Ottawa is kicking in $15 million to help build The Inuit Art Centre.

The $60 million project is to be built nearby the Winnipeg Art Gallery – and will be home to the world’s largest collection of Inuit art – as well as indigenous galleries and residences for artists and curators.

Construction could begin as early as next year – with an additional $20 million pledged from Winnipeg and the Province of Manitoba.

The Inuit Art Centre will create a space for artwork and artifacts which have been in storage for decades at the Winnipeg Art Gallery – and for many years in Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories – since the formation of the territory of Nunavut in 1999.