Kenojuak Centre campaign starts fundraising in Cape Dorset
Campaign to build a new art centre and print shop holds community bingo
The West Baffin Eskimo Co-op's campaign to build a new art and cultural centre in Cape Dorset has begun local fundraising with a giant community bingo.
The Nunavut community has produced many world-renowned artists, including the late Kenojuak Ashevak, who produce their work using the co-op's facilities.
Jimmy Manning, manager of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-op, says the new Kenojuak Cultural Centre and Print Shop is needed because the current facilities, built in the 1950s, are out of date.
"It would help everywhere southerners, tourists," he told CBC News in Inuktitut. "It will be placed well when it opens and because of that it has been supported including financially."
The total cost of the project is estimated at $10 million to build and equip the centre. Almost $1.5 million has already been raised in the private sector.
Paul Desmarais, the chair of the national fundraising campaign, is making his first visit to the community this week.
The campaign also hopes to raise contributions from territorial and federal governments.
The centre is scheduled to open in 2017.