Supercrawl 2024 Call For Artists – Now Closed

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 2023, Supercrawl covered 22 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 16th anniversary — taking place September 13-15, 2024 on James Street North.

Calls for Artists for the 2024 edition of  Supercrawl are now closed. Thanks to all who applied.

Please do not contact organizers regarding the results of your application before they are communicated to you. When decisions are made, you will be contacted.

Please do not telephone, text, direct message, or use social media comments for artist-related requests/communications. All official communications will be conducted via email only.

Call for Volunteers will open in June.

Details on the first-come, first served Supermarket program will be announced September 1.

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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Supercrawl Presents Sharp Words Book Fair Feb 24 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 returns to Bridgeworks for a second sensational season! 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. RSVP today to ensure your access.

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, Baseline Press, Between the Lines Press, Black Eye Books, Book*hug Press, The City & the City Books, Darrel Epp, Gordon Hill Press, gritLIT, Hamilton Children’s Authors Collective (featuring Joyce Grant, Aimee Reid, Karen Bass and Lana Button), Lime Press, Mark Leslie Lefebvre, David Lee, The Literary Press Group, Mawenzi House, Palimpsest Press, Pinhole Poetry, Serif of Nottingham, The Shale Project, Simulacrum Press, Stelliform Press, West Meadow Press, and Wolsak and Wynn.

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

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

RSVP & INFO

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EVENT SCHEDULE

11:00 am

Doors Open

11:00 am to 12:00 pm

Behind the Scenes in Children’s Publishing

Join author and publishing industry veterans Joyce Grant, Karen Bass, Aimee Reid and Lana Button as they share their stories of bringing out award-winning books for children and young adults and explain the complicated journey from story idea to finding copies of your books in bookstores! This panel will be moderated by Joyce Grant, the award-winning author of Can You Believe It?: How to Spot Fake News and Find the Facts.

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Telling True Stories

Childhood memories of war, histories in poetry from the Caribbean island of Curaçao and a pandemic diary all sound very different, but they’re all fascinating ways to tell true stories. Join authors Dannabang Kuwabong, George Matuvi and Rebecca Rosenblum as they discuss how their stories took shape and why they chose to tell them in this form. This panel will be moderated by Hamilton Review of Books Editor-in-Chief Dana Hansen.

3:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Books on Air

What does it take to put together a literary podcast? Why do people do it? Should you tune in? Join authors and podcasters Eden Boudreau, Tanis MacDonald, Brent van Staalduinen and Nathan Whitlock as they talk about why they put down their pens and picked up their mics. Moderated by Tanis MacDonald the host of Watershed Writers, which is heard weekly on Midtown Radio KW.

7:00 pm

Sharp Words Literary Cabaret

Join hosts Amy Jones and Nathan Whitlock as they lead us through an unforgettable evening of music, singing, prizes and fun that you can take part in. Featuring performances by Lana Button, Denise Da Costa, Alicia Elliott, Joyce Grant, Liz Harmer, Melissa Kuipers, Joe Ollmann, Greg Rhyno, Mike Sholars and Meaghan Strimas. Music by The Approximators: Andrew Bondy, Tom Shea, Nathan Whitlock and Mark Woodland

Supercrawl Insiders