Supercrawl 2023 Call For Artists

 

Supercrawl is a free annual outdoor art and music festival held in downtown Hamilton, Ontario, showcasing a diverse and dynamic lineup of music, art, fashion, performance, talks, crafts, food and fun. In 2022, Supercrawl covered 20 city blocks and attracted more than 275,000 visitors over the course of the weekend. Organizers look forward to building upon that foundation at this fall’s festival — Supercrawl’s 15th anniversary — taking place September 8-10, 2023 on James Street North.

Calls for Entry for the next edition of  Supercrawl are now open:

Calls for Food Trucks and Tented Vendors will open in mid-March.

Follow our socials (Instagram, FacebookTwitter) or watch our website for more details!

Supercrawl was founded out of a desire to showcase the city’s cultural vibrancy and eclectic arts landscape, and remains dedicated to honouring, showcasing and celebrating all varieties of creative work. Supercrawl prioritizes curating a diverse and representative festival lineup. We recognize our responsibility to amplify voices that have traditionally been marginalized, both in our community and in society as a whole.

Supercrawl is committed to inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility. We strive to create an environment in which all participants may flourish. We are committed to removing systemic barriers to access and opportunity, and welcome artistic proposals from all individuals, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, or economic status. We welcome submissions from artists of all backgrounds,  including but not limited to Indigenous, Black, people of colour, 2SLGBTQIA+, women, people with disabilities, and members of equity-seeking communities.

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Top: Lido Pimienta at Supercrawl 2022 

Supercrawl Presents Sharp Words Book Fair Feb 25 at Bridgeworks

Black and white text graphic for Sharp Words: Hamilton's Winter Book Fair, with "Sharp Words" capitalized in a serif typeface and slashed diagonally with a hairline so that the alignment is askew in the middle of each word. A small Supercrawl logo appears at centre top as presenting sponsor. Sharp Words subheading reads "Hamilton's Winter Book Fair"

Sharp Words is coming on February 25, 2023 to Bridgeworks (200 Caroline St. N., Hamilton)! Join us at this free event to discover fabulous new books from innovative writers and publishers, to talk to authors and artists, and to celebrate writing in our city.

The book fair will be open from 11:00am to 6:00pm and will feature great independent presses, artists, comic book creators and writers along with talks about publishing, the writing life and more.

Vendors are slated to include 845 Press, Arc Poetry, Baseline Press, Between the Lines Press, Black Eye Books, Book*hug Press, Canthius, The City & the City Books, Gordon Hill Press, gritLIT, Hamilton Public Library, Hamilton Children’s Authors Collective (ft. Joyce Grant, Joanne Levy, Aimee Reid, and more), Dawn Hussy and Jane Enright, Lime Press, Mark Leslie Lefebvre, Mawenzi House, Ojistoh Publishing, Palimpsest Press, Pallor Publishing, Rose Garden Press, Serif of Nottingham, Simulacrum Press, Stelliform Press, The Shale Project, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, West Meadow Press, Wolsak and Wynn and more.

At 7:00pm,  join us for our Literary Cabaret — an evening of live music where your favourite local authors will pick up the microphone… not to read, but to sing!

EVENT SCHEDULE
11:00 am
Doors Open
11:00 am to 12:00 pm [Onstage]
It’s the Next Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 
Understanding the Pros and Cons of Self-Publishing and Traditional Publishing
Join author and publishing industry veteran Mark Leslie Lefebvre and Wolsak and Wynn publisher Noelle Allen in a discussion about the different kinds of publishing options out there and why there is no “one weird trick” for selling your book.
12:00 pm to 1:00 pm [Online]
Small Press Lunch Dates 
Join author and journalist Ariel Gordon as she hosts an online session introducing you to many fascinating small press authors from across Canada. Please note: This is a virtual session. Please register herehttps://www.eventbrite.ca/e/small-press-lunch-dates-tickets-551595987447
1:00 pm to  2:00 pm [Onstage]
Making it Big in the Hammer
Join award-winning and nationally recognized authors Gary Barwin, Sheila Murray, and Joe Ollmann as they talk about their experiences writing and living in the Ambitious City and what happens when the rest of Canada discovers your book. This panel will be moderated by Hamilton Review of Books Editor in Chief Dana Hansen
2:00 to 3:00 pm [Online]
Small Press Coffee Dates
Ariel Gordon returns for another round of online small press speed dates. Tune in to find more fascinating books from Canada’s most innovative small publishers. Please register here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/small-press-coffee-dates-tickets-551605927177
3:00 pm to 4:00 pm
All You Can Do is Laugh [Onstage]
Join Ralph Benmergui and Erin Pepler in a discussion about the importance of humour in writing about difficult topics in their recent memoirs I Thought He Was Dead: A Spiritual Memoir and Send Me Into the Woods Alone: Essays on Motherhood. This event will be moderated by Tanis MacDonald, the author of Straggle: Adventures in Walking While Female.
7:00 pm
Sharp Words Literary Cabaret [Onstage]
Join host Nathan Whitlock as he leads us through an evening of music, singing and performance! Featuring performances by Gary Barwin, Andrew Bondy, Matt Cahill, Janet Hoy, Amy Jones, Sheila Murray, Nicola Winstanley, Andrew F. Sullivan, Jamie Tennant, John Terpstra, and Liz Worth, with music by Andrew Bondy, Tom Shea, Nathan Whitlock and Mark Woodland.

