Week of the Arctic
2018 Week of the Arctic Took Place April 25 through May 2, Featuring the North by North Festival
Hosted by the Institute of the North and Anchorage Museum
The fifth annual Week of the Arctic was held from April 25 to May 2 and stretched across Alaska. The Week featured an exciting combination of Arctic Alaska outreach and learning with Anchorage festivities that focused on innovation, design, community, and resilience.
The North by North Festival began on Wednesday, April 25 and served as a forum that facilitated ongoing international dialogue and strengthened Alaska’s awareness of the Arctic region. North by North was an essential venue for connecting with partners from across the Arctic, featuring the diversity and commonality between people, landscape, culture, and the future of the Arctic. Participants engaged in curated conversations, exhibitions, performances, presentations, music, dance, art installations, food tastings, and film. North by North promoted the empowerment of inhabitants of the Circumpolar North and provided a meaningful space for relationship-building and knowledge transfer between northerners.
North by North included an Arctic Resilience Summit at Alaska Pacific University on Wednesday, April 25, and an Anchorage Arctic Research Day on April 26 at the Anchorage Museum.
From Monday, April 30 until May 2, the emphasis shifted to one of Alaska’s Arctic regions, with a Summit on Mineral Development in the Arctic. This summit featured presentations organized by the Alaska Arctic Economic Council, workshops that developed understandings of sustainable development, and listening sessions that brought local and traditional knowledge forward to address critical Arctic issues.