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Arts + Culture

Readers and writers: Your guide to gritLIT 2026

The literary festival offers five days of readings, panels, workshops, and social events that celebrate writers of all kinds and the readers who read them. For 22 years, the Hamilton-born gritLIT has celebrated established writers, helped new ones develop, and given readers a front-row seat to well over…
Arts + Culture

World premiere shines a light on Canada, The Hip, and what home really means

It’s A Good Life If You Don’t Weaken, opening April 22 at Theatre Aquarius, is about connection, love, and saying something that needs to be said. That spirit, and the spirit of Gord Downie, are in the rehearsal room as this show comes to life, say its stars.
Arts + Culture

REVIEW: Calendar Girls is balm for weary souls

Story of group of English women posing nude to raise money for their church is a nuanced exploration of aging, expectation, disappointment, and refusing to accept limitations. Binbrook Little Theatre’s production features brave performances and a solid focus on the story. Uplifting stories seem hard to find these…
Arts + Culture

New music venues: This booker is back

Brodie Schwendiman, operator of the late and beloved Casbah, is back booking music in a new downtown venue called Ridiculous, and other live-music locations in the region. 2025 was a rollercoaster ride of a year for Brodie Schwendiman. The music club operator and booker has played a crucial…
Food + Drink

Chef Matty Matheson: By the books

The celebrity chef has now made his mark in Hamilton, with elevated pub Iron Cow Public House at TD Coliseum. So what can we glean about him from the recipes and stories in his three cookbooks?  For months, his name was on the lips of Hamilton food…
Arts + Culture

THE PLAYLIST

Dylan Hudecki is a Canadian indie-rock vet having played in many different bands, including By Divine Right, Cowlick, Slow Beach and The Dill. He’s a proud Hamiltonian who covers local album releases for HAMILTON CITY Magazine. TV FREAKS  – Blue Genie (garage, punk rock) Devotion, distortion, and the…
Food + Drink

Getting out: Music & menus

If live tunes help your food taste better, here’s a list of places where the grub is as good as the setlist! With this issue being HAMILTON CITY Magazine’s music issue, it seemed fitting to round-up a bundle of local restaurants where you can see and enjoy some…
City Life

Hounds of Hamilton

We need a big dose of dogs these days so HAMILTON CITY Magazine's new feature celebrates the city's canines. Send in your dogs (and cats)! Escape the relentless news cycle, doom scrolling and polarizing politics, and find joy and laughter in pets. Hounds of Hamilton…

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HAMILTON CITY Magazine’s mission is to tell the stories that celebrate the city’s past, present and future by featuring stunning photography, illustrations and world-class writing. It’s your city. It’s your magazine.


Arts + Culture

Beckett Fine Art: A family legacy

Locke Street South gallery is marking a century and three generations of making an impact in the arts in Hamilton. What’s the secret to keeping a family business running for over 100 years? Trusting your gut.  “Tastes change, and trends change. I don’t really follow that kind…
Arts + Culture

Jurassic Park will roar to life with the HPO

It’s the first time the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra will play along with a major motion picture, performing the iconic film score of John Williams to give an immersive experience to audiences of all ages.   The Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra will play along with a major motion picture for…
Arts + Culture

Reigniting theatre conversations in Hamilton

Stage Directions, a weekend of planning, networking and learning among theatre leaders, was last held in 2014 and the time was right, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic, to make it happen again, say organizers. Billed as the world’s friendliest audition, Monologue Slam was the closing act…
Arts + Culture

Theatre festival an act of representation, resistance

Red Beti’s Decolonise Your Ears New Play Reading Festival, happening this weekend, presents ‘stories that might not otherwise be heard,’ says founder. Red Beti Theatre is holding its fifth annual Decolonise Your Ears New Play Reading Festival at Theatre Aquarius in downtown Hamilton. The three-day festival will feature…
Arts + Culture

It’s 20 years for the Hamilton Film Festival

The annual celebration of local and independent films will screen 108 works this year, with at least 25 of them coming from filmmakers in Hamilton. Founder and co-director Nathan Fleet says you will ‘cleanse your cinematic palette’ and experience movies you would never otherwise see. The Hamilton Film…
Food + Drink

Barrel Heart Brewing’s recipe for a Michelin Bib Gourmand

Barrel Heart Brewing in Dundas serves an innovative and creative menu, backed by attention to high-quality ingredients and skilled preparation under the direction of chef Mitchell Gatschuff. It's one of two Hamilton-area restaurants —both in Dundss — to get Michelin recognition this year. Is the “recipe” for…
Arts + Culture

REVIEW: The Time Capsule is comedy with a beating heart

Theatre Aquarius’s opening show of its 52nd season brings together a talented cast and a funny script that celebrates Hamilton. It’s hilarious, it’s heartfelt, and it’s Hamilton. The Time Capsule at Theatre Aquarius brings together great performances, a sparkling script and deft directing to produce a night of…
Arts + Culture

REVIEW: True West is gripping and insistent

It’s impossible to look away from The Kitchen Sink Collective’s take on the Sam Shepard classic, on stage at The Staircase Theatre this weekend. A few performances remain for a production of American actor/playwright Sam Shepard's play True West, put on by Hamilton theatre company The Kitchen Sink…