Sharp Words respects, supports and encourages the wearing of masks at our in-person events.

Supercrawl Presents Broken Social Scene March 17-19 at Bridgeworks

Photograph of members of Broken Social Scene grouped together, gazing into the early afternoon sun
Supercrawl Presents
BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE
You Forgot It In People 20th Anniversary Tour
Friday March 17, 2023 – with special guests Status/Non-Status – SOLD OUT! GET RESALE TICKETS
Saturday March 18, 2023 – with special guests OMBIIGIZI SOLD OUT! GET RESALE TICKETS
Sunday March 19, 2023 – with special guests Zoon –  GET TICKETS
Bridgeworks (200 Caroline St. N., Hamilton)
GA LIC/AA • $50 (+SC/HST) advance
At the dawn of the 21st century, just as the internet began infecting every aspect of our daily lives, Toronto musicians Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning began building a social network of their own. Like other such networks you’re familiar with, it quickly expanded to include friends, and friends of friends. It became a place where they could live out their best lives or fret about the fragile state of the world. And yes, occasionally, it became a forum for arguments and oversharing.
But this social network didn’t require you to stay glued to your smartphone to take part in it. Quite the opposite: Since debuting in 2001, Broken Social Scene have personified the unyielding, incomparable power of IRL human connection. It’s hard to know what to make of an ongoing experiment like Broken Social Scene.
Is it a band? Not quite. Bands tend to have defined memberships and aesthetics and goals; Broken Social Scene have never been bothered with such limitations. Is it a cult? Nah—some of them have the beards, but they could never agree on the right robes. Is it a collective? Certainly, it can seem that way when you see some 15 people crowding the stage, but BSS aren’t so much a united front as a perpetually mutating aggregate of competing creative energies. Once a two-person basement recording project, Broken Social Scene came to life onstage as a shadowy improvisational entity with a revolving-door roster, each concert a wholly unique experience dependent on the room, the weather, what they ate for dinner that night, and who was dropping in to play.
Where the band’s 2001 debut album, Feel Good Lost, presented BSS as an anonymous ambient project that reflected its humble, homespun origins, their electrifying live performances from that era rallied an extended family of performers with roots in post-rock (Justin Peroff, Do Make Say Think’s Charles Spearin), Latin jazz (Andrew Whiteman), art-folk (Feist), synth-pop (Amy Millan and Evan Cranley, also of Stars), dance-punk (Metric’s Emily Haines and Jimmy Shaw), and country rock (Jason Collett). But by pursuing improvisational freedom over commercial considerations, Broken Social Scene set a new gold standard for indie rock in the 21st century with 2002’s You Forgot It In People, an album that pushed the genre far beyond its noisy ’90s slacker roots toward a more sonically expansive, emotionally expressive vision. And with follow-up releases like the blissfully chaotic Broken Social Scene (2005), the rapturous Forgiveness Rock Record (2010), and the intricate, insidiously melodic Hug of Thunder (2017), Broken Social Scene have amassed a thrillingly amorphous, unpredictable body of work.
Throughout their two-decade run, Broken Social Scene have achieved all the markers of modern indie success—rave reviews from Pitchfork, invites to play Coachella and Lollapalooza, multiple JUNO Awards and Letterman appearances, and name-drops in Lorde songs. And their victories have ultimately been Toronto’s, through the establishment of a record label (Arts & Crafts) and music festival (Field Trip) that became rallying points for the local scene and nurtured the next generation of indie upstarts. But arguably Broken Social Scene’s greatest accomplishment is their mere existence, as a conglomerate that continues to defy all logistical convention and musical expectations. They’re living proof that underdogs are most effective when travelling in a pack, that mass audiences can be led into uncharted waters through collective enthusiasm, and that the better world we all dream of begins with community.
In both sound and personnel, Broken Social Scene has changed a lot since their 2001 inception. But one thing has remained constant—at the end of every show, Kevin Drew bids the crowd adieu by telling everyone to “enjoy your lives.” More than just a simple farewell, those words are a call to action—to put down your goddamn phone, get outside, and be part of a social scene of your own.

Supercrawl Reveals Expanded 2022 Lineup

Supercrawl is proud to unveil the expanded lineup for the 2022 free festival weekend, taking place September 9-11, 2022 along James Street North in downtown Hamilton, Ontario and presented by sponsor TD Bank Group (TD).

Supercrawl returns to James Street North with a stellar lineup that includes musical performances from headliners Tim BakerThe Dirty Nil, Hamilton Superstars, Sarah Harmer, Lido Pimienta, and Charlotte Day Wilson, as well as Altameda, Tynomi Banks, The Barettas, Blind Mule, Breeze, Nuela Charles, Dearly Beloved, Ellevator, Espanola, Fame Cartel, Golden Feather, Sarah Good & The Bads, Hamilton Children’s ChoirHamilton Philharmonic Orchestra Brass Quintet, The Hidden Cameras, Cam Kahin, Shawnee Kish, LOONY, Loviet, Olivia Lunny, Eamon McGrath, Nezqwik, Northern Cree, OMBIIGIZI, Lydia Persaud, Lido Pimienta, Pleasure Craft, Queen Cee with GSSO and Duckai, Amanda Rheaume, Tallies, Julian Taylor, TRP.P, and JJ Wilde.

