Hamilton Arts Week 2019 Program Report

OUR MISSION

Initiated in 2015, Hamilton Arts Week’s mission is to build awareness for the arts. Through this event we continue to emphasize the importance of the arts in Hamilton and its associated benefits to the community as a tool for strengthening cultural appreciation, education, and promoting mental health and wellbeing.

Calls for submissions from Hamilton’s cultural community were listed on the Hamilton Arts Council’s website, www.hamiltonartscouncil.ca, our social media channels, partner websites, and several online event-listing services.

Equal opportunities were offered to emerging, established, and senior artists alongside those from diverse backgrounds and communities across the city of Hamilton. Traditional dance, singing, and instrumental music were highlighted throughout the week. CARFAC fees were offered where applicable.

In 2019, the Hamilton Arts Week celebration ran for a total of eight days. This year’s event included an Indigenous Music Series, with signature events throughout the week’s festivities, as well as a ‘Kick-Off’ Celebration that focused on community and diversity within our creative community.

In alignment with the City of Hamilton’s Cultural Plan, our planning efforts focused on the following goals:

once again hosted the ‘Kick-Off’ Celebration at the Cotton Factory. The Kick Off event was initiated in order to strengthen personal and business relationships, acknowledge volunteers, and celebrate our partners and sponsors. The Indigenous Music Series, funded by the Ontario Arts Council, punctuated Hamilton Arts Week with original and immersive programming that enriched our relationships with organizations such as The Hamilton Regional Indian Centre (HRIC), the Art Gallery of Hamilton, and ArtsFest.

ADVOCACY

The Hamilton Arts Council took an active role in advocacy, through the presentation and support of the following programs:

The Indigenous Music Series, which showcased Indigenous artists across several venues & events “Works in Progress,” a performance by the newly formed collective of dance and movement artists #DanceHamOnt, at the Art Gallery of Hamilton. Marz Homes Kidz Art Zone at the Cotton Factory in collaboration with the Children’s International Learning Centre (CILC), which offered educational and artistic programming.

Building Cultural Legacies’ Project Reception and Interactive Website Demo featuring video interviews highlighting Hamiltonian artists, located at the Hamilton Central Public Library.

A Special Edition ‘Creative Exchange’ open to all artists, presented by Nathan Fleet. This programme sought to lessen barriers by providing an opportunity for artists to meet new contacts and exchange ideas. The Art Bus Shuttle supported by the Incite Foundation. This shuttle bus was free for all and supported audiences in arriving/leaving safely from our Kick-Off at the Cotton Factory. A Community Mural presented by Setareh Min

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

KICK-OFF CELEBRATION @ THE COTTON FACTORY

The Cotton Factory (270 Sherman Ave N) is a creative industries facility housing over 200+ businesses. The Kick-Off event at the Cotton Factory featured an all-day vendors market with local makers and artists, an interactive painted mural, the Marz Kidz Art Zone, international food dishes presented by Nellie James and Chezdine, as well as performances and presentations by:

INDIGENOUS MUSIC SERIES

Supported by the Ontario Arts Council, and in partnership with the Hamilton Regional Indian Centre (HRIC), the Art Gallery of Hamilton, and Artsfest, the Indigenous Music Series celebrated musicians and dancers through the sharing of music and knowledge. The HRIC presented Land Acknowledgements at the start of all signature programming in 2019. Performers included:

#DANCEHAMONT: WORKS IN PROGRESS

For this presentation, six Hamilton-based dance and movement artists showed live excerpts of their work, talked about their creative perspective, and received feedback from a live audience. Artists’ work was selected to offer diverse programming.

This event helped to break the barrier of communication between Hamilton-based dance artists and members of the audience, to educate and view insights into the choreographic process of dance artists, and to provide an interactive experience of ‘breaking the fourth wall,’ involving non-performers in the creative process.

Logan Staats, featuring Lacey Hill

Rod Nettagog and Hoop Dancers Susan Aglukark, featuring Amanda Rheaume

MARKETING & ADVERTISING

HAMILTON ARTS WEEK GUIDE

This year saw the first publication of the Hamilton Arts Week Guide, a stand-alone festival guide which served as an opportunity for acknowledging sponsors, a tool for Arts Week publicity, as well as a tangible reference for the week ahead.

