The Great Northern Arts Festival has run in Inuvik every July since 1989 and is the largest gathering of Inuit, Gwich'in, and other circumpolar Indigenous artists in Canada. It is the cultural event of the year for the western Arctic — around 100 artists in residence over ten days, daily demonstrations of carving, beadwork, sewing, drum-making, and printmaking, evening performances of throat singing, drum dancing, and Gwich'in fiddle music.
The festival takes over the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex. Workshops are open to visitors — you can learn the basics of beadwork from someone who has practised it for fifty years. If you are in the Arctic in mid-July, plan around it. Otherwise the Great Northern Arts Society gallery on Mackenzie Road sells work by participating artists year-round.