Supercrawl 2022 will also feature an interactive residency from Pittsburgh’s post-industrial art rock performance troupe Squonk, who will bring their touring production “Hand to Hand” to the festival for shows on September 10 and 11. This don’t-miss event, a rare international date, will be only the second time Squonk has staged “Hand to Hand” in Canada.

This year’s festival will also feature visual and performance art from Asli Alin, All Our Relations Collective, Mary Anne Barkhouse, Kiera Boult, Dawn Hackett Burns, Joseph Farrugia, Melissa General, Skawennati, and Brandon Vickerd.

Supercrawl 2022 will host fashion showcases from Ark Collective, Ashes, Domenication, Dope Chief, The Eye of Faith, Heart Collector, Kiki’s Closets, Leave Your Mark, M218, sariKNOTsari, Shedo, The Thrifty Designer, Tout Sweet Vintage, True Hamiltonian and more, in addition to the always sensational Sapphyre Poison Drag Extravaganza.

Festival-goers will also enjoy Theatre + Dance from Alegria Dance Company, Defining Movement Dance, David Hudson Dance Company, Monica Plant x Jungle Ling, Society for the Prevention of Spectacle, Tommy Taylor, and Eshe Yildiz, as well as a weekend-long Authors + Talks roster featuring Charlie Angus, Sifton Tracey Anipare, Michael Barclay, Gary Barwin, Ralph Benmergui, Nic Brewer, Sally Cooper, Terri Favro, Sydney Hegele, Lorraine Johnson, Jon-Erik Lappano, Eddie Lartey, Fareh Malik, Judith McCormack, Robert McGill, Sheila Murray, Aimee Reid, Jamie Tennant and other great readers, plus Friday-night local author signings with Gary Barwin, David Collier, Denise Davy, Jaclyn Desforges, Margaret Nowaczyk, Benjamin Robinson, Brent van Staalduinen and more.

Supercrawl will also offer dozens of food trucks, scores of craft vendors, plus a Family Zone packed with creative options for children and youth. Announcements on all three, as well as festival schedule and map, will follow in the days and weeks ahead.

Supercrawl is a free, not-for-profit outdoor music and arts festival that showcases the cultures, businesses and creative people in Hamilton’s downtown core. It is both an acclaimed tourist event with national profile and a celebration of the city’s creative vitality. On an annual and ongoing basis, Supercrawl provides opportunities to local artists and performers, showcasing them alongside their regional, national and international peers.

Supercrawl Productions, Sonic Unyon Records, Music Cities Events, and the City of Hamilton present the fourth global edition of the Music Cities Forum at Bridgeworks (200 Caroline St. N., Hamilton) on September 7 & 8, 2022. Featuring talks and presentations, live music and networking opportunities, the Forum will explore how the city’s growing and diverse music scene fits into the city’s plans for economic and social development. With Canada being the eighth largest music market in the world,  Ontario is a consistent leader in the national music industry, home to 44% of the nation’s music publishing and recording jobs. Hamilton’s local music scene is a growing, dynamic and eclectic mix of songwriters, musicians, producers, performers and live performances. The city is  increasingly known as a destination for music, and boasts a strong, collaborative and diverse music industry that offers a solid base for continued growth, collaboration and celebration. MCF speakers will include Ace Piva (Tour Manager, Addiction Recovery Coach and Mental Health Advocate), Adesegun Adeosum (CEO & Founder, Made Entertainment), Anders Kastrup Christensen (Head of Partners, Nus Nus & Distortion), Astrid Hepner (Founder & CEO, Hamilton Music Collective), Debbie Spence (Business Development Consultant, Creative Industries, City of Hamilton), Jonathan Bunce (Artistic & Executive Director, Wavelength Music), Lisa La Rocca (Director of Operations, Sonic Unyon Records), Matthew Peterson (Programs Manager, Transitmatters), Mike Tanner (Manager, Music Sector Development, City of Toronto), Sarah Falzon (Lawyer, Taylor Oballa Murray Leyland, LLP), and Tim Potocic (President & Owner, Sonic Unyon Records) among others. For more MCF information and event tickets, click here or visit  musiccitiesevents.com.

Supercrawl Reveals 2022 Music Lineup

Supercrawl organizers today unveiled the musical lineup for the 2022 free festival weekend, taking place September 9-11, 2022 along James Street North in downtown Hamilton, Ontario and presented by sponsor TD Bank Group (TD).

The lineup reveal took place at Bridgeworks, a new community hub and arts event space on the edge of Hamilton’s Central Park that has served as home to many Supercrawl-produced events since it opened its doors in the autumn of 2020. The launch unveiled programming details and celebrated the return of the festival to its traditional neighbourhood corridor for the first time since 2019.

Supercrawl’s Festival Director Tim Potocic screened a launch video and offered up a taste of this fall’s festival for those in attendance. As revealed this morning, this year’s edition of Supercrawl will feature upwards of 40 musical acts, as well as a vibrant array of visual and performance artists.

“We’re thrilled and energized to be returning to James North,” Potocic said. “Supercrawl’s core commitment is to artists and makers, and we’ve always been strongly anchored in Hamilton’s downtown, so this is definitely a milestone moment. The arts sustained a lot of people through a challenging couple of years, and that connection was a lifeline for many of us, so it’s amazing to be able to celebrate artists again in this way — and to do so together, in person. We can’t wait to see you all again this September.”

