NorthIsle is known for its beauty, its natural resources, and its outdoor activities. But did you know it’s also home to incredible artists?
And now you get the chance to see those artists at work.
The Vancouver Island North Tourism Association has teamed up with the North Vancouver Island Artist Society to create the North Vancouver Island Art Tour.
The tour features fifteen artists and galleries in different places around Port McNeil. There are stained glass artists in Quatsino, painters and sculptors in Alert Bay, and quilt and textile artists in Port Hardy.
There’s really something for everyone.
And it’s self-guided, so you can visit the artists on your own schedule and hit up the places you like the most.
The organizers want to use the tour to promote local tourism in the off-season. That way, folks taking the tour can actually spend time with the artists and see where and how they work.
They also encourage people to call the studio before showing up, just to make sure someone’s home!
You can pick up a printed copy of the tour map at local tourist centres. Or you can download one to your phone or tablet and take it with you on the drive.
Folks involved in the 2021 Vancouver Island Economic Alliance Summit talked about how rebuilding after COVID would be easier if communities and sectors worked together. The tour is an example.
The tourism sectors in different NorthIsle communities got together with artists to create an activity that will bring visitors to places they might not have been to.
They even got together with hotels and cabins so that visitors from away could stay somewhere local.
With craft breweries, gallery tours, and dance shows, NorthIsle is really becoming a hub for arts and culture.
