Inotsiavik begins programming after Arctic Inspiration grand prize
Collective of youths from Hopedale, N.L., have incorporated the organization and started sessions
Months after winning $1 million from the Arctic Inspiration Prize, a group of young people in Hopedale, N.L., have incorporated their organization and found a place to offer programming, give crafting lessons and start Inuttut language lessons.
Inotsiavik Language and Culture Inc. is up and running, and now the group has acquired a house in the community. They're working to decorate it with an office and workshop before holding a grand opening for the community.
"It's been amazing," said Kimberly Pilgrim, Inotsiavik's director of administration. "Even a year ago, we didn't know that this is what we were going to be doing now."
They hope to have weekly sewing circles, as well as Inuktitut lessons both in-person and online. Vanessa and Nicholas Flowers are planning to hold drop-in language lessons biweekly by topic, as opposed to something people would need to commit to for 12 weeks straight.
"Sentence structure rules, or animals, or seals and sealskin cleaning, or lessons on the qulliq — so it's like just different topics that we will be posting about so that people can sign up as they come," Vanessa said.
There will also be tool-making apprenticeships, community programming with the local school, igloo building, food skills, snowshoe making and more.
The group is also open to other partnerships and opportunities, Vanessa said.
"When you can create a space specifically for the programs that you want to hold, it makes all the difference," Vanessa said. "People can sit and relax and take their time sewing or have a chat, have a laugh. It makes all the difference."
Beginning with kamik making
This summer, the collective began with an important craft in their region: kamik crafting, teaching people how to craft traditional Inuit black-bottom sealskin boots with local stitches taught to Vanessa by her grandmother.
"Once they were done, we had to sew the bottoms and that's where we had to do the waterproof stitch. So they sewed their bottoms on to the tongue and legs on the outside. Then we flip them inside out and sewed them on the inside and that created the waterproof stitch," Flowers said.
This is the second summer people from the group have offered kamik crafting. The first successful workshop in Nain in 2023 was part of the inspiration for Inotsiavik.
It was Sept. 21, 2023, when Vanessa posted on social media after the workshops about how it would be great to see a place like the Inotsiavik Centre. Since then, the group created their collective, won the prize and started operating.
"It hasn't even been a year and now we're here. So it's just supposed to show how fast your life can change," Vanessa said.
Hoping to inspire other Indigenous youth
Even while teaching different cultural traditions, Pilgrim and Vanessa say it's important to know they are not experts. They are simply hoping to create a space where they and others can learn together.
"I hope that with everything we're doing, I hope it inspires other people, young and old and everyone in between, to also pursue their dreams and try," Vanessa said. "If you dream it and if you pursue it, you know, you can get there."
For any other young people, the two suggest finding a core group of like-minded people who are motivated and try applying for different funding sources to see what is possible.
"We're surprised by how much funding is out there. Like all these different organizations, all these charities, all this federal government funding and provincial government funding exists," Pilgrim said. "And a lot of it goes unclaimed."
Vanessa said once people have a strong, dedicated team, anything is possible.
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