Musical headliners at Supercrawl 2022 (in alphabetical order) will include Tim BakerThe Dirty Nil, Hamilton All-Stars, Sarah Harmer, Lido Pimienta, and Charlotte Day Wilson. Other musical artists announced today include Altameda, Tynomi Banks, The Barettas, Blind Mule, Breeze, Nuela Charles, Dearly Beloved, Ellevator, Espanola, Fame Cartel, Golden Feather, Sarah Good & The Bads, Hamilton Children’s ChoirHamilton Philharmonic Orchestra Brass Quintet, The Hidden Cameras, Cam Kahin, Shawnee Kish, LOONY, Loviet, Olivia Lunny, Eamon McGrath, Nezqwik, Northern Cree, OMBIIGIZI, Lydia Persaud, Lido Pimienta, Pleasure Craft, Queen Cee with GSSO and Duckai, Amanda Rheaume, Tallies, Julian Taylor, TRP.P, and JJ Wilde.

Supercrawl 2022 will also feature an interactive residency from Pittsburgh’s post-industrial art rock performance troupe Squonk, who will bring their touring production “Hand to Hand” to the festival for shows on September 10 and 11.

Further lineup reveals (such as arts, dance, fashion, theatre, authors and spoken word, vendors, food trucks, family, and more) as well as detailed schedule information will follow in the weeks leading up to the festival.

 

Supercrawl Unveils New Public Art for 2021-2022

Supercrawl is pleased to announce the unveiling of two large-scale public works of art now on display in downtown Hamilton. On October 28, 2021, Nitewaké:non, a work by artist Melissa General, was installed on the south facade of 118 James Street North. Only a few steps away, Mary Anne Barkhouse‘s Dominion was installed in a new location, on the south facade of 91 James Street North, on November 17, 2021. Each artwork, while distinct and complex, also relates to each other by the themes they address, including: relationships to each other, family, home and community, the land, water, plants, and the natural world, as well as history, identity, and language honouring memory inherently rooted in a place — empire, colonialism, and survival.

The artworks are presented as part of Supercrawl’s 2021 Visual & Public Art programming and will be on display for a year. Nitewaké:non is sponsored by the McMaster Museum of Art (MMA) and is presented in collaboration with the enawendewin/relationships project at the MMA, curated by William Kingfisher. Considering gardens as sites of learning and creation, enawendewin/relationships brings together contemporary artists who integrate Indigenous knowledge with practical concerns in the everyday. The multidisciplinary project is informed by themes including growing food as sovereignty, methods for contemporary living, and how our local is affected by global concerns. enawendewin/relationships is on view at the MMA and across sites in Hamilton through November 28, 2021. For more information, click here.

 

Image of Melissa General's 2014 chromogenic print entitled Nitewaké:non

Detail of Nitewaké:non; image courtesy of the artist

Melissa General

Nitewaké:non, 2014, chromogenic print

Artist Statement: Nitewaké:non, “the place where I come from,” examines my relationship to land by exploring the history in my home, Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. It is through this exploration on and with the land that I attempt to connect with and honour the memory inherently rooted in Six Nations Territory.

Biography: Melissa General is a Mohawk artist from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. She is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design and received a Masters of Fine Arts degree from York University. She is a multidisciplinary artist working in photography, audio, video and installation. Her practice is focused on her home territory of Six Nations and the concepts of memory, language, and land. Her artwork has been exhibited at the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, Lamont Gallery, Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, Harbourfront Centre, Stride Gallery, Gallery 101, Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography and has been included in the 2016 Contemporary Native Art Biennial in Montréal. She is a Hnatyshyn Foundation REVEAL – Indigenous Art Award laureate and was named as the 2018 Ontario Arts Council Indigenous Arts Award Emerging Artist Laureate. Melissa is a recipient of a 2021 Artist Prize from Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts.

Nitewaké:non was part of the MAWA-produced Resilience Project.

Image of Mary Anne Barkhouse's 2011 artwork Dominion, an ink jet print on Somerset paper

Image courtesy of the artist

Mary Anne Barkhouse

Dominion, 2011, inkjet print on Somerset paper

Artist Statement: Opening lines from the Book of Genesis set the stage for millenniums’ worth of misguided notions around authority by presuming, as it does, to offer humanity sweeping powers over everything that soars, scuttles, swims, slithers, climbs, gallops, hops, springs, ambles, digs, jumps, flutters or trots.  Regardless, the numerous creatures found in air and sea, forest and fen, carry on. They are not oblivious to our actions, but they continue… despite our actions. Salvation, for the undomesticated, comes not through something magically bestowed by rhetorical fiction or fairy dust,  but by their own agency. And Nature’s response to the passage from the Book of Genesis? ” … as if.”

