The Royal BC Museum in Victoria is returning a totem pole to the Nuxalk Nation.
The pole was removed from Nuxalk territory in the Bella Coola area in the early 1900s and was on display until last year in the Totem Hall on the museum's third floor. The five-metre pole was lifted by a crane Monday through a hole made especially for its removal as cheering community members watched. The move comes after the Nuxalk Nation filed a lawsuit for the pole's repatriation. Jack Lohman, the former CEO of the museum, said in 2019 that the pole had been bought by the museum, but the Nuxalk Nation maintains a cultural object of this significance would never have been sold. CBC News reports the museum has repatriation requests from 30 communities throughout the province.
The Images Festival in Toronto has set this year's theme as "(g)hosts."
The festival, which runs from April 13 to April 26, will be co-curated by Emma Steen, Helen Lee, Nasrin Himada, Nora Rosenthal, Sarah Edo, Samay Arcentales Cajas, Tyisha Murphy, Yasmin Nurming-Por, who will work with Images programming director Jaclyn Quaresma. The festival will feature works from established and emerging artists, filmmakers and creative practitioners, who activate the theme and examine "the relationship between spirit and place." For information, go here.
WAG-Qaumajuq will offer free Sundays for three more years.
Free entry will be granted to all visitors on the second Sunday of each month until 2026, says the Winnipeg gallery. Visitors to Free Sundays, which is sponsored by Canada Life, will be able to access art exploration activities and view current exhibitions, including Robert Houle: Red is Beautiful and Headlines: The Art of the News Cycle. More than 20,000 people took advantage of the program in its first three years, the gallery said in a statement.
The Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery is launching a youth program.
The Waterloo, Ont., gallery is offering youth aged 14 to 18 a special membership that costs just $5 per year. It provides many of the same benefits as adult members, as well as exclusive access to monthly youth-focused events, such as hands-on ceramics activities. For information, visit this website.