like to become a mentor with Inuit Futures, please visit our contact page to get in touch.

Reneltta Arluk

Reneltta Arluk is an actor, writer, director, and producer of Inuvialuit, Dene and Cree descent from the Northwest Territories. Presently the Director of Indigenous Arts at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Reneltta has been active in Indigenous theatre productions across Canada and internationally for over a decade. She is the founder and Artistic Director of Akpik Theatre, a northern theatre company that develops northern and Indigenous stories into professional stage productions. Reneltta joined Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership in 2017 to represent theatre and serve as a voice from the Western Arctic within the Inuit Leadership Group. She is currently in the process of planning a project with the National Arts Centre.

Reneltta chose to partner with Inuit Futures because she sees the creation of opportunities for Inuit to diversify their abilities, both in community and in urban centres, as vital to their futures as artists. The partnerships and collaborations fostered through the project are essential to building networks and furthering the development of Inuit careers in the arts, particularly in the creative design and performance of theatre. Inuit Futures will allow a new generation of Inuit to develop skills and provide opportunities for more Inuit voices to be heard and engaged with. For Reneltta, it feels good to be able to create opportunities for her community to have success that challenges institutional and western norms. 

ALETHEA ARNAQUQ-BARIL

Alethea Arnaquq-Baril is an Inuit filmmaker from Iqaluit, Nunavut. Working in the Canadian arctic since 2003, Alethea has directed many films, including her award-winning documentary Tunniit: Retracing the Lines of Inuit Tattoos (2011) featuring Inuit elder oral histories, and Angry Inuk (2016), which won major awards at both Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival and ImagineNative Film & Media Arts Festival. Recently she and fellow Inuit producer, Stacey Aglok MacDonald, launched Red Marrow Media, a production company dedicated to making culturally sensitive, eye-opening, and nuanced film and television.

Alethea joined Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership: The Pillimaksarniq / Pijaruiqsarniq Project as a member of the Inuit Leadership Group and mentor in 2017. Through Unikkaat Studios, her first production company, Alethea has trained and mentored Inuit to work in the film industry in the past, which she will continue to do with Inuit Futures. Currently, Inuit Futures ilinniaqtuk Simonie Kisa-Knickelbein is an employee of Red Marrow Media, and has worked as the Third Assistant Director on Slash/Back (2020). Sim also curated Unikaatuaqtuq |Storytelling, a series of short films screened at the McCord Museum during iNuit Blanche in Montreal, October 2019.

Sébastien Aubin 

Sébastien Aubin is a professional graphic designer with extensive experience designing publications for many artists, organizations, and Canadian art galleries. While he continues to work freelance as a graphic artist, Sébastien is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Design at Concordia University in Montreal. A proud member of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation, Sébastien joined Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership as a mentor in the spring of 2019, when he was paired up with Inuit Futures ilinniaqtuk Jason Sikoak. Together, Jason and Sébastien designed the sunburst logo for Inuit Futures. The two have developed a good working relationship, and continue to meet every week at Sébastien’s studio, where he works with Jason to conceptualize the art direction and develop refined design proposals for various projects. In addition, Sébastien involves Jason in meetings with clients and teaches them professional skills, such as how to develop and give a professional design presentation.

Sébastien is excited and honoured to be part of a project that is so far reaching. He sees the potential to expand Inuit Futures in community-oriented ways, especially in bridging the gap between urban and remote communities. Sébastien enjoys the mentoring process and is eager to continue working with Jason and other ilinniaqtuit in a creative environment.

STEPHEN BORYS

Stephen D. Borys is the Director & CEO of the Winnipeg Art Gallery where he is leading the development of a national Inuit Art Centre, the first of its kind in the world. At the core of his directorship is the goal of advancing a meaningful dialogue with the public, and creating a welcoming forum where art and culture are at the forefront with audiences and stakeholders. Dr. Borys is also an adjunct professor in the Cultural Studies department at the University of Winnipeg, and has held leadership and curatorial posts at the Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida; Allen Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; and the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal. He holds an Executive MBA, a PhD in Art and Architectural History from McGill University, a MA in Art History from the University of Toronto, and a BA Honours from the University of Winnipeg. Dr. Borys has organized numerous exhibitions, written accompanying catalogues and scholarly articles, and lectured across North America and internationally. He is a board director of the Canadian Museums Association, past board trustee of the Association of Art Museum Directors, and past president of the Canadian Art Museum Directors Organization.