Biography: Mary Anne Barkhouse was born in Vancouver, BC but has strong ties to both coasts as her mother is from the Nimpkish band, Kwakiutl First Nation of Alert Bay, BC and her father is of German and  British descent from Nova Scotia. She is a descendant of a long line of internationally recognized Northwest Coast artists that includes Ellen Neel, Mungo Martin and Charlie James. She graduated with Honours from the Ontario College of Art in Toronto and has exhibited widely across Canada and the United States. As a result of personal and family experience with land and water stewardship, Barkhouse’s work examines ecological concerns and intersections of culture through the use of animal imagery. Inspired by issues surrounding empire and survival, Barkhouse creates installations that evoke consideration of the self as a response to history and environment. A member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, Barkhouse’s work can be found in numerous collections such as the National Gallery of Canada, Remai Modern in Saskatoon and the Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta. In addition she has public art installations in many cities across Canada, most recently in ᐄᓃᐤ (ÎNÎW) River Lot 11∞ Indigenous Art Park (Edmonton, AB), the Canadian Museum of History (Gatineau, QC), and Carleton University (Ottawa, ON). Barkhouse currently resides in the Haliburton Highlands of Ontario.  maryannebarkhouse.ca

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ABOUT SUPERCRAWL

A not-for-profit arts organization situated within the traditional territories of the Erie, Chonnonton (Neutral), Wendat, Mississauga, and Haudenosaunee nations, Supercrawl is committed to honouring, showcasing and celebrating all varieties of creative work. Positioning local and emerging artists alongside significant provincial, national and international peers, the festival fosters and promotes arts and culture as well as the myriad benefits they provide.

Presented by TD Bank Group (TD) as part of the TD Ready Commitment to amplify diverse voices, Supercrawl is Hamilton’s premier multi-arts festival, fusing new and independent music with art installations, fashion, performance, literature, theatre, and artisanal craft. Supercrawl’s diverse multi-disciplinary program of sound, performance, visual and media arts is staged along a pedestrian-only creative corridor in the heart of downtown.

Since 2010, Supercrawl’s Visual Arts programming has showcased upwards of 100 artists and featured visual art installations in a variety of media. Supercrawl provides opportunities to local, regional and national artists and performers at both early and established stages of their practices. An annual call for submissions is issued to invite proposals from artists working in a variety of media, and art-lovers will also find roughly two dozen gallery spaces and artists’ studios in and around Supercrawl’s neighbourhood.

Supercrawl was shortlisted for a 2019 Ontario Tourism Award of Excellence for Tourism Event of the Year and 2017 Canadian Tourism Award for Event of the Year. The festival received the 2015 Ontario Tourism Award of Excellence for Tourism Event of the Year, and has been recognized as one of Festival and Events Ontario’s Top 100 Festivals/Events for six consecutive years (2015-2020). Supercrawl is a member organization of the Major International Festivals and Events Network of Ontario, the Canadian Music Live Association, and Festivals and Events Ontario.

James Street North: Neighbourhood of the Arts

A PLACE WHERE CREATIVITY LIVES

Since 2010, Supercrawl has showcased visual art installations in a variety of media, including projects and artwork by Hiba Abdallah, Kim Adams, Donna Akrey, Mark Ainslie, Jaime Angelopoulos, Sonny Assu, C.R. Avery, Nedda Baba, Mary Anne Barkhouse, Sarah Beck, Monique Aura Bedard, Beehive Craft Collective, Connor Bennett, BGL, Adam David Brown, Lea Bucknell, Tia Cavanagh, Tracie ChingJefferson Campbell-Cooper, Roy Caussy, Clear Eyes Collective, David Collier, Vanessa Crosbie Ramsay, Adrienne Crossman, Nathan Cyprys, Marco D’Andrea, Shayne Dark, Tanya Davis, Sara DeckJohn Dickson, Eric Drass, dpai architecture, Dean Drever, Jason EdmistonEn Masse, Justin EricksonSimon Frank, Jason Freiburger, Melissa General, Shlomi Greenspan, Group of 7 Billion, Ann Marie Hadcock, Anitra Hamilton, John Haney, Adad Hannah, Sandi Hartling, Alexa Hatanaka, Robert HengeveldDave Hind, Natalie Hunter, Alex Jacobs-Blum, Erika James, Carey Jernigan, Thea Jones, Svava Thordis Juliusson, kírkē, Jason Krugman, Gareth Lichty, Tor Lukasik-Foss, Drew MacEachern, ​Vincent MarconeKelly Mark, Laura Marotta, Sean Martindale, Christopher McLeod, ​Nancy Anne McPhee, Andrew McPhail, Robert Michael, Zeke Moores, Amber Helene Müller St. ThomasMarie-Jeanne Musiol, Shelley Niro, Susy Oliveira, Andrew Owen, Patrick Paine, Megan PressMark Prier, Sean Procyk, Nathalie Quagliotto, Red Tree Collective, Paige ReynoldsJim Riley,​ Mitch Robertson, Matt Rogalsky, Al RuntShake-n-Make, Chris Shepherd, Coral Short, Site 3 Fire Arts, St Marie φ Walker, Jordyn Stewart, Kyle Stewart, Max Streicher, Kearon Roy Taylor, Tyler Tekatch, Reece Terris, TH&B, Alison Thompson, Patrick Thompson, Matt Ryan Tobin, Kevin TongJosé Luis Torres, Brandon VickerdMatthew Walker, C. Wells, Elinor Whidden, Peter Michael Wilson, Tom Wilson, and Shellie Zhang.

Supercrawl provides opportunities to local, regional and national artists and performers at both early and established stages of their practices. An annual call for submissions is issued to invite proposals from artists working in a variety of media.

Art-loving festival-goers will also find numerous gallery spaces and artists’ studios in and around Supercrawl’s neighbourhood, including Art Gallery of HamiltonThe AssemblyCentre[3]Coloma StudioGallery 4 Annex, Melanie Gillis Studio, ​Hamilton Artists Inc., HCA GalleryMills HardwareRE-Create Outreach Art Studio, Studio on James, The Studios at Hotel HamiltonJulia Veenstra StudiosWorkers Arts and Heritage Centre and You Me Gallery.

