Canada's northern most art college finishes first year of teaching: Located in Dawson City, Yukon Territory, the Klondike Institute of Art & Culture has finished the first year of a one year intensive arts program for college and university freshmen. The Institute’s classes are accredited and fully transferable to colleges and universities throughout Canada.

The Institute’s librarian gave us a tour of the facilities and the resources include the drawing tables and easels that one would expect along with studios containing state of the art computers with movie editing software. All students are provided cameras as part of the basic learning materials. The Institute emphasizes the digital art medium for the students.

With 5 instructors and 20 students the institutes curriculum is intensive and this intensity is aided immeasurably by the isolation of Dawson City in the winter. The population of the city is reduced to a few hundred residents and the daytime diminishes to six hours a day, denying the students any distraction from studies and work.

The Yukon Territory has the highest ratio of artists to population in Canada. Many residents use the winter months to create a variety of fine and decorative arts for sales to tourists during the summer months. The first nations peoples also have a long tradition of visual arts and their work is greatly demanded and demands high prices all over the world. It was this concentration of artists in this small community that inspired the idea of establishing an art college.

In 1998 a group of local artists with funding participation from the local First Nations tribes came together and began planning for the establishment of Canada’s northern most art college. The building chosen was the old Odd Fellows Hall on one of the many gravel streets with wooden boardwalks that make up Dawson City’s infrastructure, and a program of renovation began. The single building that makes up the school includes a gallery on the first floor shared with local residents for use in showcasing the art of the Yukon. Residences are not part of the facilities and students must find housing in the community, renting rooms for the school term.

The Institute has a busy community outreach program that includes sponsoring exhibitions, a film festival and art lessons for adults and students in the community.

To learn more about the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture visit http://www.kiac.org/