Davis Heslep

Davis Heslep is an Arts Administrator, Educator, Media Artist, and Producer based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, where he is currently the Programming and Outreach Director for the nonprofit arts organization Western Arctic Moving Pictures (WAMP). Since joining Inuit Futures as a mentor in 2020, Davis has worked with Ilinniaqtuk Benjamin McGregor for two summers at WAMP, where Ben contributed to the NWT Training Program, as well as the Initiative for Indigenous Futures 2021 Symposium.

Providing mentorship opportunities for youth in the Northwest Territories is important to Davis because it brings new voices and perspectives into the organization to both support WAMP’s ongoing projects, but also to see how WAMP can serve them in their own endeavours. Partnering with Inuit Futures opens a wide range of skill development opportunities in administration and communication in order for Inuit and Inuvialuit youth to be part of decision making processes in arts organizations. Davis sees mentorship as a positive way of generating feedback with the younger generations, and to increase advocacy and awareness of work in the nonprofit sector.

Britt Gallpen

Britt Gallpen is the Editorial Director of the Inuit Art Foundation, which was an early partner of Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership: The Pillimaksarniq / Pijaruiqsarniq Project. She has attended both Annual Gatherings in Toronto and Montreal, and participated in the Summer Institute in Venice. Britt supervised the production of the Inuit Art Quarterly Venice Biennale Special Issue (2019), the first all-Inuit produced issue of the magazine, which stemmed from the Summer Institute, with essays, artworks, and editorial work contributed by Inuit Futures Ilinniaqtuit. 

As a mentor, Britt has worked closely with several Ilinniaqtuit who have contributed to IAQ. Emily Henderson and Napatsi Folger, who co-edited the Venice Biennale Special Issue, worked part-time as Contributing Editors before becoming full-time employees after graduation, Emily as the magazine’s Profiles Editor and Napatsi as a new Contributing Editor. Britt has also mentored Ilinniaqtuit Bronson Jacque (Contributing Editor - Profiles), Leanne Inuarak-Dall (Contributing Editor - Online), and Jaelyn Terriak. 

Working with the ilinniaqtuit has been a career highlight for Britt. It has been incredibly rewarding to support the students and watch as they take on new professional challenges and risks that have resulted in a stronger and more relevant editorial voice for IAQ. Britt foresees many more opportunities for Inuit to hone their skills in arts administration through the partnership between Inuit Futures and the Inuit Art Foundation. 

Léuli Eshrāghi

Léuli Eshrāghi, b. 1986 in Yuwi Country, belongs to the Seumanutafa and Tautua clans of the Sāmoan archipelago, and intervenes in display territories to prioritize global Indigenous and Asian diasporic visuality, sensual and spoken languages, and ceremonial-political practices. Eshrāghi has realized exhibitions at the University of Queensland Art Museum, MacKenzie Art Gallery, A Space Gallery, University of New South Wales Galleries, Vancouver Art Gallery, Artspace Aotearoa, Institute of Modern Art and Gertrude Contemporary. Eshrāghi holds a postdoctoral fellowship from Concordia University, a PhD in Curatorial Practice from Monash University, and a Graduate Certificate in Indigenous Arts Management from the University of Melbourne. Eshrāghi curated the 8th edition of TarraWarra Biennial: ua usiusi faʻavaʻasavili at the TarraWarra Museum of Art. They are Curator of Indigenous Arts at Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and Curatorial Researcher at Large at University of Queensland Art Museum.

Sandra Dyck

Sandra Dyck has mentored many student curators of Inuit art in her position as Director of Carleton University Art Gallery (CUAG), including Project Director Heather Igloliorte, who curated her first exhibition as a graduate student at CUAG in 2004/05. Sandra herself has curated many exhibitions of Inuit art and written the corresponding catalogues, including the acclaimed Shuvinai Ashoona Drawings (2013). Since joining the Inuit Futures Project as a mentor, Sandra has worked with Inuit Futures ilinniaqtuk Krista Ulujuk Zawadski, a PhD candidate in Cultural Mediations at Carleton University where she is researching and developing a future exhibition for CUAG, based on her PhD research, about the visual and cultural history of Qatiktalik (Cape Fullerton). Sandra also mentored ilinniaqtuk Tiffany Larter as she catalogued the A.T. Tolley Collection at CUAG in the summer of 2019.