Video shot on location at Supercrawl 2019 by Thrillhouse Studios
TOP TO BOTTOM: Dean Drever, Bear Hunt, at Supercrawl 2014; Max Streicher, Giants Ascending, at Supercrawl 2011

Supercrawl Lineups: A Dozen Years of Dazzling Music

ONE FESTIVAL. TWELVE SEASONS. HUNDREDS OF PERFORMERS

Since 2009, Supercrawl has hosted a vibrant range of compelling and contemporary musical talent. Whether through the signature on-street festival weekend, partnered presentations, club series, or ticketed events, Supercrawl consistently showcases the best of local live music alongside national and international artists.

Photograph of Sifu Amayo, lead singer of Antibalas, who performed at Supercrawl 2014

The kaleidoscopic roster of Supercrawl alumni runs into the hundreds and includes A Tribe Called Red, The Acorn, Jeremie Albino, Allegories, The Altobeelays, Alvvays, Matt Andersen & the Bona Fide, Antibalas, Arkells,Art Pop EnsembleAscot Royals, Astral Witch, Athanase, Rich Aucoin, AveragesAvrha, AysanabeeBackbiters, Bad Dates, Bad Waitress, Bahamas, Tim Baker, Adam BaldwinThe Bandicoots, James Barker BandBasement Revolver, Bathing,BB Guns,The Beaches, The Be Sharps, Beef Boys, Beelays, BegoniaBeliefs,Belle GameRidley Bent,The Beverleys, Big Fir, Big Wreck, Bile Sister,Bill and the Art Crawlers,Billy Moon,Billy Talent,Everett Bird,Rae Billing & Crybaby,Black Baron,Black Collar UnionBlack Rhino Riot,Blackie & the Rodeo Kings, Blandlord, Blunt Chunks,Bocce,

BonjayKate BoothmanBorn in the Eighties, Born Ruffians, Jessie BowerBowjia, BoyhoodCharles Bradley, Bravestation, Broken Social Scene, BrosThe Bros. Landreth, Brott Opera, Bruce Peninsula, Brusque Twins, Jennifer Budd, Buddah AbusahBasia Bulat, Katie Bulley, Thomas Cade, Cadence Weapon, Ben CaplanCaribou, Carmen on Tap, Carpenteers, Casper Skulls, Jennifer Castle, Catl, Caveboy, Century Palm, Change of Heart, Nuela Charles, Tanika Charles & the Wonderfuls, Evelyn Charlotte-Joe, Chastity, Chelsea Light Moving, Rita Chiarelli, Paul Chin, Choir! Choir! Choir!, Choose Up, Chore, Nicole Christian,City and the Sea, Sam Coffey & The Iron Lungs, Laura Cole, Comet Control, Command Sisters, The Commissionaires, Cootes ParadiseCoszmos Quartette, Cowlick, Coy Haste,

William Crighton, Cross Dog, The Crowleys, Crrotting, Crystal Journey, Customaries, Aron D’Alesio, Danko JonesThe Danks, Dead Tired, Dear Rouge, Dearly Beloved, Death From Above 1979, Matthew de Zoete, Diamond Rings, The Dill, Dilly Dally. Dinner Belles, Dinosaur Bones, The Diodes, Dirty Frigs, The Dirty Nil, Discography DJs, Dizzy, Dizzy Spells, DJ Basco, DJ Ollie, DJ Spinn, Doldrums, Doobie Freaks, Don Vail, Doomsquad, Dr. Draw, Kevin Drew, Ducats, Dwayne Gretzky, Earth Wind and Choir, Eccodek, Dan EdmondsEgyptrixx, Eight and a Half, Electroluminescent, Elk, EllevatorElliott Brood, Joel Elliot and Thin Lines, Ellis, John Ellison, The Elwins, Emay, Engine Empire, Eschaton, Essen, Etiquette, Julie Fader, Fake Palms, Family of ThingsFast Romantics,

Fateh, Michael Feuerstack, Jeremy Fisher, Jeremy Fisher Junior, Five Alarm Funk, Flesh RagNorman Foote, Four Tet, Pete Fowler, The Franklin Electric, Fresh Snow, Danielle Fricke, Friendly Rich, Frog Eyes, Fruiti, Fry Truck, F—-d Up, The Fuddles, Evangeline Gentle, Hannah Georgas, The GertrudesGet Off the CopTim Gibbons, The Goddamn Goddamns, Golden Feather, Good Luck Shop, Sarah Good, Great Lake Swimmers, The Great Machine, Jacques Greene, Jeremy Greenspan, JG Ballad, Grey Lands, Greys, Grey\\Water, Groove MachineGUH, Guilty Pleasure, Hachey the Mouthpeace, Jordan Haller, The Halluci Nation, Hamilton Children Choir, Hamilton Conservatory for the ArtsHamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, Hamilton Suzuki School of Music, Hamilton Youth Steel Orchestra

