Nai Eegeesiak
About Nai Eegeesiak
Nai Eegeesiak is an Inuk musician, educator, and community leader from Iqaluit, Nunavut. A co-leader of the Iqaluit Music Society’s Imaa, Like This program, she is working to bring Inuit-specific, culturally relevant music education to students across Nunavut. In 2021, Nai and her colleagues were recognized with the $1-million Arctic Inspiration Prize for this groundbreaking initiative.
A long-time instructor with the Iqaluit Fiddle Club, Nai teaches fiddle and button accordion for the annual Iqaluit Music Camp and leads Imaa’s after-school music program for Inuit students at Nakasuk School. She has also taught workshops across Nunavut, including in Pangnirtung and Kimmirut, and serves as an instructor for the National Arts Centre’s Music Alive Program. A past student of the Society’s summer music camps herself, Nai is now mentoring the next generation of music educators.
Events with Nai Eegeesiak
Disrupting the Stage: Indigenous Artists on Language, Education, and Sovereign
Music is a living archive that carries culture forward while creating space for new forms of expression. Yet, for Indigenous communities, the continuity of these cultural traditions has often been...