Sandra sees her role as a facilitator, and wants all opportunities created at CUAG for students in the Inuit Futures Project to be grounded in open and reciprocal exchange between equal partners. This amplifies the impact, reach and capacity-building potential of these projects for everyone involved. She is excited to be engaged in active, evolving learning together with all the students with whom CUAG works.

SERENA KESHAVJEE

Serena Keshavjee is an East Indian-Canadian from Nairobi and Toronto, living in Treaty 1/Winnipeg, where she is an Associate Professor in the department of Art History and coordinator for the Curatorial Practices stream of the Masters in Cultural Studies at the University of Winnipeg. Serena was introduced to the Inuit Futures Project in 2017 by her UW colleague Julie Nagam, who is a longtime collaborator with Heather Igloliorte. Serena has participated in both Annual Gatherings in Toronto and Montreal.

Since becoming a mentor with Inuit Futures, Serena is learning a new set of mentoring skills to better connect with Inuit students at UW. Fostering community is part one of a three-pronged approach that Serena and Julie are taking at UW. They have also developed a series of land-based classes and workshops led by local artists, in which participants learn about local history and art practices in Treaty 1 territory. She is excited to share these experiences of embodied learning with students and colleagues at the university. Serena hopes to reach out to Inuit students in Winnipeg to become involved with the Curatorial Practices stream of UW’s Masters in Cultural Studies program, through which many students find work in the arts and culture fields.

Michelle LaVallee

Michelle LaVallee is Anishinaabe (Ojibway) and a member of the Neyashiingamiing Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, and has Canadian Settler heritage of English/Scottish/French descent from her mother’s side. She currently holds the inaugural position of Director of Indigenous Ways and Decolonization at the National Gallery of Canada. Previously, she lead the operations and the delivery of programs, including loans, exhibitions and acquisitions as Director of the Indigenous Art Centre at Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (2017-2022). LaVallee has curated exhibitions for galleries including A Space Gallery (Toronto), Gallery 101 (Ottawa), Indigenous Art Centre Gallery (Gatineau), and was Curator at the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina (2007-2017). As a curator, LaVallee’s practice often explores the colonial relations that have shaped historical and contemporary culture through numerous exhibitions, notably: Radical Stitch (2022-2025, co-curators Sherry Farrell Racette and Cathy Mattes); 7: Professional Native Indian Artists Inc. (2013-2016); Moving Forward, Never Forgetting (2015, co-curator David Garneau); 13 Coyotes: Edward Poitras (2012); Blow Your House In: Vernon Ah Kee (2009); and Miss Chief: Shadow Catcher—Kent Monkman (2008). LaVallee has been an invited participated in a number of Canadian Indigenous Curators Delegations internationally and her work has been recognized widely, including the City of Regina Mayor’s Arts and Business Awards, as well as with three Saskatchewan Book Awards for the 7: Professional Native Indian Artists Inc. exhibition catalogue contextualizing the artists’ influential role in contemporary Canadian art history.

Mark Igloliorte

Mark Igloliorte is an artist born in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and grew up in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador. His artistic work is primarily painting and drawing.

Igloliorte’s work has been featured in several notable national exhibitions including: “SakKijâjuk - Fine Art and Craft from Nunatsiavit, Sanaguagatsiat Mitsugaillu Nunatsavummit” curated by Heather Igloliorte, and “Boarder X” curated by Jaimie Isaac. His most recent solo exhibition 'Traverse' premiered in 2019 in Aotearoa/New Zealand at Ramp Gallery co-curated by Wendy Richdale and Karl Chitham, travelled the same year to be featured in the 2019 Bonavista Biennial and recently has been installed at the Labrador Interpretation Centre for the 2021 season. In addition, Igloliorte has been profiled in features by Canadian Art Magazine and Inuit Art Quarterly.

He holds both a Bachelor of Education (Intermediate/Secondary) from Memorial University of Newfoundland and a Bachelor of Fine Art, Major in Fine Art from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and a Master’s of Fine Art, Studio Art - Painting and Drawing from Concordia University School of Graduate Studies.

Igloliorte is an Associate Professor at Concordia University.