Key features of this year’s guide were:

Detailed directory of the 80+ events throughout the week

Original, dynamic, graphic design and layout created by Joanna Johnson

A letter from the Mayor, Fred Eisenberger

Running schedule for the Shuttle Bus Service

The performance schedule for the main stage, Arts Week Launch Party

Annotated map of Hamilton, identifying event locations

Listings of sponsors and of Hamilton Arts Week supporters

A letter from Hamilton Arts Council’s Executive Director

Hamilton Arts Council secured a number of media partnerships providing us with in-kind or discounted media support to promote Hamilton Arts Week.

These included the following:

The Hamilton Spectator worked with us and our partners to provide eight pages of coverage which was released one week prior to the Kick-Off. The Spectator spread included feature articles, targeted ads for signature events and a full listing of all confirmed events

The most up-to-date event listings appeared on the Hamilton Arts Council website, the Hamilton Arts Week Facebook event page, and the Hamilton Arts Council Facebook page

An advert in the Two Row Times, a weekly Indigenous news publication distributed in Ontario.

The View Magazine provided price breaks for multiple ads, ran a ticket giveaway contest, and featured an article about David Hudson and Arts Week.

On 93.3 (CFMU) Deborah McIvor was invited to talk about Hamilton Arts Week

Cable 14 - David and Deborah were interviewed on ‘City Talks’ with Mike Fortune The Scott Radley Show (AM 900 CHML) invited David Hudson to talk about Hamilton Arts Week 93.3 (CFMU) invited David Hudson to talk about Hamilton Arts Week, an hour-long interview with Olivia Fava, discussing each of the HAC signature events, and the Indigenous Music Series

David and Deborah Interviewed on 900 CHML with, Bill Kelly, to talk about Hamilton Arts Week

On the strength of the 2018 campaign, we chose to purchase lawn signs in addition to posters and postcards. We found these to be effective as it allowed us to gain exposure in high traffic areas. The signs were installed around the city in targeted areas two weeks prior to the Arts Week and remained intact until after the festival.

SOCIAL MEDIA

6.3k 5.2k 9.3k

Hamilton Arts Week Listings appeared on multiple sites including: Tourism Hamilton, HeartofOntario, CBC Hamilton, the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, and Cable 14. Recognising the strength that social media has for engaging audiences, we met with and utilized the skills of Suzanne Zandbergen from ‘The Generator’ to aid us in our social media presence (please see attached social media report from The Generator).

Our new website, launched in May 2019, was a great asset in showcasing our events and highlighting promotions more clearly than ever before.

FESTIVAL FUNDING

This support has allowed us to secure the much needed administrative support required to successfully undertake an initiative of this size and scope. We are grateful for the continued support and commitment from the City of Hamilton. This year, we were also fortunate to receive project funding from the Ontario Arts Council, and sponsorship from LiUNA Station, Marz Homes, and DPAI Architecture Firm. Allocated to Hamilton Arts Week for staffing, marketing, advertising, and programming, these funds allowed us to have greater impact and reach and enabled us to boost the public profile of Hamilton Arts Week, as well as raise awareness of this civic celebration.

HAMILTON ARTS WEEK TEAM

In late 2018, Stephen Near (Operations Officer) and Ned Currie (Admin and Events Coordinator) resigned from their respective positions. In January 2019, Annette Paiement resigned as the Executive Director. Deborah McIvor was hired as the Interim Executive Director and Joanna Johnson was hired as the Program & Administrative Coordinator. David Hudson was hired in March 2019 as the Community Engagement Officer.

Deborah McIvor (Interim Executive Director)

Joanna Johnson (Program & Admin Coordinator)

David Hudson (Community Engagement Officer)

Craig Logue (Event Coordinator)

Ned Currie (Consultant)

Stephen Near (Consultant)

Ayobami Macaulay (Photographer)

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

We are inspired to nurture our relationships with the supporters, partners and participants of Hamilton Arts Week as we build on the momentum of our communities collaborative spirit.

Motivated to extend our vision, we have identified opportunities for reaching a broader scope of organizations and creative hubs to enrich the impact and appeal of Hamilton Arts Week as a civic celebration of arts and culture

Surveying our successes in 2019, we have strengthened new/existing partnerships with #DanceHamont, Hamilton Regional Indian Centre, Children’s International Learning Centre and discovered new venues for arts programming.

Plans are underway to broaden the scope of literary programming in 2020, drawing on our relationship with the Literary Advisory committee, Lit Live, and our ongoing commitment to facilitating the Hamilton Literary Awards.

