I was just very impressed by the capacity of my colleague to keep talking.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of ITI. I'd like to know how is the value of art sales generated through the NWT arts program tracked. For example, are website analogs tracked and reported, and does the NWT Arts Program currently plan to expand to an ecommerce based platform? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Mr. Speaker, you've seen nothing yet in my capacity to speak. Now I get to talk about arts.
Mr. Speaker, with respect to art sales and art sales tracking, so at the moment I can say art sales aren't tracked by the NWT Arts Program in terms of the dollar value per sales or number of sales had. Again, you know, again, this is one where there's a number of individual artists across the Northwest Territories, some in collectives, some selling on their own, some selling, I know, under various social media channel.
And this is not an opportunity, this is not an area where the government is able to track those individual sales through again, certainly not through the arts program. I would say, though, a bit of a plug in terms of generating broadly more sales in the area that there is right now a workshop series being developed for artists to learn about all the different ways that they can be selling their art, whether it's direct to consumer or retailers or online. That is expected to be ready for this summer. So tracking of course is important. But, really, we do recognize that we want to get our numbers up and improve the sales of the incredible arts product we have in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I'm very excited about that program. And I'd like to offer, as a Member of standing committee that will be going into communities, to take any of that information into communities with me and I think that MLAs can be a really good resource to get information out on that.
So I guess I'm wondering, too, does ITI know who the primary markets are for NWT arts and who they're trying to attract to purchase more NWT art and who's already paying attention? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as of the moment well, the arts program does work with partners across Canada. They are working also internationally at this point. There's been showcases of NWT arts products at the WAG, in Edmonton, and internationally at the British Museum. So there's quite a lot happening in the recent couple of years to try to promote and increase awareness of the incredible arts that we have here.
That said, the demographic information that we have is that at this time, a majority of the artwork is still being sold here within the Northwest Territories. I mean, I can look around the room here and see a number of people wearing, whether it's clothing or jewelry or otherwise. So we all know the value of the arts product that is in the Northwest Territories but it is clear that we still need to get that message out more broadly beyond the borders of the territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate that and I appreciate the work that is being done by ITI. I do, however, think that ITI needs to understand, and I'm sure that they do, that the cost of web sites is very expensive. And also sometimes technology gets the best of us, Mr. Speaker. And so I think that expanding into an ecommerce type platform for NWT arts brings people together to that site where people are already being brought to, in order to not only showcase artists but then be able to say, 'hey, look at that person and what can I purchase from Tanya Larson that's already on that website?' How can I get there? And so I think that being able to capitalize on people's desire to you know, instant gratification buy right away. I think we're missing out on a big opportunity. And so I'd like to ask the Minister to please explore an ecommerce platform for NWT arts. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, you know, would be remiss not to acknowledge that, of course, the Department of ECE has a shared responsibility over the arts. With respect to ecommerce, I can say that the challenge here one of the challenges here, far apart from the technology alone, is, of course, then are we at risk of displacing those who may not wish to be part of the GNWT process? Would we be at risk where we are creating a situation where we're influencing or, you know, creating a market place that isn't fully fair and accessible to all? So there are some challenges in an online platform that is administered or run by the government. I think part of the bigger challenge, is it the role of government to create the market, to create the economy, or is it the role of government to enable and facilitate that kind of work happening within the arts community in the Northwest Territories. So I know when there's questions earlier about an arts council, I'm obviously paying attention keenly as well. ECE may be the lead but, again, we're taking a wholeofgovernment view here. We're going to certainly all be conscious and be aware of what work we can do together to support the arts community so that they can get their products out there, whether it's through a governmentenabled website or through their own methodologies. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I think that there's some great precedent already within ITI. We have the fur program which works quite well and has been very successful. My last question for the Minister, then, is would the Minister of ITI, given that they do have the film commission and they do have support for entrepreneurs of the arts, would they support an independent arm's length council? Thank you.
Well, so, again, Mr. Speaker, this is an the area of the arts, it's an area with joint responsibility between ECE and ITI. So it's not a simple question that I have the opportunity to say yes or no to. It's a question to which there needs to be discussion between us, between the two departments, as well as with the various councils and commissions that already exist. The arts program, the film commission for example. You know, and determining what it is that the community would benefit most from. I can say I've had inquiries to my office under ITI from members of the arts community in this regard so there certainly seems to be some buzz happening within the community around better and new ways to organize and to promote the arts in the Northwest Territories. And I'm sure that we will continue to have those conversations internally as well as with the external partners. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