Jason Edward Lewis

Jason Edward Lewis is a digital media theorist, poet, and software designer. He founded Obx Laboratory for Experimental Media, where he conducts research/creation projects exploring computation as a creative and cultural material. Lewis is deeply committed to developing intriguing new forms of expression by working on conceptual, critical, creative and technical levels simultaneously. He is the University Research Chair in Computational Media and the Indigenous Future Imaginary as well Professor of Computation Arts at Concordia University. Lewis was born and raised in northern California, and currently lives in Montreal.

Lewis directs the Initiative for Indigenous Futures, and co-directs the Indigenous Futures Research Centre, the Indigenous Protocol and AI Workshops, the Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace research network, and the Skins Workshops on Aboriginal Storytelling and Video Game Design.

Maize Longboat

Maize Longboat is Kanien’kehá:ka from Six Nations of the Grand River and was raised on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Squamish Nation near Vancouver, BC. Currently living in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal, Maize is a Developer Relations Manager with Unity Technologies where he works as a communicator and advocate for creators in the video game industry. Maize joined the Inuit Futures team in the spring of 2021 to mentor Ilinniaqtuk Bronson Jacque as he began the process of creating an Inuit-specific video game drawing on Inuit stories from across the Circumpolar North. Maize will provide invaluable peer support and production guidance to Bronson, as he recently produced his own award-winning cooperative platform, Terra Nova, as part of his MA in Media Studies at Concordia University. 

Maize is excited to support other creators and convey his experiences in his first formal role as a mentor. It is important to Maize to help others within the small, but fast-growing, community of Indigenous video game developers and digital media creators alongside his work in the technology and video game industry. Maize is appreciative that the Inuit Futures Project establishes supportive and reciprocal relationships with the Ilinniaqtuit by funding their work.

Dr. Michelle McGeough

Dr. Michelle McGeough (Métis/Cree) is originally from Amiskwaciwâskahikan, located in the treaty six region of what is presently referred to as Alberta. She is currently an Assistant Professor at Concordia University. Dr. McGeough received her Ph.D. in Indigenous art histories from the University of New Mexico. Her research interests have focused on the Indigenous two-spirit/Indigiqueer identity. Other areas of her research include the application of Indigenous research methodologies and the incorporation of these ways of knowing into the development of curriculum and the curation of contemporary and historic Indigenous art.

Jessica Kotierk

Jessica Kotierk, originally from Igloolik, Nunavut, is Canada’s only Inuk collections manager and conservator. Currently the Manager and Curator of The Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum in Iqaluit, Jessica has extensive experience working in collections throughout Canada and abroad, including the Inuit Heritage Trust, the Canadian Conversation Institute, Mobilizing Inuit Cultural Heritage, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, the Cerny Inuit Collection, and presently as the president of the Archives Council of Nunavut. Since joining the Inuit Leadership Group in 2017, Jessica has attended Annual Gatherings in Toronto and Montreal, traveled to Italy for the Summer Institute in Venice, and spoke on a panel at the 2019 Inuit Studies Conference in Montreal.

Jessica knows the importance of creating Inuit-specific networks and mentorship opportunities for the next generation of young Inuit looking to pursue careers in the arts. Indeed, she recognizes that knowing more about opportunities and Inuit specific models within the arts would have been meaningful during her education and earlier in her career, and hopes to help support a strongly connected network of Inuit leaders in her capacity as a mentor. Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership is a great reminder that today’s work within communities is part of a chain that will strengthen the future for those presently involved, as well as those who have yet to be ignited in the pleasure of working in the arts, museums, archives, history, and culture.

 DANIELLE PRINTUP

Danielle Printup is a Hodinohso:ni / Anishnaabe arts worker and curator from Kitigan Zibi Anishnabeg, QC, with maternal roots in Ohsweken, ON. She has a Bachelor of Honors in Art History from the University of Guelph (2012). She later interned at the National Gallery of Canada before completing the RBC Indigenous Training Program in Museum Practices at the Canadian Museum of History. She has worked at Galerie SAW Gallery, the Indigenous Art Centre and the City of Ottawa's Public Art Program. She is the Indigenous Cultural Engagement Coordinator at Carleton University Art Gallery.

