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Arts + Culture

REVIEW: Newsies is art at its best

Curtain Call Performing Arts Company’s production of this classic musical features a strong cast, standout choreography and a message perfectly suited to our times. Curtain Call Performing Arts Company, a local theatre company soon entering its ninth season, has produced a wonderful rendition of Disney’s Newsies: The Musical…
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)! Is there any better escape from the relentless news cycle, doom scrolling and polarizing politics, and any simpler way to…
Arts + Culture

Decades of Steel City sound

Hamilton has long punched above its weight as a musical powerhouse. Here, we trace 55 years of the city’s breakout bands. And check out great live music venues, too. It is no secret that Hamilton is one of Canada’s biggest and best music cities. With its…
City Life

Hamilton honours NBA champion Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with key to the city

NBA superstar is only the second recipient of Hamilton’s highest civic honour. The first will likely surprise you. By Stephen Metelsky and Jenna Yeomans NBA superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was awarded the key to the City of Hamilton on Thursday, becoming only the second person in the city’s…
City Life

Summer staycations: Sunflower fields and farms

The bright yellow flowers are beacons for people seeking spectacular photos but crowds are damaging to crops growing on private property. These farms offer sunflower field experiences that are safe and responsible. Sunflower season is short but spectacular – and best enjoyed at farms that welcome visitors responsibly.
City Life

Summer staycations: 5 surprising family adventures in Hamilton

Avoid traffic and spending money on gas by staying close to home, all while supporting local. These are tried and trusted destinations, but we’ve scoped out some new offerings at each that you might not know about. Where can you take the family this month in Hamilton? There…
Arts + Culture

HAMILTON READS

From humorous horror and fairytale to a walking exploration of Westdale, a historical baseball tale, and short stories from Caribbean perspectives, here are five books from local writers that should be on your summer reading list. This summer, put your feet up and relax with a good book…
Arts + Culture

The Mule Spinner: Music’s tiny temple

A multi-purpose creative space founded by Hamilton music veterans Glen Marshall and the late Bob Lanois, the former stable at the Cotton Factory hosts intimate live performances and recording sessions. It looks like a film set. A set for something set in the early 1900s, perhaps. Industrial turn-of-the-century…
Food + Drink

Southern comfort

Summer is the time for bibs, BBQ and lip-smacking chicken and ribs. So get out to visit these great spots while the sun is warm and patios and picnic tables beckon. The smell of smokers wafts throughout the air and summer is in full-swing! Is there anything that…
City Life

BRUCE TRAIL: A walk in the wilderness

The dream for the Bruce Trail along the Niagara Escarpment was born in Hamilton and almost 60 years after it was officially formed, the Dundas-based Bruce Trail Conservancy is ramping up its ambition to own the entire 900-kilometre route and a corridor of nature around it. “Nature is…
Arts + Culture

INCITE FOUNDATION: Sinfonia Ancaster

The incite Foundation for the Arts supports the work of Sinfonia Ancaster. The incite Foundation for the Arts has contributed more than $9 million to 50 Hamilton-area organizations, through grants from $2,500 to $300,000, since it was founded in 2011. It is the legacy of the late Carl…
Food + Drink

King James Vol. 1

James Street North is, without a doubt, the heart of downtown Hamilton. Its dining scene is constantly evolving but rooted in the success of some mainstays and the neighbourhood’s ethnic diversity. James North runs from King Street East to the bay, bringing you to lovely (and ongoing) upgrades…
Arts + Culture

Vive la Hamilton: A new era for the HPO

At 29, Paris-born James Kahane is the 10th music director of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. He wants you to know that he finds Hamilton artistically inspiring and that classical musicians party more than you might think. James Kahane grew up in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, France.
Made in Hamilton

Peter Lazar: The accidental tech entrepreneur

The silent partner in Maipai jumped in when the Barton Street pizza joint had to pivot to takeout in the pandemic. The result, a platform called Pavement, is now providing a buy Canadian solution to ordering in. Buy Canadian has never felt more urgent.  Many of us are…

you are HAMILTON

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

PRIDE: Trans artist Ardyn Gibbs is living in the light

Their work explores the pleasures, resilience and secrets of the queer experience through holograms, lenticular prints, digital renderings, and the reflective distortions of chrome. I can’t help but think of holograms as the neon-retro dreams of a future that never came, which made my first encounter with Ardyn…
Arts + Culture

Piindigen: Amplifying once-excluded theatre voices

For two years, Theatre Aquarius’s Indigenous Piindigen program has actively sought out traditionally unheard storytellers to teach and showcase their work. The culmination of this year's program is being presented Saturday as part of the Brave New Works Festival. The Brave New Works Festival, Theatre Aquarius’ annual…
Arts + Culture

City reflected in Hamilton Arts Week

Hamilton Arts Council’s annual cultural celebration returns for 2025 with 12 signature events from June 3-12 that showcase the diversity, creativity, and stories of our city. Hamilton is an arts town and that is never more true than during Hamilton Arts Week, taking place across the city…
Arts + Culture

Festitalia: ‘We will cover Hamilton with Italy’

City’s Italian celebration is marking its 50-year anniversary this year with a cultural expo and a street festival in June and its traditional events in September. For 50 years in September, Festitalia has brought Italy to Hamilton with dinners, dances, art shows, and grape stomps. This year,…
Arts + Culture

Saddle up, country’s best is coming to Hamilton

The CMAOntario Awards and Festival will hit the Textile Building and The Music Hall this weekend, marking the third time in five years the city has played host to the event. Hamilton’s The Redhill Valleys, Mackenzie Leigh Meyer and KX94.7, along with Josh Ross from Burlington, are all…
City Life

McMaster University will un-pave a parking lot and return it to paradise

Campus will undergo a profound transformation over the next decade as it renaturalizes west side, adds more housing and creates entry gateways. A vision to transform the McMaster University campus over the next decade includes the renaturalization of what are large parking lots on the west side of…
Arts + Culture

Big Fish is a head-turning kaleidoscope of action

Hamilton Theatre Inc.’s final production of the season is a rollicking, high energy, never-say-die good time meant for a wide audience. Hamilton Theatre Inc. is known for its enthusiastic and lively musicals backed by the orchestrations of its own talented band. This time the company is performing Big…
Arts + Culture

INCITE FOUNDATION: Music Makers

The incite Foundation for the Arts supports the work of the Great Lakes Music Makers and the Ancaster Music Society. The incite Foundation for the Arts has contributed more than $9 million to 50 Hamilton-area organizations, through grants from $2,500 to $300,000, since it was founded in 2011. It…