CRA Charitable Number: 806434742RR0001

The Museum of Inuit Art (“MIA”) is conducting its 2010 fundraising campaign. Funds raised will be applied to defray the costs of museum special exhibitions and educational programming. MIA, which opened to the public in the spring of 2007, is the only museum in southern Canada devoted exclusively to the art of Canada’s Inuit people.

An Historical Perspective: The Inuit - A First Nations People
Prior to World War II, the vast majority of Inuit peoples in Canada led substantially semi-nomadic lives, traversing both land and sea in search of food. Their ability to improvise and adapt and to make use of scant resources was fundamental to their survival. Although Inuit were becoming increasingly reliant on foreign trade goods, their traditional lifestyle, storytelling tradition and belief system remained essentially intact. Their artistic output consisted of sculpted and decorated utilitarian objects such as domestic and hunting tools, toys and games, amulets and other objects that could be easily transported. In addition, small-scale carvings, models first of traditional and then also of imported implements, as well as decorative objects such as animal figurines and cribbage boards and engraved tusks, were created for trade with the explorers, whalers, missionaries and traders who visited the Arctic.

After World War II, in accordance with Canadian government initiatives, the Inuit were resettled in communities across the Arctic, leaving behind their established nomadic lifestyle. The government launched arts and crafts programmes in several communities, thus according Inuit an opportunity to make a living and pursue artistic expression. These new artistic endeavours drew upon not only the artists’ manual skills, but also traditional Inuit spiritual beliefs, stories and legends, intimate knowledge of the Arctic animals and environment, and finally the personal histories of individual artists. What has resulted in the ensuing half-century is one of the most remarkable flowerings of artistic expression in Canadian history.

The Museum
The Museum of Inuit Art is the only readily accessible Canadian public institution devoted exclusively to the exhibition of the work of Inuit artists. The Eskimo Museum in Churchill, Manitoba, whose collection is in large part Inuit art, is inaccessible to all but a few intrepid travelers.

Inuit art is the medium through which the Inuit speak to the world about their unique culture and heritage. Yet sadly, their art, their culture and their position in Canada’s heritage is under-appreciated and poorly understood. The principal reason for this is that, prior to the founding of MIA, there was no Canadian public institution exclusively devoted to Inuit art. There are large public institutions with collections of Inuit art, but because of wide ranging mandates and limited resources, these collections are seldom on display. When displayed, Inuit art is almost invariably shown in periodic themed exhibitions. The history of the art, its cultural roots, its mythology, its unique themes and messages, its startling diversity and its community premises are seldom if ever explained. In equal measure, the culture and lives of a people who have undergone rapid and irreversible change in a short period of time, is seldom explored. Consequently the Canadian public has yet to develop a full appreciation of the depth, complexity, character and quality of Inuit art. MIA’s mandate is to fill this gap in the Canadian cultural mosaic.

MIA has gathered a remarkable, museum quality display of works to form its permanent display. This collection allows its curators, for the first time in Canada, to continuously represent the complete story of Inuit art and culture. MIA also has on staff one of the pre-eminent academic authorities on Inuit art to ensure that this collection is matched with the most complete and highest quality educational content.


The New Museum’s Accomplishments to Date

•    Award Winning Design: The remarkable interior design of the Museum has received praise and recognition from the Canadian architectural and design community. The Museum was designated "best in Canada" in 2007 by the Canadian Interior Design Association and was awarded the prestigious "Award of Excellence" for 2007 by the Ontario Association of Architects.

•    Extraordinary Display of Inuit Art: MIA enjoys broad public support from the Inuit art community. The Museum has been able to borrow works from some of the world’s finest Inuit art collections to enhance its exhibitions, while at the same time working to build its permanent collection through purchases and donations. This display has been anecdotally referred to as the finest permanent display of Inuit art in the world.

•    Strong Economic Foundation: MIA is a charitable corporation, registered as a “charitable organization” under the provisions of the Income Tax Act. It’s museum shop, the MIA Gallery, sells contemporary Inuit art. All of the profits from the operation of the MIA Gallery go to support the activities of the Museum. As a result of these arrangements, substantially all of the day-to-day operating expenses of the Museum are paid from the profits of the MIA Gallery. MIA then undertakes fundraising activities to defray the costs of  special exhibitions, curatorial activities and ongoing educational projects.

•    Outstanding Curatorial Capacity: The Museum's curator, Mr. Ingo Hessel, is acknowledged to be one of the world's foremost experts on Inuit Art. He has worked with Inuit art and artists for twenty-five years; fifteen years at the Inuit Art Information Centre of Canada’s Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, and ten years as a freelance curator, writer and consultant. He has conducted about twenty research trips to the Canadian Arctic, taught Inuit art courses at the university level, curated art exhibitions and published numerous articles in journals and books. Mr. Hessel is the author of the 1998 book Inuit Art: An Introduction, considered to be the definitive work in the field and Arctic Spirit: Inuit Art from the Albrecht Collection at the Heard Museum. In 2006 he was appointed Albrecht Adjunct Curator of Inuit Art at the Heard Museum. He is currently guest-curating exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Carleton University Art Gallery.