Taqralik Partridge

Taqralik Partridge is a spoken word performer, throat-singer, and writer from Kuujjuaq, Nunavik. She joined Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership: The Pillimaksarniq / Pijaruiqsarniq Project as a member of the Inuit Leadership Group and mentor in 2017. Taqralik took part in the 2019 Summer Institute in Venice alongside other mentors and Inuit Futures ilinniaqtuit who attended the 58th Venice Biennale. Since joining the project, she has also spoken on panels at the Arctic Arts Summit in Finland and the Inuit Studies Conference in Montreal, and attended the Annual Gatherings in Toronto and Montreal.

For Taqralik, the Inuit Futures Project is an important starting point for supporting Inuit leaders in the arts. She is excited to see the work of young Inuit and students of different ages who all have a personal investment in the arts, though they come from different fields. Taqralik recognizes the value of working with people from all walks of life. In her own practice, Taqralik works to serve her fellow Inuit by uniting people from different disciplines in order to build new things together. She hopes that Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership will have access to long term funding to continue to support students in the future as well as to support Inuit who are not in school, but who are looking for careers in the arts.

Jocelyn Piirainen

Jocelyn Piirainen is an urban Inuk artist and curator originally from Ikaluktutiak (Cambridge Bay), Nunavut. She currently works as the Associate Curator for the Indigenous Ways and Decolonization department at the National Gallery of Canada (NGC). Prior to, she worked as the Assistant Curator of Inuit Art at the Winnipeg Art Gallery and on INUA the inaugural exhibition of Qaumajuuq, the WAG’s new Inuit Art Centre. Jocelyn’s artistic practice involves working with digital and analog video and photography, mainly experimenting with Polaroids and Super 8 film. Understanding how artists work led her to pursue curating after taking part in the Indigenous Curatorial Incubator Program at SAW Video Media Art Centre in Ottawa, Ontario in 2015. Since partnering with Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership: The Pillimaksarniq / Pijaruiqsarniq Project as a mentor in 2019, Jocelyn has attended the Second Annual Gathering and the Inuit Studies Conference, which both took place in Montreal in October 2019.

Jocelyn is excited to connect with students through Inuit Futures, which she considers a great initiative for students of any age that can provide valuable networking opportunities and allow Inuit to grow their confidence and their own practices. Recognizing the lack of Inuit curators across the country, she welcomes the opportunity to work with Ilinniaqtuit in her capacity as the Assistant Curator of Inuit Art. Jocelyn sees a range of possibilities for students to work with the WAG’s extensive collection of historical and contemporary Inuit art. 

ALYSA PROCIDA

Alysa Procida is the Executive Director and Publisher of the Inuit Art Foundation. She joined Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership as a mentor in 2017. Alysa oversees the publication of Inuit Art Quarterly, which regularly includes contributions from Inuit Futures Ilinniaqtuit in a variety of roles. Ilinniaqtuit Emily Henderson and Napatsi Folger co-edited the Venice Biennale Special Issue in the summer of 2019, the first IAQ issue to be entirely written and edited by Inuit, with artworks, essays, and editorial work provided by Inuit Futures Ilinniaqtuit. After graduating, Emily and Napatsi both became full time employees with IAQ as Contributing Editors. As a mentor, Alysa has also worked with Ilinniaqtuit Bronson Jacque (Contributing Editor - Profiles), Leanne Inuarak-Dall (Contributing Editor - Online), and Jaelyn Terriak. 

Alysa envisions more chances for Fellows to contribute to key organizational programs in the future including writing, editorial work, facilitating artist residencies, and more. Her work with Inuit Futures so far has been incredibly rewarding and enriching. She looks forward to being able to open new doors for more opportunities going forward.

