Loving Local: Hamilton Arts Awards

One of the things I love about being a member of the Beehive is how all of us have satellite practices/businesses/projects/lives that intersect with various aspects of Hamilton’s arts and cultural community outside of the collective.  This keeps me informed about stuff happening around town, and no doubt informs the stuff we do as a group as well.

Right now one of the projects I am working on (via my job with Tourism and Culture at the City of Hamilton) is the Hamilton Arts Awards.  The nomination deadline is coming up on February 22nd, and I wanted to give y’all a heads up about this opportunity to not only receive civic recognition for your work, but also to potentially receive an award of $2,500 (or 1,000 for emerging artists)!  Definitely worth the effort to apply or nominate someone you feel deserves the award in their field.  The awards are open to those working in a wide array of creative disciplines.

Some Hot Tips

• There are generally not many nominees in the Fine Craft category, so Hamilton makers reading this should definitely consider getting themselves nominated or nominating their favourite local craftsperson.
• Past winners overwhelmingly attended the nomination information sessions before applying. The final public session is this coming Saturday from 1-3pm at the Tourism Hamilton Visitors Centre (1st floor of the Lister Block, 28 James St N.) Come on by and I’ll give you the scoop!  I will also be at Needlework (174 James St N.) on February 8 from 7-10pm for Art Crawl and we can chat then. 

Arts Awards Myths, Busted

• You must be nominated in order to be in the running for an award, but all that is required of the nominator is their signature.  Otherwise, the nominee can complete the Nomination Package on their own or by working with the nominator.
• You cannot be nominated directly as an Emerging Artist (someone practicing for fewer than five years, among other criteria).  Established Artists, when nominated, indicate who their Emerging Artist of choice is, and if their nomination is successful, their Emerging buddy of choice is automatically awarded.

Interested?     

You can access the Arts Awards page with all info and nomination materials here.  You can also contact me,  Jen Anisef, at Jen.Anisef@Hamilton.ca or 905.554.2424 x 7612.

Hope to see some of you Saturday or on Art Crawl!