Creative Heart Space’s 2022 Wear with Pride Campaign

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Local business supporting the 2SLGBTQIA+ community within and beyond Hamilton

Pride month is a celebration of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and a commemoration of the 1969 Stonewall riots, a landmark moment in the community’s fight for equality. To show support for the community — as allies or as members themselves — many small businesses have special initiatives they run this month, including Creative Heart Space Hamilton. 

When Machry moved to Hamilton eight years ago she sought out her own way to make an impact in the arts community. She began offering free art lessons in the park. 

“When my kids were very little, I got the idea to start doing free art in the park type things. So I would bring all kinds of arts and crafts supplies and I would just invite anybody from the neighborhood,” said Machry. 

As these lessons began to grow into something bigger, she found herself looking to places to do her work more formally. In 2018, Machry founded Creative Heart Space, then located in the Dream Centre on Main Street, to continue making art more accessible to the Hamilton community. In this space, she hosted several of her own events and also offered a space for others to teach their own classes and workshops.  

“Mainly the emphasis was on connecting with the community and doing [healthy], positive things, in our community through arts and crafts,” said Machry. 

While she had to close Creative Heart Space’s physical location during the pandemic, she has continued to use her work to support the community. She community craft kits and kept hundreds of people connected with art in Hamilton.  

Beyond arts and craft, as a queer run business, Creative Heart Space also works to the support the 2SLGBTQIA+ community through their annual Wear with Pride Campaign. This campaign showcases products, including pins, flags and stickers and encourages the expression of sexuality and identity. 20 per cent of the proceeds are donated to a queer charity organization.  

Machry began this campaign when she’d first started selling Pride flag masks. The campaign was created with the intention to give back to organizations that empower and strengthen the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. 

This year Creative Heart Space chose to donate to Rainbow Railroad, an organization that supports 2SLGBTQIA+ facing persecution for their sexual orientation or gender identity. 

Machry chose this organization seeing how many people who are suffering due to something that is beyond their own control. She believes supporting organizations like Rainbow Railroad is a crucial way to also offer support to the larger 2SLGBTQIA+ community beyond Hamilton.  

“I felt that it was really important, especially with what’s going on with the climate globally,” said Machry.  

As someone within the community, Machry believes it’s vital to support the 2SLGBTQIA+ community year round.  

“12 months a year, 24 four hours of the day I am pretty much out there flying the flag … Making sure that I am always promoting the message of diversity and inclusion,” said Machry.