Ryan Rice

Ryan Rice, Kanien’kehá:ka of Kahnawake, is an independent curator and is currently the Acting Dean in the Faculty of Liberal Arts / School of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) University (Toronto, ON). His curatorial career spans 25 years in museums, artist run centres and galleries. Rice served as the Chief Curator at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (Santa Fe, NM) and also held curatorial positions at the Indigenous Art Centre (Ottawa, ON), named curatorial fellowships with the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (Victoria, BC) and the Walter Phillips Gallery (Banff, AB), and Aboriginal Curator-In-Residence at the Carleton University Art Gallery. He received a Master of Arts degree in Curatorial Studies from the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, New York; graduated from Concordia University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in printmaking and received an Associate of Fine Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts. Rice’s writing on contemporary Onkwehonwe art has been published in numerous periodicals and exhibition catalogues, and he has lectured widely. Some of his exhibitions include ANTHEM: Perspectives on Home and Native Land, FLYING STILL: CARL BEAM 1943-2005, Oh So Iroquois, Scout’s Honour, LORE, Hochelaga Revisited, ALTERNATION, Soul Sister: Re-imagining Kateri Tekakwitha, Counting Coup, Stands With A Fist: Contemporary Native Women Artists and ARTiculations in Print. In the fall of 2017, he presented the award-winning inaugural exhibition of the new Onsite Gallery in Toronto with his exhibition “raise a flag: work from the Indigenous Art Collection 2000-2015” and is currently touring a solo exhibition “BAIT: Couzyn van Heuvelen” through 2020. Rice’s service to community, leadership, and organizational experience includes co-founder and former director of the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective, the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Education Council, the Inuit Art Foundation and two terms on the Native American Arts Studies Association board of directors among others.

Rafico Ruiz

Rafico Ruiz is the Associate Director of Research at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal where his research focuses on settler infrastructure building and design in the circumpolar world. Rafico joined the Inuit Futures team in the summer of 2020, and has since been working with Inuit Futures Ilinniaqtuk Nicole Luke on an upcoming main gallery exhibition on architecture, sovereignty, and the future in the circumpolar world at the CCA, co-curated by Joar Nango and Inuit Futures Mentors Rafico Ruiz, Taqralik Partridge, and Jocelyn Piirainen. 

Rafico chose to partner with Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership as a way of recognizing and making space for Indigenous-led initiatives within institutional spaces. He hopes to continue to actively foster settler accountability by promoting the cross-pollination of perspectives in the way that research is framed and executed in his work at the CCA and beyond.

Carla Taunton

Carla Taunton is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Division of Art History and Contemporary Culture at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University (NSCAD) and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the department of Cultural Studies at Queen’s University. Carla is a white-settler scholar whose areas of expertise include arts-based critique of settler colonialism, Indigenous arts and methodologies, contemporary Canadian art and activism, museum and curatorial studies, as well as theories of decolonization, anti-colonialism and settler responsibility. 

Since joining Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership: The Pilimmaksarniq / Pijariuqsarniq Project as a mentor in 2017, Carla has participated in both Annual Gatherings in Toronto and Montreal and traveled to Italy for the Summer Institute in Venice. She is also a member of GLAM Collective, along with Heather Igloliorte and Julie Nagam, which curated a series of three Memory Keepers exhibitions in 2019 with Inuit Futures in Montreal, QC, Charlottetown, PEI, and Halifax, NS. Memory Keepers II was co-curated by GLAM Collective with Inuit Futures ilinniaqtuit Darcie Bernhardt and Megan Kyak-Monteith, who are Carla’s students at NSCAD University. 

Jesse Tungilik

Jesse Tungilik is an interdisciplinary artist, arts administrator, and Inuit arts advocate based in Iqaluit, Nunavut. He is involved with many arts initiatives across the north, including the Inuit Art Foundation, Nunavut Arts and Craft Association, the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum, and has served as Manager of Cultural Industries for the Government of Nunavut. As a practicing artist, Jesse has worked as a ceramic sculptor at the Matchbox Gallery in Kangiqliniq (Rankin Inlet), NU, and as a jewelry artist in Mathew Nuqingaq’s Aayuraa Studio in Iqaluit.

Jesse partnered with Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership: The Pillimaksarniq / Pijaruiqsarniq Project as a member of the Inuit Leadership Group and mentor in 2017. Since joining the project, Jesse was Concordia University’s Artist-in-Residence in 2019, where he made the Sealskin Spacesuit (2019) with CEGEP Nunavik Sivunitsavut students and visited the Canadian Space Agency. The residency also included a series of workshops, an artist’s talk, and an exhibition of the finished work. During his time at Concordia, Jesse also worked with Inuit Futures ilinniaqtuk Jason Sikoak on two pieces -- Labrador Tent (2019) and Feeding My Family (2019) -- for Memory Keepers I, a group exhibition in the FOFA Gallery courtyard, Concordia University, Montreal QC in March 2019.