Thank you, Mr. Speaker. By supporting curative shows here in the Northwest Territories, we are opening local artists to significant opportunities of a national level through Canada Council sponsored shows, training opportunities and international events. Mr. Speaker, these, by default, increase the national and international awareness of the NWT, which is great for tourism. Support for artists is a win-win scenario. As such, I would like to thank the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment for committing to begin the work on facilitating curative shows of northern arts and crafts here in the Northwest Territories.
My questions are to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and are specific to timing. During the review of the budget, I didn’t identify or I was not able to identify any specific funds put towards this initiative. I am wondering if the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment could tell me what we can expect to see with respect to support for curative shows in the Northwest Territories in 2011-12 and ongoing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Our curator initiatives involved various partners, as well working closely with the northern artists, as the Member indicated. We need to work with the museum as well, Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Museum, the NWT Arts Council and also Canada Council of Arts. In the meantime, what we are doing now is we are working closely with ITI and my department of ECE. We are committed to working together to implement the NWT Arts Strategy action related to enhancing the profile of the northern arts regionally, nationally and also internationally. In addition, Mr. Speaker, in coordination with NWT Arts Council, my department will examine current funding criteria which supports travelling, visual arts exhibits, displays and also curative shows in northern and southern venues. Mr. Speaker, we are working closely with ITI also in collaboration of new initiatives that are underway as well. We will be sharing that information once we make progress on these venues. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment for that response as well as the Minister for ITI for agreeing to work with the Minister on this initiative. I am curious. There is a lot of good work being done, but can we actually expect to see at least one officially curative show just as a trial during the 2011-12 fiscal year? Do we expect those to be in subsequent fiscal years? I would like to see one, at least a small one, to show that we can do it sometime during the 2011-12 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, those are the discussions that we need to have with the NWT Arts Council and other partners as well. If we need to do a pilot project, those are discussions we need to have as we move forward. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, thank you for that and thanks to the Minister for his response once again. I have a quick thought. The Minister was talking about working with the NWT Arts Council. The NWT Arts Council has spent significant amounts of money over the last 10, 20 years, whatever the case may be, to support our northern artists to have the new initiatives. I would like the Minister to talk with the NWT Arts Council to see if there is an opportunity to do a curative show on the history of the NWT Arts Council and all the projects they supported. Will the Minister consider that as an option for a pilot on one of our first curative shows? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in coordination with the NWT Arts Council, those are discussions that we are currently having and how we are going to roll out the program, if we are going to enhance our program with the existing funding that we have, so those are the discussions that are ongoing. Once I get that information, more information on the new initiatives and also the research that we have done on the curator shows in northern and southern venues, we will be sharing those with the Members as well. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I really look forward to seeing the documents and the research that they pull together. As they move forward, I agree wholeheartedly that involving the NWT Arts Council is incredibly important, but I know there are other arts organizations and other arts associations out there. I would like to encourage the Minister to engage these organizations like the Aurora Arts Society as well as representatives from the Great Northern Arts Festival up in the Beaufort-Delta. I think there are a lot of individuals who could add some real insight to this. In moving forward, I would like the Minister to commit to working with some of these other organizations in addition to the great organization that is the NWT Arts Council. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I did commit to working with various northern artists and also the potential partners that would be out there such as the Member indicated. There are a couple more that could be added to the list. Mr. Speaker, we will be working closely with the museum, NWT Arts Council, Canada Council of Arts, Aurora Arts Society and also working very closely with the northern artists as well. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
