This new program creates creative opportunities for a selected poet to encourage engagement with poetry writing in the community
The Poet in Place program is a new inclusive initiative that aims to engage the city's community with poetry and the literary arts.
The program spotlights a chosen poet or spoken word artist who has a term of two years and receives a total honorarium of $20,000, or $10,000 each year. The selected poet's responsibilities include performing original works at public events, delivering poetry workshops in collaboration with the Hamilton Public Library and developing creative placemaking projects.
Brianne Gascho is the cultural project specialist for the city of Hamilton. Her role consists of supporting arts and culture in the community. For this particular program, she is in charge of developing and managing the project as the lead.
Gascho explained the program was originally directed by the city council. They had pushed for a poet laureate program to do more for the literary arts in the city and Gascho and her team were tasked with assembling the project. After community consultations and research, they decided to create a program different from a traditional poet laureate program, as they wanted to remain accessible and to stay rooted in creative placemaking.
Gascho highlighted some key differences between a poet laureate program and Hamilton’s Poet in Place program. One key difference is that laureate programs are rooted in certain conceptions of merit and achievement, making them inaccessible to many artists, especially unpublished ones. Hamilton’s Poet in Place program does not require applicants to be published. Another key difference is that Hamilton accepts Poet in Place applications from spoken word artists, rather than only accepting applications from page poets. These features, Gascho explained, make the program unique to Hamilton.
“What really makes this program different is the amount of placemaking-based project work. . . which is using specific places and spaces in our city to implement projects. So we're going to create opportunities for engagement that are very specific to Hamilton [using poetry],” said Gascho.
The process for choosing the poet begins when the city receives applications from poets, according to Gascho. Application materials include a project proposal, artist bio, community engagement statement and poetic works in the form of writing or video. City staff then check each poet’s eligibility requirements before sending their applications to a jury.
The jury consists of poets, spoken word artists and people with placemaking and project expertise, though the specific members of the jury are not revealed until after the poet has been chosen. The jury reviews applications and reaches a consensus decision for the poet before announcing it in the new year. The process is entirely community-led.
Reception for the program has been both positive and negative. Gascho said that some negative reception is to be expected with the social issues the city currently faces, with people concerned about the monetary cost of the program and whether it is at the expense of funding other initiatives.
On the other hand, there has been a lot of positive support from the city council, the mayor and the broader arts community. This has highlighted a positive outcome of the project, which is that citizens and people not normally engaged with the arts have been given the opportunity to explore that side of Hamilton more.
Gascho also pointed out that the program is relevant to students as a way to venture beyond the academic setting on campus and explore more of what the city has to offer.
“It's an opportunity for students to engage with practicing artists and arts professionals. . . it provides opportunities for students to actually connect with these [poetic] projects. . . and be able to see the literary arts and more broadly, the creative arts activated in our community,” said Gascho.
Gascho encourages students to attend workshops or performances held by the poet in the future. If they have any questions or would like further information about the program, they can connect with her or other members involved in arts and culture. Her information is located here. She hopes that students will enjoy what the program has to offer and feel involved in the community.
Previously focused only on films, the local gallery’s 10-day festival has expanded into a multi-arts festival with workshops, panels, film screenings and venue tours
From Oct. 12-21, the Art Gallery of Hamilton held its annual festival.
The AGH Festival was a 10-day event that showcased various forms of art, such as visual arts and music, through workshops, panel discussions, film screenings and museum tours. Events were also held outside the AGH at venues throughout Hamilton, including the Westdale Theatre and the Music Hall.
Megan Olynik, head of marketing at the AGH, explained that the festival started off with a focus on films only but in 2022, they transitioned into a multi-day arts festival.
The event is organized throughout the year, with the process beginning right after the previous festival ends. The AGH works with multiple organizations and artists across the city. Additionally, the museum employs many volunteers and staff from the community to help with the programming and running of the events. It is a large undertaking for the AGH and every team member is crucial to ensuring the festival runs smoothly.
The festival stands out compared to other events in Hamilton because of its longer runtime, providing more opportunities for the gallery and the community to engage with each other.
“Events spread out [over time] are very helpful for people coming to more things. They also help introduce audiences to the variety of programs that we have here at the gallery throughout the year [and] allow us to run programs that we wouldn't normally run,” said Olynik.
