Since 2005, the James Street North Art Crawl has grown from host of area galleries opening their doors on the second Friday of every month to the City’s paramount recurring arts event. Dubbed the Supercrawl, this month’s festivities will swell into a free block party with James closed to auto traffic from Wilson to Cannon, and the evening’s attractions rounded out with three outdoor performance stages and a motley collection of street-level and gallery arts offerings.
Tim Potocic, one of the Supercrawl’s key organizers and owner of Sonic Unyon Records , decided the time was right to make music a more visible element to the monthly Crawl. Calling on representatives from the community’s music community, including the Imperial Cotton Centre, Hidden Pony Records and college radio to start, the core partnered with the area’s arts community to create a bigger, broader Crawl in just under three months.
“It’s been so inspiring to see the Crawl grow very organically and steadily in the past few years,” says Potocic. “We wanted to add a collective music initiative to the mix, and make it a national, recurring event.”
As well as a sampling of local favourites such as Lee Reed, Electroluminescent, the Goddamn Goddamns and Steve Sinnicks, the festival brought in several national acts, including Toronto’s critically esteemed indie pop ensembles Ohbijou and the Hidden Cameras.
“It’s been amazing to see people from other areas getting excited about [the Supercrawl],” says Terra Lightfoot, a local musician on the bill and James Street North resident. “I’m especially looking forward to being able to see Annie Shaw and the Marble Index perform from my bedroom window.”
Immersed the Supercrawl celebration is the C+C Music Festival, an annual music showcase featuring all stripes of Hamilton musical talent – a combined effort of both Mohawk College and McMaster University’s community radio stations. “We usually run the festival in the downtown clubs, but we wanted to try something different,” says Jamie Smith, program director of Mohawk College’s C101.5 FM. “Our involvement with the Crawl is a natural progression.”
Outside of the music, the arts offerings are similarly impressive, featuring street-level projections and performance art in addition to the area’s 14 gallery-based showcases. Some highlights include a participatory printmaking workshop by Matt McInnes and Erin Warner, a kinetically inspiring drawing performance by Ram Samocha and an interactive collage building and paint-in led by Joel Moran.
“I’m amazed that in eight weeks, thee outdoor stages with musicians and vendor booths work in so seamlessly with the Crawl,” says Dane Pedersen of Loose Canon Gallery and key member of the Supercrawl stratagem. “It’s going to be amazing to see a sea of people in the street with no cars, enjoying the art in our city.”
Patrons of the Supercrawl are encouraged to bring along non-perishable food items, as the Hamilton Food Share will be collecting donations.
For the full lineup of artists and performers, see Here.
MUSIC
Supercrawl: Main Stage
Supercrawl: Second Stage
Supercrawl: Dr. Disc Stage
Supercrawl: Harvest Moon Afterparty
Supercrawl: Sonic Unyon Afterparty
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New Harbours Music Series: Christ’s Church Cathedral
C+C Music Festival: This Ain’t Hollywood
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Mex-I-Can
Ragin’ Cajun
ART
The Assembly
The Factory: Media Arts Centre
Loose Canon
Mixed Media
Hamilton Artists Inc.
Print Studio
Artword Artbar
James North Studio
You Me Gallery
Workers Arts and Heritage Centre