Handsome Sultan, Haolin Munk, Harlan Pepper, The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer, HarrisonHarrow FairRon Hawkins and The Do Good Assassins, Hayden, Piper Hayes, HEALTH, The Heartbroken, Hello HarvardMatt Henderson, The Darcy Hepner Jazz Orchestra, Tim Hicks, The Hidden Cameras, Rebekah Higgs, High Kites, High Note Ramblers, Lacey Hill, Hollerado, Matt Holubowski, Holy Data, Hotel Mira, How to Dress Well, HSY, Humans, Huren, Ikonica, Illitry, Iskwé, Island PeopleJambassadors, Jamie xx, Jaunt, Jess and Tay, BA Johnston, Jon and Roy, Julianna Jones, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Julie & the Wrong GuysJunior Boys, K’naan, Harrison KennedyThe Kents, Shawn Kerr, Kestrels, kid YEARS, Kiesza, The Killjoys

King ParkKingdom Shore, Taylor Knox, Kode9, Komodo, Kotek, Chantal Kreviazuk, KROYL-Spex, Joey Landreth, Language Arts, Daniel Lanois, Jessy Lanza, Lava Dolls, Bettye LaVette, Ada Lea, Alyssa LeClair, Lee Harvey Osmond, The Legendary Turnstylez, Hamilton Leithauser, Hubert Lenoir, Les Trois Accords, Letters to Lions, Terra Lightfoot, Lightmares, LightsLindy, Little Junior, Live How You Live, Lone RhuLonely Parade, Lost In The TreesDJ Donna Lovejoy, Lowell, Sarah Lowes, LTtheMonk, Luckystickz, Luna Li, Corb Lund, Catherine MacLellan, Dan Mangan, Shanika Maria, J Mascis, Mayor McCA, Eamon McGrath, McMaster Cybernetic Orchestra, Ryan McNallyThe Marble Index, Melissa Marchese, Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar, Matt Mays, Mean Old Hammer, The Medicine Hat, MegativeMelted Faces, METZ

Mexican Slang, Haviah MightyMississippi BendsModern SpaceAriane Moffatt, Mokomakai, Monowhales, Monster Truck, Jacob Moon, Moon King, Motel Raphaël, Motëm, Mother Leads, Mother Tareka & the Rebel Funktion, Mount FarewellMountain of Wolves, Muffled Suitcase, Benjamin Muñoz, My Brightest DiamondMystery Machine, Nailbiter, The National, The National Academy Orchestra of Canada, Nautiluss, nêhiyawak, Angela Nethersole, Sarah Neufeld, New Hands, Willie NileNot Of,Nyssa, Jesse O’Brien, Chris Oday, Odonis Odonis, Of Gentlemen & Cowards,​ ​​Oh Susanna, Ohbijou, Ohmme, Olenka and the Autumn Lovers, Opera Hamilton, Operators, Lindi Ortega, Osito, The Pack AD, Paley & Francis, Owen Pallett, Pandaléon, Peter Pankhurst, Gabrielle Papillon, Brant Parker, Partner,

Passion Pit, Fred Penner, Paula Perri, Sandro Perri, PersonsPet Sun, Petra Glynt, Pick A Piper, Pineapple GirlsThe PistolettesPlants and Animals, Joel Plaskett Emergency, Poesy, Poor Nameless BoyNeeraj Prem, Kelly PrescottPS I Love You, Pucumber Sasssquatch Family Band, Pumps, Rah Rah, Rarity, ReaderThe Reason, The Recklaws, The Redhill ValleysLee Reed, Repartee, The Rest, Rexford Drive, Amanda Rheaume, Rhythm Express, River Tiber, Sam Roberts Band, Ben Rogers, Neena Rose, Shealagh RoseSean Rowe, Royal Canoe, Royal SeasRules,Run Maggie Run, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Serena Ryder, The Sadies, Said the Whale, Buffy Sainte-Marie, John K. Samson, Sandman Viper Command, Scattered Clouds,

Scratcha DVA,Sensei, Several Futures, Sha Bang Bang, Shad, ShadeSharon and Bram, Andy ShaufAnnie Shaw, The SheepdogsNaomi Shelton and The Gospel Queens, Shout Out Out Out,SIANspheric, Simon and The Alexanders, Mike Simonetti, Simply Saucer, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Single Mothers,SINS, SkiffsSkirt Check, Alfie SmithC.A Smith, Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Snowblink, So Young,Ben Somer, The Sorority, John Southworth, Speedy Ortiz, Spoon, Spruce Invaders,Ginger St. James, Alex St. KittsStarsThe Strangers, The Stinkbugs, Steve Strongman,The Strumbellas, The Sugarman 3, Sun K, Suuns, Tomi Swick, Tanya Tagaq, Rory Taillon, Theo Tams, Tarantula X,Teenage Head, Ian ThomasThought Beneath Film, 3:1Timber Timbre, Michelle TitianTo Our Divide,

Tongue Fu, The Trews, Trickbagttwwrrss, TUNS, Turkey Rhubarb, TurnstylezTV Freaks, Jeff TweedyTwin Within, Vallens, Heather Valley, The Vanishers, The Vaudevillian, Menno Versteeg, Vierance, Viet Cong, Voodoo Glow SkullsWalrus, Ruby Waters, Willie Watson, Wax Mannequin, Weaves, Bry Webb, Sam Weber, Weekend Riot Club, White Cowbell Oklahoma, White Crowleys, Whitehorse, Wild Domestic, Steven WilsonThompson Wilson, Wintersleep, Wish, Witherow & Wynands, Womb, Wooly Mantis, ​Donovan Woods, Hawksley Workman, Max WrayWTCHS, X Ambassadors, Yamantaka//Sonic Titan, Lori Yates & the Drugstore Cowboys, Yo La Tengo, Young Galaxy, Young Rival, Yukon Blonde, Zeus, The Zilis, The Zolas, ZONES and Zoon.