Reception for the festival has been positive and the events offered often have quite a big turnout, according to Olynik. She hoped that the festival would also remind people of the galleries other offering throughout the year and encourage them to visit.
The AGH has also taken steps to ensure the venue is accessible to everyone, such as making admission free on Thursdays. There are over 10 thousand pieces in the AGH’s collection that deserve recognition.
“At the gallery, there's always something to do. We have programming throughout the year for youth . . . [The current exhibition Wonder is] a very immersive exhibition with rooms full of large sculptures and really neat artwork that we don't often get to put on display,” explained Olynik.
While the festival for this year is over, it will return next year with many events for students to check out with their friends or family. It is sure to have something for everyone and is a great way to become more engaged with the community and artistic side of the city. In the meantime, the AGH is open from Thursday to Sunday each week and is filled with art for students to check out!
At the intersection of art, science and community engagement, the AGH’s Art of Creation strives to inform the public about the health needs of pregnant people in Hamilton
The Art of Creation is a research and community outreach project that strives to communicate early origin science to Hamilton’s community through artistic engagement.
Jordan Chin, project coordinator at the Art of Creation and a student in McMaster University’s master of public health program, defined early origin science as the field of research investigating how a fetus’s environment in the womb impacts their health and their risk factor for diseases later in life.
Chin works along Deb Sloboda, the associate chair research in McMaster’s department of biochemistry and biomedical sciences, who also leads the Art of Creation study.
Sloboda explained that when she first began her PhD early origin science was an incredibly new field. Even though the field is much more established now, the public is still largely unaware of early origin science and its importance in health.
“When we think about interventions or community-based health, we entirely think about [questions like]: How much physical activity are we doing? How can we get populations exercising? How can we make sure that kids understand good eating habits? All [of these are] extremely important, but one thing we don't do is think about how can we support pregnant individuals,” explained Sloboda.
When we think about interventions or community-based health, we entirely think about [questions like]: How much physical activity are we doing? How can we get populations exercising? How can we make sure that kids understand good eating habits? All [of these are] extremely important, but one thing we don't do is think about how can we support pregnant individuals.
Deb Sloboda, associate chair research in McMaster’s department of biochemistry and biomedical sciences and lead on the Art of Creation study
The Art of Creation began as a response to this lack of awareness and attention on early origin science.
“We came up with the idea of using an arts-based approach and going to cultural institutions, like an art gallery, rather than public health or public health administration [and] rather than creating more infographics and flyers that people are going to read at the doctor’s office,” said Sloboda.
Sloboda and Chin both explained that cultural institutions, such as museums, libraries and art galleries, are valuable resources for connecting with the community and are perhaps underutilized avenues for community education. They also emphasized that arts-based community outreach is uniquely engaging and uniquely accessible.
“You don't have to be able to understand, for example, the English language, to look at [a piece of art] and understand it and be emotionally attached to it,” said Sloboda.
You don't have to be able to understand, for example, the English language, to look at [a piece of art] and understand it and be emotionally attached to it.
Deb Sloboda, associate chair research in McMaster’s department of biochemistry and biomedical sciences and lead on the Art of Creation study
Chin explained that the Art of Creation has facilitated multiple arts-based outreach programs, including arts-based support groups for pregnant people and a program in which artists visited an early origin science lab and then created science-informed art.
Currently, the Art of Creation exhibition is being hosted at the Fischer Gallery in the Art Gallery of Hamilton. This is the exhibition’s first stop in Hamilton, but it will not be its last.
“The exhibition starts at the Fischer Gallery, and then we're hoping to move it to community organizations next year so that we can reach populations [who might not] wander into the Art Gallery of Hamilton. It'll end in the McMaster Museum of Art in January 2025,” explained Sloboda.
The Art of Creation Exhibition is completely free to view. The AGH is free to students, Sloboda explained, but the Fischer Gallery in particular is also completely free to the public, allowing anyone to enter it and view the exhibition.
The Art of Creation Exhibition opened at the AGH on Sept. 14 and it will run until Nov. 30. After this, Sloboda and Chin plan for it to move around in the community, reaching as many populations as possible.