•    Five Temporary Exhibitions to Date:

1)    A New Legacy: Stitching Myths and Memories (a selection of textile hangings  created by a group of women from Baker Lake).

2)    The Urge to Abstraction: the graphic art of Janet Kigusiuq (a collection of 19 drawings, 3 collages and 1 textile, with an accompanying catalogue).

3)    New Directions in Drawing: Kingnait (Cape Dorset) (a selection of thirteen innovative drawings by younger generation artists from Cape Dorset).

4)    The Art of Inuit Wall Hangings (a selection of appliquéd and embroidered wall hangings from Baker Lake and Arviat, and woven tapestries from Pangnirtung).

5)    Inuit Prints and Drawings: A Community Survey (a selection of thirty works on paper from the five most important print and drawing communities).

Ideal Venue: The Museum is housed in approximately 7000 sq. ft. of leased premises at Queen's Quay Terminal in Toronto's Harbourfront development. The decision to operate in leased premises obviated the necessity for a multi-million dollar investment in lands and buildings, and allowed the Museum to focus its resources on interior fit-out. In addition, it allowed the Museum to locate in an architecturally outstanding venue in an area that generates significant tourist and local traffic focused on cultural and recreational activities (the Harbourfront area of Toronto generates about 10 million visitors per year).

Special Exhibitions - the need for Funding:

MIA has a number of galleries which facilitates rotating special exhibitions. The Museum’s primary mandate is education. To fulfill this mandate, the Museum is committed to undertake a continuing program of special exhibitions, the objective of which is to explore the diversity and character of Inuit art and to give Canadians a needed outlet to learn about the artistic achievements of one of Canada’s most remarkable indigenous cultures. Although we design these special exhibitions to appeal to a wide audience, we are particularly conscious of the need for these exhibitions to appeal to youth and families.

The Museum’s program of special exhibitions for 2009 is set out below (please contact David Harris, Director, to receive funding cost spreadsheets for each exhibition)

The Art of Jessie Oonark (1906-1985), Qamanittuaq (Baker exhibition featuring twelve wall hangings and twenty drawings and prints by one of the most celebrated Inuit artists (with a accompanying catalogue).

• Stone, Antler, Tooth and Bone: Inuit Mixed-Media Sculpture - an exhibition showing how Inuit artists across the Arctic have gone beyond the limitations of separate carving materials and have created extraordinarily inventive mixed-material images (with a accompanying catalogue.
• Small is Beautiful: Inuit Miniatures - a celebration of the unique sensibility of "small" in the Inuit sculptural tradition (with a accompanying catalogue).
• The Art of Inuit Dolls - a showcase of old unadorned and clothed old dolls and modern dolls from various regions dressed in traditional skin and current fabric clothing. This exhibition will highlight how Inuit doll-making overlaps with sculpture, clothing and textile arts.

The principal financial elements of a special exhibition include the costs of packing and shipping art, insurance, preparation of display cabinetry, framing and matting, in-display interpretive materials, marketing and PR, artist fees, interviews and translation, preparation and publication of the exhibition catalogues [(photography, graphic design, guest authors’ fees (as required), copyright fees, printing (for in-house publications), marketing and PR (for in-house publications)].

MIA is seeking funding for each of these special exhibitions to help it defray the cost of pursuing its educational mandate.


 

Platinum                               $15,000 - $65,000 (full exhibition sponsorship)

Benefits

•    Sponsor a Major Display Cabinet within the Museum - including
acknowledgement of sponsorship within cabinet
•    Platinum Roll of Honour at the Entry way to the Museum
•    Free use of the venue for one private function per year (includes
tables, chairs, linens and screen from foyer) On site catering available
from Il Fornello / Lusso or the Pearl
•    Unlimited guest privileges
•    Invitations to exclusive Benefactors' Circle events
•    Acknowledgement in the Annual Report and other publications
•    Visit to private art collections
•    Private Curator tour of all new Exhibitions
•    Tax receipt
•    and more



Gold                                       $10,000

Benefits

•    Sponsor a Medium Display Cabinet within the Museum - including
acknowledgement of sponsorship within cabinet
•    Gold Roll of Honour at the Entry way to the Museum
•    Use of the venue for one private function per year at preferred rates
•    Unlimited guest privileges
•    Invitations to exclusive Benefactors' Circle events
•    Acknowledgement in the Annual Report and other publications
•    Visit to private art collections
•    Private Curator tour of all new Exhibitions
•    Tax receipt
•    and more



Silver                                        $5,000

Benefits

•    Silver Roll of Honour at the Entry way to the Museum
•    Use of the venue for one private function per year at preferred rates
•    Unlimited guest privileges
•    Invitations to exclusive Benefactors ' Circle events
•    Acknowledgement in the Annual Report and other publications
•    Visit to private art collections
•    Curator tour of all new Exhibitions
•    Tax receipt
•    and more

For sponsorship inquires and additional exhibition details please contact:

Annika Lauffer
Museum Operations Manager

Museum of Inuit Art
207 Queen’s Quay West
Toronto, Ontario,
M5J 1A7
416-640-1571
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