Monday, August 18, 11:45 am – 12 pm
The Garrick Theatre, Bonavista
Concluding the Biennale Conversations program, artists and cultural advocate Reneltta Arluk will reflect on what she’s witnessed and heard, and how it can be taken forward.
Reflector bio:
Reneltta Arluk, D.Litt., is Inuvialuk, Gwich’in and Denesuline, Cree from the Northwest Territories, raised by her grandparents on the trap-line until school age. This early nomadic life provided Reneltta with the unique skill set to become the multi-disciplinary nomadic performing arts artist she is. In 2008, she founded Akpik Theatre, the only professional Indigenous Theatre company existing from the Northwest Territories. Adhering to its namesake, the cloudberry, Akpik Theatre strives to flourish in the northern climate it reflects by developing, mentoring and producing performance-based work that is northern Indigenous inspired and created. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Acting degree from the University of Alberta. For over twenty years Reneltta has been part of or initiated the creation of Indigenous Theatre across Canada and overseas. Reneltta recently received an Honourary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Alberta in 2024 for her continual contribution to the “decolonization of cultural institutions that has led to a fundamental shift in Indigenous-Settler relations in major Canadian cultural institutions.” Life experience and training inform the unique cultural and artistic Indigenous lens from which she works. Dr. Reneltta Arluk is currently Senior Manager for Policy, Protocols and Strategic Initiatives of Indigenous Ways & Decolonization at the National Gallery of Canada. There, she brings Indigenous-centred worldviews into the Gallery’s policy making, and supports engagement with Indigenous communities that encompass the Indigenous five value system of: Respect, Relevance, Responsibly, Relationality, and Reciprocity. Reneltta’s previous position was as Director of Indigenous Arts at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. She curated the performing arts component of circumpolar north’s Arctic Arts Summit in 2023. Reneltta is currently Vice-President for the Board of the Inuit Art Foundation and Jennifer Podemski’s SHINE Network. She is also mom to her ever bold son, Carver.