Dr. Reneltta Arluk

Indigenous Arts Leader

Reneltta Arluk, D.Litt., is Inuvialuk, Gwich’in and Denesuline, Cree from the Northwest Territories, raised by her grandparents on the trap-line until school age. This early nomadic life provided Reneltta with the unique skill set to become the multi-disciplinary nomadic performing arts artist she is. In 2008, she founded Akpik Theatre, the only professional Indigenous Theatre company existing from the Northwest Territories. Adhering to its namesake, the cloudberry, Akpik Theatre strives to flourish in the northern climate it reflects by developing, mentoring and producing performance-based work that is northern Indigenous inspired and created.

In 2005, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Acting degree from the University of Alberta; becoming the first Indigenous woman and first Inuk to graduate from the reputable program. For over twenty years Reneltta has been part of or initiated the creation of Indigenous Theatre across Canada and overseas. She became the first Inuk and Indigenous woman to direct at The Stratford Festival. There, Reneltta was recipient of The Festival’s 2017 Tyrone Guthrie - Derek F. Mitchell Artistic Director's Award as Director of The Breathing Hole by Governor General Award winning playwright, Colleen Murphy. She also directed this monumentous play at the National Arts Centre in 2023 with support from both English and Indigenous Theatre. Reneltta recently received an Honourary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Alberta in 2024 for her continual contribution to the '“decolonization of cultural institutions that has led to a fundamental shift in Indigenous-Settler relations in major Canadian cultural institutions.” It is through life experience and training that gives Reneltta the unique cultural and artistic Indigenous lens from which she works from. Dr. Reneltta Arluk is currently Senior Manager for Policy, Protocols and Strategic Initiatives of Indigenous Ways & Decolonization at the National Gallery of Canada. There, she brings Indigenous-centred worldviews into the Gallery’s policy making, and supports engagement with Indigenous communities that encompass the Indigenous five value system of: Respect, Relevance, Responsibly, Relationality, and Reciprocity.

Reneltta’s previous position was as Director of Indigenous Arts at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. She was responsible for designing Indigenous Arts programming across all the artistic disciplines at the Centre while offering support to Indigenous artists campus-wide. She committed herself to developing and strengthening relationships with Treaty 6 Indigenous community members, and forging partnerships with non-Indigenous artistic institutions regionally, nationally and globally, all with the intention of creating space for Indigenous-led voices.

Reneltta continues her advocacy work. She curated the performing arts component of circumpolar north’s Arctic Arts Summit in 2023 in support from the Yukon Arts Centre. She serves as a board member of FOXY, Fostering Open eXpression for Youth in the north. She was a mentor with Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership: Pilimmaksarniq/Pijariuqsarniq, an Inuit-led collective that brought together Inuit artists, partners from the academic, public, and not-for-profit sectors to train and empower Inuit emerging academics and arts professionals to become leaders in Canada within academia and across the Arts, now completed. Reneltta is currently Vice-President for the Board of the Inuit Art Foundation and Jennifer Podemski’s SHINE Network. She is also mom to her ever bold son, Carver.

Indigenous Theatre Artist

Reneltta Arluk began her performing arts career as a student at Centre for Indigenous Theatre in Toronto, Ontario. There, Reneltta explored techniques of incorporating personal story into an ensemble. While living in Whitehorse, Yukon she was an integral part of the Raven’s Tale Theatre ensemble. Raven’s Tale Theatre showcased the diversity of Yukon First Nations by telling traditional stories of the land and culture. Her combined theatre training and life experience has brought her many places. From being part of Copper Thunderbird, the first Indigenous play to be on the main stage at the National Arts Centre in eighteen years under Peter Hinton’s leadership, to overseas where she toured northern Greece performing in Utopian Floes as part of Caravan Tall Ship Theatre's global cast and crew. In 2009, Reneltta co-founded the Rubaboo Aboriginal Arts Festival now under Alberta Aboriginal Arts. From 2010-2014, she toured much of Canada into Iceland and Greenland with Human Cargo's northern-inspired play, Night, speaking mostly in memorized Inuktitut. Reneltta crossed the border to perform in Chantal Bilodeau’s world premiere of play, Sila, at Central Square Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts produced by Underground Railway Theatre. In 2015, she was aboard the tall ship, Antigua, sailing the Arctic waters of Svalbard, Norway with the Arctic Circle Organization as part of their annual expeditionary artist residency in research for her play about Tookoolito currently in development.

Reneltta’s vision of telling her own stories her own way began in 2010 with her producing her first play, TUMIT, under Akpik Theatre. TUMIT, meaning ‘tracks’ in Inuvialuktun, had its French World Premiere production in Montreal, QC. It was translated by twice Governor General Awarding winning playwright, Mishka Lavigne, and performed by Emilie Monet as Sarah. To date, Akpik Theatre has created seven works including renowned Pawâkan, a take over of Macbeth, set in the late 1800’s on Plains Cree territory inspired by the youth of Frog Lake First Nation. Reneltta has started working on an audio telling of her grandfather, Edouard Archie Larocque. He was a well known proud northern Métis trapper/prospector who knew the Barrenlands like the back of his hand. He was one of the last of the RCMP Dog Patrol.

Reneltta is committed to creating space for young Indigenous voices as well. She has done this locally with Akpik Theatre’s youth outreach program, What’s Your Story? and nationally through developing Protocol & Play for Pawâkan working with Chief Napeweaw Comprehensive School in Frog Lake, Alberta from where the play Pawâkan was inspired.

Reneltta is committed to supporting northern-based Indigenous language inspired stories. From working with Innu youth as an acting coach in Sheshatshiu, Labrador on a short film Kuekuatsheu Mak Muak (Wolverine and the Loon) to performing in a rotoscoped short film The Woman Who Came Back based on a Tlicho story partly illustrated by youth from Behchoko, NWT in Tlicho language. In 2014, full-length feature film, Maina, was released into theatres. Based on a book of the same name, Maina features Reneltta in a Inuktitut speaking principal role as Aputik. She can also be seen on screen speaking Inuvialuktun as Mean Auntie in Marie Clement’s Red Snow. Reneltta co-directed award-winning Messiah/Complex (Against the Grain Theatre) with Joel Ivany. Filmed against iconic Canadian landscapes, Messiah/Complex features twelve soloists and four choirs representing every province and territory across the country. This “complex” interpretation of Handel’s Messiah includes 6 languages - four of which are Indigenous, 12 soloists, 4 choirs, and lifted by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. It has become a national holiday tradition to watch over both Easter and Christmas. 

Author

Reneltta Arluk is a published poet with BookLand Press. Thoughts and Other Human Tendencies is a poetry collection where stories of Indigenous experiences are distilled into feelings and thoughts that are universal. Thoughts and Other Human Tendencies is available in Cree, mâmitoneyihtamowina ekwa kotakak ayisiniwak ot'swepinikewiniwâwa, translated by Susan Sinclair. And also in French, Pensées et Autres Propensions de L'Espèce Humaine with Les Éditions de La Grenouillère Inc, translated by Carole Beaulieu.