Alianait one step closer to bringing back annual music festival

ARTS AND CULTURE  FEB 11, 2022 – 2:46 PM EST

Alianait one step closer to bringing back annual music festival

Organizers received Iqaluit city council’s support Tuesday

By David Venn
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Alianait Arts Festival is one step closer to putting on its first music festival since 2019 after Iqaluit city council gave its support this week.

Iqaluit is in the midst of another COVID-19 outbreak, and festival organizers say they are willing to adjust their plans to make the event happen this summer.

“We’re just hoping that we won’t have to be cancelled once again,” said Alianait executive director Alannah Johnston during Tuesday’s council meeting, where she laid out the festival’s plans and made a few requests.

The organization is looking to hold its 18th annual festival from June 30 to July 3 in a big tent with 150 chairs. There are plans in the works for 20 events and 15 workshops, such as a drum dancing workshop. Two-hundred volunteers and more than 75 performers will be involved, Johnston said.

To help make it all happen, Johnston asked the city to supply garbage bins and Porta-Potties, provide traffic control on the site, reserve the Elders Qammaq for the festival to use, and lend equipment such as tables, chairs and stage stairs.

Council voted unanimously to approve the requests.

Right now, COVID-19 restrictions set by the chief public health officer limit outdoor gatherings to 50 people and indoor gatherings to 25 per cent capacity.

The music festival is still a go if those numbers increase or decrease, Johnston said, adding organizers have already made some changes, such as not having a second venue at Nakasuk School and potentially holding some workshops outdoors instead of inside the Elders Qammaq.

She said the organization is planning on rotating the audience so that there is not a large crowd inside the heated tent at once, and organizers will make sure people are wearing masks. The concert will also be streamed online so people can watch from home if they want.

“We will keep to whatever the CPHO says,” Johnston said to council.

Coun. Sheila Flaherty asked if the festival would be verifying vaccination statuses for attendees.

Johnston said Alianait will check vaccination status for artists, but her team hadn’t considered doing so for attendees, adding she doesn’t think including that measure will be an issue.

“We think that this festival is going to be a really great thing for the city, for the community, for the territory,” Johnston said.