Here at the CCF/FCMA, we take the “national” part of our “national arts service organization” status quite seriously. With members in every province and territory, our headquarters in Fredericton, direct project partnership in Toronto and Edmonton, and our conference coming up in Charlottetown, (not to mention previous events in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa) we’ve worked hard to connect to the broad craft community across the country. In August 2014, we set the record for our most remote event in CCF/FCMA history by travelling to Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, for the Nunavut Arts & Crafts Association’s Nunavut Arts & Crafts Festival.

This festival covers a lot of ground, including public art sales and demonstrations, professional development workshops for artists, presentations from Canadian and International Inuit Art Galleries, Museums and Funding Agencies, and many more community celebrations of art, craft and culture. The
CCF/FCMA was there through it all, presenting about Craft Year 2015, conducting public market research, meeting with artists and other non-profit arts based organizations, as well as other stakeholders in the Northern arts community. Connections were forged and strengthened with NACA, the Inuit Art Foundation, Inuit Art Paris Gallery, the Cerny Inuit Art
Collection, Northern Development Corporation, and the Northern Arctic College.

The Festival garnered national attention through a very high profile visit from none other than Stephen Harper. As part of his Annual Northern Tour, the Prime Minister visited the Festival with his wife, Lorraine Harper. (Notably, they purchased a pair of handmade earrings from a young Nunavut artist, Lavinia Van Heuvelen.) Also on the tour was Minister of Environment and Member of Parliament for Nunavut, Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Industry, James Moore, as well as Alan Elder of the Museum for Canadian History. It was quite the visit, and the CCF/FCMA was happy to have a few informal moments to speak with everyone on the tour, – a rare and special opportunity to promote the Craft industry in Canada.

The fun does not stop there! Next, the CCF/FCMA travels to Edmonton, Alberta, to meet with our dedicated partners at the Alberta Crafts Council, including ACC Executive Director, Tom McFall, our tenacious summer student, Rain Mair, and the newest member of the CCF/FCMA national team, Craft Year 2015 Project Coordinator, Alex Egner. While we are not expecting another visit from the Prime Minister, Alberta is his home province, so you never know!