The list will grow even longer with the reveal of Supercrawl’s 2023 musical lineup in summer 2023.

 

Video shot on location at Supercrawl 2019 by Thrillhouse Studios

TOP TO BOTTOM: Antibalas at Supercrawl 2014;  Arkells at Supercrawl 2014;  Broken Social Scene at Supercrawl 2018; Fateh at Supercrawl 2019; iskwé at Supercrawl 2018; Sharon Jones at Supercrawl 2015; Buffy Sainte-Marie at Supercrawl 2019; The Sorority at Supercrawl 2019; Spoon at Supercrawl 2014;  Tanya Tagaq at Supercrawl 2017; Yo La Tengo at Supercrawl 2013

Supercrawl Unveils New Public Artwork for 2020-2021

Supercrawl celebrates the arrival of a bold new large-scale work of visual art in downtown Hamilton. On Friday, October 23, installation teams mounted Shellie Zhang’s striking work To What Do We Owe This Honour? on the south facade of 118 James Street North.

The artwork is curated by McMaster Museum of Art and sponsored by both the McMaster Museum of Art and the Downtown Hamilton BIA.

Presented by TD Bank Group (TD) as part of the TD Ready Commitment to amplify diverse voices, Supercrawl is Hamilton’s premier multi-arts festival, fusing new and independent music with art installations, fashion, performance, literature, theatre, and artisanal craft. Supercrawl’s diverse multi-disciplinary program of sound, performance, visual and media arts is staged along a pedestrian-only creative corridor in the heart of downtown.

Zhang’s artwork is the sixth long-term installation that the festival has showcased at this site, where it will live as a prominent visual presence over James Street North for an entire year. It succeeds Supercrawl’s 2019 installation, Hiba Abdallah’s text-based work In Retrospect, whose declarative message (EVERYTHING IS MUCH MORE CONNECTED THAN WE THINK) anticipated our current moment, a time when links between global and local concerns are undeniable.

Shellie Zhang’s To What Do We Owe This Honour? enlarges a collection of miniature totemic objects against a backdrop of a sky to create a connection between the intimate setting of one’s home with the shared realm of public space. The project prompts reflection for the objects we surround ourselves with and the monuments we adorn our cities with, questioning, what symbols reflect our current collective values, whose legacies are granted permanence, and which histories are given a pedestal.

Zhang (born 1991 in Beijing, China) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Tkaronto/Toronto, Ontario. By uniting both past and present iconography with the techniques of mass communication, language and sign, Zhang’s work deconstructs notions of tradition, gender, the diaspora, and popular culture while calling attention to these subjects in the context and construction of a multicultural society. She is interested in exploring how integration, diversity and assimilation is implemented and negotiated, how this relates to lived experiences, how culture is learned, relearned and sustained, and how things are remembered and preserved.

Zhang has exhibited at venues including WORKJAM (Beijing, CN), Asian Art Initiative (Philadelphia, PA) and Gallery 44 (Toronto, ON). She is a recipient of grants such as the Toronto Arts Council’s Visual Projects grant, the Ontario Arts Council’s Visual Artists Creation Grant and the Canada Council’s Project Grant to Visual Artists. In 2017, she was Artist-in-Residence at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Her work has been published in Canadian Art, the Toronto Star, Blackflash Magazine, CBC Arts, and C Magazine, and she is a member of EMILIA-AMALIA, a feminist reading and writing group. The artist’s recent and upcoming projects include exhibitions at Artspace (Peterborough, ON), Patel Gallery (Toronto, ON), AKA Artist-Run (Saskatoon, SK) and the Anchorage Museum (Anchorage, AK).

A not-for-profit arts organization situated within the traditional territories of the Erie, Neutral, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Haudenosaunee nations, Supercrawl is committed to honouring, showcasing and celebrating all varieties of creative work. Positioning local and emerging artists alongside significant provincial, national and international peers, the festival fosters and promotes arts and culture as well as the myriad benefits they provide.

Since 2010, Supercrawl’s Visual Arts programming has showcased upwards of 100 artists and featured visual art installations in a variety of media. Supercrawl provides opportunities to local, regional and national artists and performers at both early and established stages of their practices. An annual call for submissions is issued to invite proposals from artists working in a variety of media, and art-lovers will also find around two dozen gallery spaces and artists’ studios in and around Supercrawl’s neighbourhood.

Supercrawl was shortlisted for a 2019 Ontario Tourism Award of Excellence for Tourism Event of the Year and 2017 Canadian Tourism Award for Event of the Year. The festival received the 2015 Ontario Tourism Award of Excellence for Tourism Event of the Year, and has been recognized as one of Festival and Events Ontario’s Top 100 Festivals/Events for six consecutive years (2015-2020). Supercrawl is a member organization of the Major International Festivals and Events Network of Ontario, the Canadian Music Live Association, and Festivals and Events Ontario.

In June, Supercrawl festival organizers announced that they would be re-scoping event programming in response to pandemic-related public health considerations. The massive free event, which drew more than 250,000 fans in 2019, has since undertaken a range of special events, including the ticketed Skytop Concert Series staged atop the York Boulevard Parkade in September and announced a free live performance series at Bridgeworks (200 Caroline St. N., Hamilton) that will showcase various artistic disciplines through the end of 2020.

Supercrawl Insiders