ARLIS/NA 53rd Annual Conference

"Decolonizing and Indigenizing Mentorship: Activating Community to Support Northern Indigenous Futures"
Dr. Heather Igloliorte, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Decolonial and Transformational Indigenous Art Practices
Department of Visual Arts, University of Victoria

Dr. Heather Igloliorte, an Inuk-Newfoundlander and Nunatsiavut Beneficiary, is the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Decolonial and Transformational Indigenous Art Practices at the University of Victoria, BC, where she is a Professor in the Visual Arts Department (2023-). Heather has been a curator since 2005, and was awarded The Hnatyshyn Foundation's Award for Curatorial Excellence in Contemporary Art in 2021. In addition to her curatorial practice, Igloliorte teaches curatorial studies, critical museology, global Indigenous art history and research-creation at the University of Victoria. Since 2018 Heather has directed the nation-wide Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership: The Pilimmaksarniq / Pijariuqsarniq Project, a SSHRC-funded partnership grant which supports Inuit postsecondary students to explore professional career paths in all aspects of the arts, including curatorial practice, film and television, editing, collections management, arts administration and other areas of the visual and performing arts, in order to address the longstanding absence of Inuit in agential positions within the Canadian arts milieu. Heather publishes frequently on Indigenous art and curatorial practice; currently serves as the President of the Board of the Inuit Art Foundation and on the Faculty Council of the Otsego Institute for Native American Art History at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York; has served on the Board of Directors for North America's largest Indigenous art historical association, the Native North American Art Studies Association, and in 2021 she was awarded a Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Medal for her service to Indigenous art and artists.