It all started as an effort among gallerists to draw foot traffic into new exhibition and studio spaces peppering the core. The approach was loose and organic, with a handful of mavericks and outsiders leading the vanguard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But today, Art Crawl looks and feels different.<\/p>\n
What exactly is it now, and where is it heading?\u00a0<\/p>\n
To answer those questions, we first need to wander down memory lane.<\/p>\n
\u2018The street is coming alive\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cNow there are art crawl nights on James North, the second Friday of every month. The street is coming alive.\u201d Writing in his\u00a0StreetBeat<\/a> column in October 2006, longtime Spectator columnist Paul Wilson effectively captured what had been on the minds of locals in recent months.<\/p>\n There was indeed something happening on James Street North. New galleries and small businesses were opening. Ideas were percolating. Word was spreading that the downtown strip was becoming the new artistic centre of Hamilton.<\/p>\n Not long after the turn of the millennium, gallerist Bryce Kanbara bought a building on the cheap and opened You Me Gallery. He was one of the originators.<\/p>\n Bryce Kanbara, who opened You Me Gallery on James Street North more than two decades ago, was among the artists who helped launch Hamilton\u2019s Art Crawl.<\/p>\n The Hamilton Spectator file photo<\/p>\n \u201cI remember the first time I walked this far north on James Street, seeing all the vacant storefronts and deciding that it might be a good place to open a little gallery,\u201d recalls Kanbara, a founding member of Hamilton Artists Inc.<\/p>\n Zena Hagerty soon followed suit with Sublimatus. She recalls early talks on the street regarding the possibility of a co-ordinated event.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d had two brief meetings, to get things moving, on a very simple concept: Making a happening with collective energy by being open at the same time once a month,\u201d Hagerty recalls. \u201cAnd it worked. There were many more people than any of us expected.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In the documentary \u201cHearts\u00a0\u2014 A Film About Hamilton\u2019s Art Crawl<\/a>,\u201d Hagerty mentions \u201cArt on James\u201d as an early name candidate, while Centre[3] co-founder Colina Maxwell says \u201cArt Hop\u201d was also floated. Dave Kuruc, who ran Mixed Media on James Street North for more than a decade, recalls \u201cArt Crawl\u201d entering the lexicon around 2005.<\/p>\n \u201cAt that point, you still had a bakery. There was a post office at the Shoppers Drug Mart. You had a hardware store. You had a few hardware stores, actually,\u201d Kuruc begins. \u201cThe other thing was that you could find a space to rent on James Street that wasn\u2019t very expensive, so that made it desirable.\u201d<\/p>\n Art Crawl itself was a joyous occasion. It offered a chance for people to wander the street at dusk, sipping wine and stopping into galleries and studios to view the exhibitions and mingle. Spaces were intimate, bursting with lively conversation and open later than normal. News of the budding downtown arts scene soon reached all corners of the city and beyond.<\/p>\n A skating demonstration in front of the Local Skate Shop attracted crowds of onlookers during Art Crawl.<\/p>\n Andrew Baulcomb\/The Hamilton Spectator<\/p>\n Within a few years, another new, annual event called Supercrawl<\/a> debuted, this time with a focus on live music. \u201cWe were part of that momentum, and were fully in support of all the community members working together,\u201d says Sonic Unyon owner and president Tim Potocic, the former festival director.\u00a0<\/p>\n But when an event prides itself on being free and relatively shapeless, it can get harder to define exactly what it is over time. Popularity can also bring a whole new set of challenges, including higher prices.<\/p>\n \u2018Deeply damaged by gentrification\u2019<\/p>\n As Art Crawl entered its second decade, the event started attracting everyone from musicians and buskers to small retailers and street-food vendors. The downtown core in general also caught the interest of investors, and real-estate prices soon reflected new speculative interest.<\/p>\n Internal data from real-estate brokerage\u00a0Blair Blanchard Stapleton (BBS) Limited found the 2014 average price per downtown acre to be $5.6 million. By 2021, that figure had more than doubled\u00a0to an average sale price for development land in the core sitting at $11.5 million per acre.<\/p>\n Residential real estate was no different. By 2017, home prices in central Hamilton had surged by nearly 130 per cent over the previous decade, according to a CBC report. A 2019 article in The Spectator cited \u201cthe gentrification of older, inner-city neighbourhoods<\/a> that were traditionally a source of more affordable housing\u201d as part of several related housing challenges.<\/p>\n In fairness, it wasn\u2019t all driven by Art Crawl. The Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton has cited several overlapping factors, including the erosion of existing affordable housing, a fast-growing and developer-driven market of new builds and land speculation furthered by the approval of Hamilton\u2019s light rail transit project.<\/p>\n As the market surged upward, the physical makeup of James Street North also evolved. The empty and neglected Lister Block<\/a>\u00a0fronting James and King William Street was redeveloped for modern commercial use. The Residences at Acclamation<\/a>\u00a0at the corner\u00a0of Mulberry Street and other major condo projects added high-end housing units. The sagging Hotel Hamilton<\/a>, also at Mulberry, was converted into artist studios. CBC selected James Street North, near Cannon Street West, as the site of its new Hamilton bureau, and the Art Gallery of Hamilton opened a Design Annex<\/a> on the same block.<\/p>\n With so much rapid change, some of the original Art Crawl hosts and patrons began to get squeezed out.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a fairly common pattern that you see,\u201d says McMaster University\u2019s Jim Dunn, an associate dean in the Faculty of Social Sciences. \u201cAs the art scene rises more and more, it makes a neighbourhood more interesting to a wider variety of people. They\u2019re attracted by lower housing prices, and so they\u2019ll move there.