Responding to feedback from our partners and the community, we will work with the City of Hamilton to incorporate the Hamilton Arts Awards into Arts Week 2020, and facilitate a connection with Hamilton Pride, Hamilton Fringe, Barton Village Festival, Liquid Arts Festival, and Artsfest, as well as other city festivals occurring during June.

05/15/2019 4,800 41 3.6% 1,111 4 9,212 48 0.5% 6 4,600 pre-Generator

05/22/2019 5,015 5,056 41.4% 12,211 30 9,217 134 1.3% 17 10,200

05/29/19 5,032 3,994 52.6% 7,589 57 9,223 125 1.2% 12 9,800

06/05/2019 5,066 8,377 52.8% 15,856 62 9,226 186 0.9% 25 19,500

06/12/2019 5,092 8,929 55.8% 16,014 118 9,237 226 1.2% 22 17,700

6/19/2019 5,118 6,605 75.3% 8,773 62 9,241 818 2.8% 47 29,000

Facebook: Hamilton Arts Week video with link to FB event Twitter: The #HamiltonArtsWeek Creative Exchange is a chance to network...

Facebook: Indigenous-award winning Logan Staats (video) Twitter: See Indigenous Music Award-winning @LoganStaats...(FB event link

Facebook: Celebrate Hamilton's incredible arts scene (video) FB event link Twitter: Last year, 1,500 people attended #HamiltonArtsWeek launch (Spec)

Facebook: June 14-21 will be one spectacular week in Hamilton! (video) Twitter: The Hamilton Arts Week Guide is now available online!

Facebook: DEEPS video (link to Facebook event for launch party) Twitter: #HamiltonArtsWeek begins today!! Visit our website for a full list

HAMILTON ARTS WEEK

Funders Revenue In-Kind Services Value

City of Hamilton $25,000 Cotton Factory Venue Fees $5,000

OAC Indigenous Music Series Grant $15,000 Greening Marketing $3,000

LiUNA (Platinum Level Sponsor) $5,000 CHML 900 $1,500

MARZ Homes (Performer Fees Funding) $2,500 Photography $1,000

DPAI Architecture (Silver Level Sponsor) $1,000 AGH Venue Fees $800

Arts Week Guide Fundraising (Ad Sales) $1,100 The Other Bird (Volunteer & Performer Refreshments) $250

Incite Foundation (Art Bus Funding) $950 Total Value In-Kind $11,550

Total Revenue $50,550

EXPENSES- DATE & DESCRIPTION

Item/Vendor Detail

Expenses

Cotton Factory Kick Off June 15th Performer Fees $8,500 Event Staff/Bartenders/Servers SHED Brewery Staff & Service $600

Portable Washrooms $700 Liquor License $150 x 2 (1 for courtyard, 1 for Mulespinner) $300

Beverages (Water, Soda, Juice) $300 Honouriums (Photography, box office, etc) $300 Sound Equipment & Tech $1,000 Shuttle Bus $950 Art supplies $400

Additional supplies (Tents, coolers, tape, etc.) $500

Indigenous Music Concert June 19th Performer Fees (Logan Staats and Rider) $4,000

Performer Fees (Lacey Hill) $1,000 Sound Equipment & Tech $1,000

Music Hall Venue Fees $800 Gifts $400 Snacks & Beverages $500

AGH Indigenous Arts Event June 20th Rod Nettagog and performers (and blessing) $750

Westdale Indigenous Arts Event June 21st Sponsorship/Partnership with ArtsFest (performer fees) Susan Aglukark & Amanda Rheume

$1,000

Arts Week Marketing & Communications Lawn Signs $540 The Generator Media Campaign & Footage $630

Printing Costs - Arts Week Guide 5,000 pcs, gloss #80, 20pgs $2,050

Postcard - Save the Date $650 Logan tickets, posters etc $200 Article Writers for Spec Jude Johnson & Alexis Moline $200 Spec Ad x 2 pages $1,200

Two Row Times Ad 1 advert $375 Facebook Boosts $150 The View 2 printed ads and online $800

HAC Arts Week Staff

Event Planner Contract Craig Logue $2,500 Graphic Designer Joanna Johnson $2,500 Community Outreach Officer Virginia Redden $2,500 Community Engagement Officer David Hudson $12,000 Consultant Ned Currie $500

Total Expenses $49,795