New years always bring new events, and it looks like the coming year is chock-full of Inuit and circumpolar Indigenous art happenings across the world. From exhibitions to new books, festivals, anniversaries and annual traditions, we’re bringing together 25 of the events we’re most excited about in 2025. 

Read on to learn about the first 5, and keep an eye out for the others coming in the series to catch all 25!

Ningeeuga Oshuitoq Untitled (1978) Coloured pencil and felt-tip pen 50.5 × 65.5 cm REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION DORSET FINE ARTS COURTESY MCMICHAEL CANADIAN ART COLLECTION © THE ARTIST

Worlds on Paper: Drawings from Kinngait McMichael Canadian Art Collection
Kleinburg, ON
March 8–August 24, 2025

Curated by former IAQ editor Emily Laurent Henderson, now Associate Curator, Indigenous Arts and Culture at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, ON, Worlds on Paper: Drawings from Kinngait brings together over 200 works from the Kinngait Drawings Archive. The show foregrounds themes of intergenerational knowledge transfer, community and boundless imagination and showcases overlooked work by artists like Kenojuak Ashevak, CC, ONu, RCA (1927–2013) and Pudlo Pudlat (1916–1992), while also introducing artists less well known to Southern audiences, such as Aoudlaluk Qayuaryuk and Atamik Tukikie. Don’t miss the exhibition catalogue Dreaming Forward, featuring texts by Henderson and other writers, artists, curators and thinkers, also to be released in 2025.

Kimik exhibition Nuuk Kunstmuseum
Nuuk, Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland)
Summer 2025

Happy 30th anniversary to Kimik, the association of artists in Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland)! They will be celebrating this milestone with a group exhibition at the Nuuk Kunstmuseum (the Nuuk Art Museum), which opens in the summer of 2025 and will likely feature work by over half of the member artists. Kimik was founded in 1995 and since 2002 has been based out of a workshop in the old harbour of Nuuk. Notably, the work of two Kimik members have graced Inuit Art Quarterly covers recently: Ivínnguak` Stork Høegh’s ethereal collage portrait Eqqarsaatit // Thought (2023) appeared on the cover of our fall 2024 issue on Arctic Indigenous Futurisms, and Julie Edel Hardenberg’s head-turning cotton straitjacket Rigsfaellesskabspause (2005) was on the cover of summer 2024’s issue on Activism and Access. 

Glenn Gear’s ulitsuak | marée montante | rising tide (2024) is projected onto the facade of the Montreal Museum of Fine Art COURTESY MONTREAL MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS PHOTO MIGUEL LEGAULT © THE ARTIST

Glenn Gear and Léuli Eshrāghi in Conversation Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Montreal, QC
January 19, 2025

If you’re in Montreal, QC, this January, don’t miss a thought-provoking discussion between Nunatsiavut artist Glenn Gear and Léuli Eshrāghi, Curator of Indigenous Practices at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA), part of the extended programming for the MMFA’s newly re-hung exhibition of Inuit art ᐆᒻᒪᖁᑎᒃ uummaqutik: essence of life, curated by asinnajaq. The two will chat about Gear’s new kaleidoscopic video work ulitsuak | marée montante | rising tide (2024), a large-scale projection that activates a section of the museum’s facade, on view throughout the winter. 

I Would Give You My Tail Tanya Tagaq
Penguin Random House
April 8, 2025

We’re excited that Tanya Tagaq’s second picture book hits shelves this spring. I Would Give You My Tail follows young Inuk protagonist Kalluk as he leaves camp to tell his grandmother that his mother is about to give birth. Along the way, he has many encounters with nature that inspire his happiness and gratitude for life. Illustrated by Kinngait, NU, artist Qavavau Manumie, I Would Give You My Tail marks Tagaq’s second children’s book after It Bears Repeating (2023), and is her third publication following the acclaimed novel Split Tooth (2018), which was longlisted for the Giller Prize in 2018. This new 32-page hardcover book is recommended for children ages three to seven (though undoubtedly will be appreciated by readers and art-lovers of all ages!) and will be available in April. 

Throat-singing duo Silla performing at Arctic Sounds, 2024 COURTESY ARCTIC SOUNDS PHOTO AQQALUNNGUAQ HEILMANN

Spring and Summer Music Festivals Across Inuit Nunaat Arctic Sounds, Alianait Arts Festival and Aqpik Jam
Sisimiut, Kalaallit Nunaat; Iqaluit, NU; and Kuujjuaq, QC
Summer 2025

Spring and summer are prime music festival seasons in the North, and we’re anticipating a stellar line-up for 2025! Here are a few on our list: Arctic Sounds, known for showcasing talent from across the Nordic Arctic and beyond, will take place from April 17–21, 2025 in Sisimiut, Kalaallit Nunaat. Alianait Arts Festival in Iqaluit, NU, typically happens in late June during the 24-hour sunlit days. Like Arctic Sounds, circumpolar artists will travel from across Inuit Nunaat to attend and collaborate at this concert-based festival. Aqpik Jam in Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, QC, happens later in the summer during the second week of August, coinciding with the ripening and harvesting of aqpiit (berries). The 2024 festival featured epic performances by big names like Beatrice Deer and William Tagoona, which makes us super excited about who might take the stage in 2025!