A visit to the Northwest Territories offers a unique and transformative journey. You’ll engage with diverse cultures rooted in ancient traditions, explore breathtaking landscapes, and experience the timeless beauty of the land. Travel to remarkable places, witness stunning natural events, and leave with a deep sense of connection and renewal.

Stunning artistry goes hand in hand with a visit to today’s NWT and its long Indigenous heritage, so you’ll find it easy to get in touch with artists of all kinds, whose spectacular work may be useful, ornate, ancient or futuristic.

Each region in the NWT has its own traditional specialties — from the birchbark baskets characteristic of Fort Liard, to the cozy beaded moccasins of Deline, the porcupine quillwork designs of Fort Providence and the star-burst parka hoods of the Western Arctic. 

A typical guided community tour will include stops for you to meet with local artists and witness  a demonstration of traditional practices like fish preparation or the medicinal use of plants.

Visitors are welcomed, too, at public community feasts and celebrations such as Yellowknife’s National Indigenous Day festivities at the Somba K’e Park, where you can meet people, share in their fun and enjoy traditional drumming, dancing and other activities. For those seeking to buy incredible Indigenous crafts, local artisans often offer beaded jewellery, birchbark baskets, moose-hair tufting, paintings, carvings and so much more for sale at many of these events.  Make sure you learn more about attending the event by checking in with the local band office or visiting the event’s website.

During your time in the NWT, you can also take part in cultural day tours in many communities. You might learn a new skill such as scraping a moose hide during an urban hide tanning camp, sandblasting an original design onto a piece of recycled glassware or learning how to take that perfect photo of the Aurora.

In the NWT capital, you can also admire famed Canadian artworks. Nine paintings by legendary Group of Seven artist A.Y. Jackson, from when he toured the territory in the 1940s and 1950s, remain on display in the Legislative Assembly Building of the NWT in Yellowknife.

July brings the incredible Great Northern Arts Festival, held every summer since 1989 in Inuvik, on the traditional lands of the Gwich’in and Inuvialuit people. The festival is a 5-day celebration of talent, tradition, and creativity that welcomes artists and performers from across the North along with visitors from around the world.

There you’ll find the Arctic’s finest fashion designers, stone carvers, jewellers, visual artists, traditional craft makers and musicians, eager to create new work, offer workshops and share their diverse cultures. From the artists in residence, you can learn firsthand about Northern crafting, art techniques and performance skills. The festival’s Arctic Market is also a one-stop-shop for acquiring one-of-a-kind pieces of Northern arts and crafts that you will keep admiring long after the festival ends.