The coming year has many exhibitions, new books, festivals and events in the world of Inuit and circumpolar art. Read on for a look at some of the things to look forward to in 2026!
Arctic SoundsSisimiut, Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland)
April 2–6, 2026
The full lineup for the annual Arctic Sounds festival has yet to be announced, but there are always Inuit artists from Inuit Nunangat and Kalaallit Nunaat involved. In addition to the expected musical performances, Arctic Sounds will also host conference programming for art workers and policymakers, as well as a workshop for girls, women and nonbinary people to learn more about sound and light technologies. One of the days of the festival will also feature a Riddu Riđđu takeover to highlight Sámi music and culture.
Carol Kunnuk and Lucy Tulugarjuk Tautuktavuk (What We See) (still) (2023) Film 82 min COURTESY ISUMA DISTRIBUTION INTERNATIONAL
imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts FestivalToronto, ON and online
June 2–14, 2026
The 26th annual imagineNATIVE festival is on this June, and submissions are open until January 9, 2026. The festival will showcase work in-person over six days at the TIFF Bell Lightbox theatre in Toronto, ON, before presenting work online for another week. Past festivals have included lots of work by Inuit, including the premiere of Witness: Arctic Indigenous Voices, a short documentary directed by Ashley Qilavaq-Savard, Carmen Kuptana, Eriel Lugt, Jennifer Kilabuk, Johannes Vang, Marc Fussing Rosbach and Princess Daazhraii Johnson, at the 2025 festival. The previous year, Carol Kunnuk and Lucy Tulugarjuk showed their feature-length drama Tautuktavuk (What We See), which also screened at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. The 2022 imagineNATIVE festival saw the screening of Slash/Back, a feature-length film by Nyla Innuksuk.
Sustainable Nunatsiavut Futures Artist-in-Residence ExhibitionThe Rooms
St. John’s, NL
March 2026
The Rooms will host an exhibition of work produced during the Sustainable Nunatsiavut Futures (SNF) Artist-in-Residence program in March. SNF is an interdisciplinary project that, as its mission statement says, “hopes to combine Inuit Knowledge and western science to support informed decisions and planning for the Zone of the Labrador Inuit Settlement Area, and ensure protection of Inuit interests into the future.” A cohort of artists, made up of Julia Andersen, Anika Nochasak, Jacqueline Winters and Maura Jacque, will create work inspired by research done by scientists with SNF.
Sarabeth Holden Strawberry Sundaes (2026) Illustrated by Emma Pedersen COURTESY INHABIT MEDIA
Inhabit Media Spring ReleasesApril–June 2026
Inhabit Media will be releasing six new titles for young readers (and re-releasing Maika Harper’s The Walrus and the Caribou (2020) in paperback). The new books include a story by Sarabeth Holden about an imaginative and dinosaur-obsessed boy who goes berry-picking with his family and a bilingual (English and Inuktitut) Sanikiluaq local legend retold by Elder Lisi Kavik-Mickiyuk.
QillaniqNational Gallery of Canada
Ottawa, ON
June 12–October 20, 2026
The National Gallery is putting on Qillaniq, the largest-ever exhibition of circumpolar Indigenous artists, through the summer and into the fall this year. The show will feature works by 60 artists from across Inuit Nunaat, Sápmi and Denendeh. Qillaniq is curated by an all-Indigenous team of curators from across the North. Jocelyn Piirainen, Associate Curator, Indigenous Ways and Decolonization and Ooleepeeka Eegeesiak, Curatorial Assistant, Indigenous Ways and Decolonization, are both with the gallery, and the team also included guest curators Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, Liisa-Rávná Finbog, Nadia Jackinsky-Sethi and Taqralik Partridge. Qillaniq is the third in the International Indigenous Exhibitions series at the gallery. Sakahàn kicked off the series in 2013, and Àbadakone | Continuous Fire | Feu continuel followed in 2019.
Installation view of Uumati Kisoun-Inuarak’s works ᐃᓄᐊ (Inua) (2022) (left), an Untitled (2024) installation (middle) and Owl study (2024) (right) at the 2024 Contemporary Native Art Biennale, EXPRESSION, Centre d’exposition de Saint-Hyacinthe, QC COURTESY BACA PHOTO MICHAEL PATTEN ALL © THE ARTIST
Contemporary Native Art Biennial (BACA) Drummondville, QC
April 18–June 21, 2026
Curated by Michael Patten and Armando Perla, an exhibition for the 2026 edition of the Contemporary Native Art Biennial (BACA) will be on view at DRAC in Drummondville, QC, in the spring. To Move Across the Land / Iaohontso’ktá:tie will feature works by Taalrumiq. Details about the other BACA exhibitions should be released in the coming weeks, but past biennials featured strong showings from Inuit artists: in 2024, the 7th edition of BACA, with the theme Creation Stories, included work by Jason Sikoak, Jesse Tungilik, Cora Kavyaktok, Uumati Kisoun-Inuarak, Joanna Katrena Cooper and Bronson Jacque across eight different venues.
Ningiukulu Teevee Symphony of Owls (2007) Printmaker Le Studio PM Etching and aquatint 71 × 84.2 cm REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION DORSET FINE ARTS © THE ARTIST
Ningiukulu Teevee: Stories from KinngaitWinnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq
Winnipeg, MB
Spring 2026
Originally presented in 2024 at Canada House in London, UK, the touring exhibition Ningiukulu Teevee: Stories from Kinngait will be on view in spring 2026 at the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq in Manitoba. This exhibition features works by accomplished graphic artist Ningiukulu Teevee, who was also the 2023 Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award winner. Curated by Darlene Coward Wight, this exhibition will expand on the original 26 works in the Canada House iteration to showcase a vast array of Teevee’s pieces over the years.
Riddu Riđđu FestivalManndalen, Norway
July 8–12, 2026
The Riddu Riđđu festival will be held as usual outdoors in Manndalen, Norway, this summer. Started by Sámi youth in 1991, the annual festival has, since 2009, become one of 12 festivals in Norway with a permanent fixed item on the state budget. Last year, more than six thousand people attended Riddu Riđđu, which celebrates Sámi culture while welcoming Indigenous artists from outside Sápmi as well.
The Dakhká Khwáan Dancers lead a procession during the Arctic Arts Summit’s Nuihařuq event at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre, Whitehorse, 2022 COURTESY YUKON ARTS CENTRE PHOTO MIKE THOMAS
Arctic Arts SummitUbmeje/Umeå, Sápmi, Sweden
June 16–18, 2026
The fourth Arctic Arts Summit, with the theme “Land, Power, Art,” will take place in northern Sweden in mid-June. The summit will feature sessions “where key voices from arts, Indigenous communities, academia, and politics come together,” as well as workshops. Registration for the summit is open now. The Inuit Art Foundation was one of many partners that helped put on the 2022 Arctic Arts Summit in Whitehorse, YT. Learn more about our coverage of previous Arctic Arts Summit events here.
Bonus!
North of North Season 2Open casting call
No word yet on a release date for the much-anticipated second season of the hit APTN/CBC/Netflix comedy North of North, but the production released a casting call on December 2 looking for Inuit actors of all ages (and will consider other Indigenous folks as well). Filming will take place in Ontario and Nunavut sometime this year.