\u201d<\/p>\n Is that enough of a reason not to embrace a budding art scene? \u201cNo, I don\u2019t think so at all,\u201d Dunn says. \u201cAgain, it really comes down to mitigation.\u201d In other words, providing enough intermediate and low-rent options for the broad spectrum of society to keep the balance just right, he explains.<\/p>\n Depending on whom you ask, that balance may have never existed on James Street North once Art Crawl became a hugely popular draw.<\/p>\n \u201cArt Crawl 10 years ago, or maybe 15 years ago now, was focused on artists, art galleries and some artist studios,\u201d says Kanbara. \u201cAfter COVID, well, maybe slightly before COVID, too, the gentrification started to happen. Artists couldn\u2019t afford to rent the studios or the storefronts, and they left.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHamilton is a city that has been deeply damaged by gentrification,\u201d Hagerty offers. \u201cI couldn\u2019t afford it anymore, and now live in the woods in Nova Scotia near another beautiful artistic community. I\u2019m one of the lucky ones,\u201d she continues. \u201cMany folks have been made homeless by economic factors that are wildly beyond the control of artists.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s a night market now\u2019<\/p>\n Where it heads next may come down to one question: is Art Crawl\u2019s soul tied to the neighbourhood around it, or to the act of wandering the street?<\/p>\n On the arts front, Loose Canon Gallery, one of the most prominent early art galleries on James Street North, is now gone. So, too, are Sublimatus, Flagship Gallery, the AGH Design Annex and Transit Gallery. Their former spaces are now occupied by everything from beauty salons to cannabis dispensaries. Some are awaiting new development opportunities.<\/p>\n When \u201cb contemporary<\/a>\u201d relocated to Barton Street East in 2019, gallerist David Brace was succinct in his explanation to The Spectator: \u201cThe rent\u2019s cheap and the space is plentiful.\u201d<\/p>\n These days, Art Crawl vendors line up on a first-come, first-served basis to claim an outdoor table and sell their wares. Goods on offer include everything from books, clothes and jewelry to food, drinks and a wide range of trinkets and curiosities. Half a city block was cordoned for a street skateboarding demonstration during the latest edition.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a night market now,\u201d Kuruc offers. He points out that some of the original \u201cart\u201d focus has taken a back seat to other activities over the years. That\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing, Kuruc feels, but it is different. \u201cI don\u2019t know how many artist studios even exist on James Street anymore,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n At street level, at least, some of the younger artists on the scene are not overly concerned with the future of Art Crawl. It will be fine as long as it remains open and non-exclusive, they feel.<\/p>\n Jude Phillips is a painter who specializes in murals and pet portraits. He began exhibiting at the event in 2025. The Burlington artist was set up near Robert Street in June, displaying contemporary works featuring colourful western motifs.<\/p>\n Burlington-based Jude Phillips began exhibiting at Art Crawl in 2025. His work includes murals, pet portraits and a recent series focused on western themes.<\/p>\n Andrew Baulcomb\/The Hamilton Spectator<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s absolutely space for everyone, and not everyone here is looking for what I have to offer,\u201d says Phillips, when asked about the mixture of artists and merchants populating the street.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no gatekeeping. That\u2019s pretty special,\u201d Phillips added. \u201cIt\u2019s just nice having eyes on your work. And it feels very organic and alive.\u201d<\/p>\n Farther south, near the John Weir Foote Armoury, ceramicist and teacher Lindsey West is seated next to a table covered in handmade mugs and bowls. With one hand raised to block the sun, West says she\u2019s been attending Art Crawl as a spectator for several years. She recently started trying her hand at exhibiting.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely gotten bigger, especially with the street closure as well. It\u2019s brought in a lot more people, like thousands more people, which is really cool,\u201d she says, gazing at throngs of people passing in front of her table.<\/p>\n For West, art is still very much the central focus of Art Crawl. Like Phillips, she\u2019s keen on promoting an environment that doesn\u2019t necessarily dictate who can get involved \u2014 including artisans and retailers of all stripes.<\/p>\n Artist and teacher Lindsey West displaying her work at Art Crawl on June 12. She\u2019s been a longtime attendee of the event, and is now trying her hand at exhibiting.\u00a0<\/p>\n Andrew Baulcomb\/The Hamilton Spectator<\/p>\n \u2018A shocking and wondrous thing\u2019<\/p>\n These days, the word \u201ccrawl\u201d is ubiquitous in Hamilton. There are Park Crawls<\/a> and Thrift Crawls<\/a> and, of course, the aforementioned Supercrawl. The latter attracted more than 285,000 visitors in 2024, according to the festival\u2019s website.<\/p>\n Even with all the change, Hagerty is still proud of an event she helped launch decades ago. Two years ago, after a long absence, she had the chance to visit Art Crawl and reflect.<\/p>\n \u201cArt Crawl today is a wonderful thing to see,\u201d Hagerty says. \u201cI can\u2019t imagine how many opportunities have been created for those with the drive to make the world more beautiful and interesting.\u00a0It\u2019s a shocking and wondrous thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a beautiful\u00a0late-spring\u00a0evening on James Street North \u2014 the kind of weather that feels like fresh citrus tastes.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[307,304,305,306,308,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-531200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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