The first public art centre in the Northwest Territories will be built in Yellowknife
Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, is finally getting an Arts Centre. The Northwest Territories (NWT) Art Centre Initiative has recently decided the new facility will be built on the former site of Akaitcho Hall, a residential school. In a CBC interview with Sara Komarnisky, development specialist for the NWT Art Centre Initiative, highlights the current plan for the centre is to have two non-commercial gallery spaces, a rental venue for events, space for workshops and other programs, a visitors centre, and potentially a reconciliation resource centre.
In Canada, Yellowknife and Iqaluit are the only capital cities without a public art centre. According to an article in the Globe and Mail, “nearly one in six people in the territory’s population produce arts and crafts,” emphasizing a need for a space to share and celebrate these works, thus increasing visibility for northern artists. Having a local arts centre increases the number of locations for local artists to display their work, and having a planned location to display work is a necessary part of a proposal when applying for funding through the Canada Council for the Arts, making it harder to receive funding with few local options for exhibit available.
Komarnisky explains multiple locations had been considered as potential sites for the NWT Art Centre, considering factors such as suitability for size, accessibility for tourists and locals, cost efficiency, and whether or not the site would need to be cleared. The site of Akaitcho Hall is a walkable distance from the city centre, accessible, has space for parking, close to Yellowknife’s two high schools, has a view of Yellowknife Bay, and the land would not have to be cleared or flattened. The NWT Art Centre Initiative will look at other models of centres such as the Yukon Arts Centre, the Nuuk Art Museum in Greenland, and the planned Nunavut Inuit Heritage Centre.
Across Canada, there has been a movement towards repurposing Residential school sites, as a way to preserve history. In an interview with Carleton News, Muskowekwan Band Councillor and residential school survivor Cynthia Desjarlais, says preserving the buildings and land of Residential schools is “proof for future generations and to the rest of the country that these schools existed, so this history is not swept under the rug. If people don’t see things, they tend to forget them.”
Akaitcho Hall opened in 1958 as a residence for students attending the Sir John Franklin High School which remains an active high school today. It was run by the Federal government until 1969, when ownership transferred to the territory, until the residence closed in 1994, making it one of the last Residential Schools to be closed. It was owned by the government without church involvement. According to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, the Hall had a large non-indigenous population, and between 1966 and 1992, during their attendance at the Residential School, students Chad Holms, Dianne Bourne, Philip Mitchell, and Thaddeus Leonard, passed away. Akaitcho Hall was demolished in 2007.
Any future work done towards building a new centre will be “grounded in community,” says Komarnisky. As she explains “we need to be guided by the people who lived [in Akaitcho Hall].” The NWT Art Centre initiative hosted two public gatherings in June of 2025, discussing the history and legacy of Akaitcho Hall, and how the new centre would honour their history and participate in meaningful action towards reconciliation. Survivors of the hall were in attendance and shared both positive and negative stories about their time there. Komarnisky says in spite of the complex history, “we heard pretty clearly that people support the use of Akaitcho Hall as a cultural and artistic space.”
Leading the initiative is the Steering Committee, a team of professionals from the NWT mining, banking, and real estate fields. This committee includes Toby Kruger, partner at Lawson Lindell LLP, April Desjarlais, President of Khione Resources limited, Kimberly Fairman, the past Executive Director of the Institute for Circumpolar Health Research who has also held senior positions in the Federal and Territorial governments, Gaeleen MacPherson, a senior manager of the global mining company Rio Tinto, Shawn Talbot, and owner of NWT financial, and Bob Overvold, who was was Regional Director General for the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. The staff include Project Director Adrian Bell, founder and Broker of Record for Century 21 Prospect Realty in Yellowknife, the Art Centre Development Specialist, Dr. Sara Komarnisky, author, researcher, and public scholar, and artist, curator, and arts worker, Mary Buckland.
To learn more about the arts centre visit: https://www.nwtartcentre.ca