A fully virtual festival experience is available here: www.YRAF.ca
The website serves as an exhibition platform, a virtual theatre, an archive, and a testament to the vibrant and creative artistic community of the North. We encourage all to take a peek at the wide variety of projects presented over the weekend.
The Klondike Institute of Art & Culture (KIAC) celebrated the 20th Annual Yukon Riverside Arts Festival on the weekend of August 15 – 16, 2020 in Dawson City, Yukon. Due to COVID-19, the festival format took an innovative approach – encouraging audiences to view artwork while leisurely roaming through town instead of gathering at main festival sites. Film screenings, performances, and installations were exhibited and presenting in a variety of interesting spaces throughout the weekend.
The core sentiment of community care transcended all aspects of the festival, from planning to presentation. We worked hard to incorporate innovative and unique ways of presenting music, visual arts, installations, and performances in a manner that minimized risk and allowed art-lovers to take in the work at their own pace and from their own homes. In an expression of support to local artists, we prioritized and facilitated the creation of new work to be presented at the 2020 Yukon Riverside Arts Festival.
The festival format consisted of a roaming self-guided art walk with an artist market, outdoor exhibitions, window displays, video work, installations, performances, and a roaming music stage. The festival was also be presented via broadcasts on CFYT Radio Station and cable channel 12, and in The Klondike Sun (Aug 5th issue).
While we missed having the flurry of activity of the Demonstration Tent and the crowds of the Gallery Hop, we were extremely pleased by the caliber and quality of work created over the last few months and are even more excited to share it with you in this online gallery format. Feel free to peruse the 2020 participating artists, groups, and collectives who brought a unique flavor to this year’s festival.
KIAC respectfully acknowledges that we live, teach and learn on the traditional and contemporary territory of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in.
In 2019, as a part of a Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in initiative to rename local buildings, the Elder’s Council honoured the Klondike Institute of Art & Culture building with a new name, Dënäkär Zho, meaning “mixed colours house” in Hän. With the understanding that the renaming of the building, and the associated ceremony, is just one step in the path of truth and reconciliation, we hope this symbolic act will help inspire further discussions, collaborations, and actions.
We also extend a special thanks to our partners and funders:
Canadian Heritage
Canada Council for the Arts
City of Dawson
CFYT Community Radio Station
Dawson City Music Festival
Parks Canada Klondike National Historic Sites
Yukon Arts Centre
Yukon School of Visual Arts (SOVA)
Yukon Tourism and Culture / Yukon Government