Gallery Opening on James St. North, Hamilton
Hamilton’s Art Crawl occurs on the second Friday of every month. My wife and I try to go to it every month. What attracts us is not the only the art, which can sometimes be quite interesting, but also the street life and crowd scenes that the crawl attracts. These types of crowds we find very enjoyable. There is a variety of people who form these crowds: young hipsters, middle-aged people with interest in art or culture, people who happen to be walking by and those who simply wish to enjoy the streets of Hamilton.
The Art Crawl is located on James St North–the heart of the historic core of Hamilton. On its route are the Hamilton Armory and the Anglican Christ’s Church Cathedral–two of the more attractive architectural landmarks in downtown Hamilton. Along the route there is some retail, several galleries, a few restaurants. The Mixed Media store at the corner of James and Cannon is a major crowd attractor. In the galleries not much art appears to get sold. On the surface not much money appears to be changing hands. At times other than during these once-monthly events, the neighbourhood goes back to its normal role as a downtown street with shops, sports bars and restaurants that serves a lively, mostly Portuguese community.
Art crawls provide not only a means to revitalize a city but also provide glimpses of alternative lifestyles. One group found at the Art Crawl are young people trying to establish identities as artists or designers, or to flirt with the possibility of creative, possibly unconventional lifestyles. In larger cities, with well-established cultural industries, the sight of such young people are commonplace. In Hamilton, they are a new development.
Such young members of the ‘creative classes’ I think are important for the future of Hamilton. In the current Canadian economic climate, which does not favour Hamilton’s economic base of heavy industry and manufacturing, an Art Crawl appears to be a low cost way to experiment with possible futures. It will not provide all the answers, but it does provide new ideas for a city dependent on declining smoke-stack industries.
If I were someone who wishes to invest money in the Art Crawl (as opposed to merely attend them) I would think about some of the following issues:
The Art Crawl only happens once a month. Is that enough to make a real impact on the city?
In my mind the Art Crawl is a big development in the cultural life of Hamilton. By their nature Art Crawls can’t be continuous events, since then there wouldn’t be time for artists to produce art or put together new shows. Art Crawls depend on the production of new art to remain interesting and authentic. In a city like Hamilton there is only a limited supply of such work.
Where could the Art Crawl lead for Hamilton?
The Art Crawl will likely have the effect of bringing development to James St North. If this development process is successful, practising artists who are dependent on cheap rents may eventually be driven out. In Hamilton’s case though, James St North is adjacent to regions of Hamilton such as the Beasley and Barton Street that should have cheap rents for the foreseeable future; a stone’s throw from James St North are some of the most poverty-afflicted urban areas in Canada.
What Hamilton needs are not just areas that might support development or gentrification (which is not necessarily a good thing) but in the creation of cultural industries where people might be able to find stable employment. In this respect I think the Art Crawl is very promising.
Should Art Crawls be about art or can they be generalized to other things?
Art Crawls depend on the existence of artists studios, galleries and other aspects of cultural production to become viable. Doors Open events on the other hand depend on the existence of a body of architectural and urban design resources that can be visited. They could be called ‘Architectural Crawls.’
Other possible types of crawls might be:
- Crawls within and between neighbourhoods (e.g. Jane’s Walks)
- Crawls between bars and restaurants (Pub Crawls)
- Crawls that show the inside of factories or other workplaces (Factory Crawls)
- Crawls between houses of worship (God Crawls)
What is common to all of these is that they involve people willing to engage in their city and to interact in a way that may not have been possible without them.
Art Crawls are cool and fun, but do they actually earn anyone any money?
Art Crawls are initially intended to support artists and galleries. It is usually the arts communities that initially promote them. If they become popular and start attracting crowds then these crowds can be put to many uses.
One of the most common side-effects is that they can increase property values in artists districts, which often has the effect of eventually displacing artists from these districts. I think the potential to create new markets for cultural goods is real yet the probability that artists will necessarily benefit from this process is uncertain.
Art Crawls are like websites that provide a service of real value yet are free to users. The initial goal is to attract an audience. Often the revenue stream that might be derived from this audience is not always clear at the beginning.
Are Art Crawls elitist events; do they alienate as well as attract segments of the population?
To become excited about an Art Crawl one presumably needs to have some interest in artists, galleries and cultural expression. This will likely remain a minority interest in an industrial city like Hamilton. Yet, being a minority interest is not necessarily elitist.
There appears to be no attempt by most participants to gain extra privilege by attending these events. Most participants just seem to want to enjoy art. People who enjoy art are not necessarily members of an elite group despite fine art’s occasional connection to those with power and influence. In fact, artists are often among the lowest paid members of society.
