Porch pride bringing community together
C/O Delia Giandeini, Unsplash
Creative Heart Space Hamilton’s Pride initiative encourages community creativity and connections
The pandemic has forced us to be creative about how we come together and celebrate with our communities. Many organizations, including Hamilton Pride, have moved their events online, making the most of the virtual environment. For many of us, this has meant becoming very familiar with our balconies, porches and yards as we hold socially distanced conversations and gatherings with loved ones when we can. Knowing this and inspired by similar events across the world, Cadence Machry, founder of Creative Heart Space Hamilton, launched her Porch Pride initiative.
Founded in 2018 and located on Main Street East until September 2020, Creative Heart Space Hamilton is an arts and community centre. Prior to the pandemic, the space hosted many arts nights, classes and workshops and now has shifted focus to community projects, pop up events and the centre’s website and online store.
“Right now, Creative Heart Space is in a state of transition where I’m trying to figure out what is next. In September of 2020 we knew there’d be more lockdowns coming and couldn’t justify continuing the overhead costs for another six plus months so I decided to let go of the physical location and move everything online until we could safely reopen another location,” explained Machry.
Whether in person or online, giving back to the community and fostering new connections through creativity is at the heart of Machry’s business. From her Free Community Craft Kit Program during lockdowns to her “Wear With Pride” campaign, which also raises funds to support local 2SLGBTQIA+ organizations the care is apparent in every one of Creative Heart Space’s projects.
Inspired by similar events taking place in the United States throughout the pandemic, Machry launched her Porch Pride initiative in early June 2021. She encouraged community members to decorate their porches and neighbourhoods on June 26, 2021 to celebrate and show support for the Hamilton 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
“Porch Pride is very much for the people by the people. Anyone can participate and to the level that they are comfortable and able. There are no real rules — other than stay safe! There is no board of directors, there are no corporate sponsors and no fundraising. It is very “come as you are with what you’ve got” and open to people of all ages and abilities,” said Machry.
“Porch Pride is very much for the people by the people. Anyone can participate and to the level that they are comfortable and able. There are no real rules — other than stay safe! There is no board of directors, there are no corporate sponsors and no fundraising. It is very “come as you are with what you’ve got” and open to people of all ages and abilities.”
Cadence Machry, founder of Creative Heart Space Hamilton
If they felt comfortable, participating porches were encouraged to send photos and their street name to Machry to be added to the “rainbow map” which would be released the day of the event so community members could take a socially distant walking tour of their neighbourhood.
(https://www.instagram.com/p/CQlb86bnbgj/)
On the day of the event, there were porches across Hamilton participating in Porch Pride, with many listed on the rainbow map. A montage of photos and videos from the event will be shared over Creative Heart Space Hamilton’s social media.
Machry hopes the event will help remind people about how caring and creative the city of Hamilton can be.
“In light of what had happened at Hamilton Pride in 2019, I think a lot of people felt a sense of safety had been taken and then in 2020 we lost physical access to each other in our communities as everything went digital due to the pandemic. I hope Porch Pride helps restore some of that sense of safety and physical connection to community,” explained Machry.
Machry also encourages others to act on any ideas they might to make their community a brighter and better place.
“There is nothing special or exceptional about me that allows me to do these types of projects, just a bit of creativity and a commitment and that’s it. Everyone has the power within them to make something beautiful and I want them to know I believe they can,” said Machry.
