Incite Foundation: Reaching Out
Incite Foundation for the Arts supports the contributions of Factory Media Centre and the Burlington New Millennium Orchestra.
The Incite Foundation for the Arts has contributed more than $6 million to 30 Hamilton-area organizations in grants from $2,500 to $150,000 since it was founded in 2011.
It is the legacy of the late Carl and Kate Turkstra who believed the arts are key to quality of life and critical to the future of Hamilton. And they believed anyone, regardless of circumstance, should be able to enjoy and pursue music, theatre and visual art.
HAMILTON CITY Magazine is showcasing the incredible, creative and talented recipients of Incite grants. Here we share the work of Factory Media and Burlington New Millennium Orchestra.
Factory Media Centre
Active for over 18 years, Factory Media Centre is Hamilton's artist-run centre for film, video, new media, installation, and sound art. It is a facilitator within the media community benefitting local artists to further engage and support this evolving ecosystem. The centre builds the profile of Hamilton arts by supporting and employing local artists, and fosters healthier communities via affordable and accessible arts education. Factory empowers media arts production through accessible space, equipment, resources, and workshops and promote media arts practice through screenings, events, and exhibitions. It propels critical participation and exploration of media arts through a vibrant creative community.
In October 2022, with support from Ontario Trillium Foundation, Factory Media Centre opened new studios and gallery space at 366 Victoria Ave. N. within a new accessible media arts hub called Evil Empire Studios. The new space includes new editing suites, an audio suite, immersive 360 projection space, and interactive tools. Factory has a membership of about 150 artists who utilize its resources to create and share experimental media artwork.
The Incite Foundation for the Arts has supported Factory’s educational programming since 2020, which has been vital to its operations and programming during pandemic closures as well as the transition from James Street to the new larger home on Victoria Avenue.
The Incite Foundation for the Arts has supported FMC’s educational programming since 2020, which has been vital to operations and programming during pandemic closures as well as the transition to its new larger home. With Incite’s support FMC has facilitated 35 free workshops, six film screenings, 12 residencies and numerous networking events for media artists to find community in Hamilton.
"At FMC, we can't thank Incite enough for their dedication to the arts in Hamilton. We strongly believe that they have strengthened not only our own organizational stability, but our sector and community as a whole,” says operations coordinator Kristina Durka.
The Burlington New Millennium Orchestra
The Burlington New Millennium Orchestra (BNMO) is a professional Canadian concert and recording orchestra comprised of highly respected professional musicians from southern Ontario.
Founded in 2016 by acclaimed conductor, composer, and arranger Charles Cozens, the BNMO presents a wide variety of repertoire in many musical genres including classical, Broadway, jazz, pops and world music. Cozens is the 2023 inductee into the Burlington Performing Arts Hall of Fame.
The BNMO is at the forefront of modern music technology and very often blends a fusion of traditional and electronic instrumentation and multi-media technology in its concerts. The overall experience elevates the senses and brings enhanced listening pleasure to live audiences, digital streams, and recordings.
Frequently performing at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre, the BNMO presents high-calibre live concerts to the people of Burlington, Halton, Hamilton and the GTA.
Maestro Cozens and the board of directors believe that the arts should be available for everyone to experience. To that end, the BNMO, working in conjunction with Halton Region and organizations that support the community, provides free access to our concerts to those of limited financial means. Access to the rehearsal for the most recent concert was also open to school-aged music students. The BNMO prides itself on community engagement.
The most recent concert Prodigiem at The Burlington Performing Arts Centre in May showcased young performers.
“As a professional orchestra with significant payroll expenses, Incite funding was consequential for BNMO,” says Cozens. “Their support enabled local professional musicians to participate in three video recordings during the pandemic lockdowns. The significant grant received in 2022 allowed us to present Prodigiem in May 2023 as our first live performance post-pandemic with a full orchestra backing nine young performers. It was an outstanding way to start off the post-pandemic concert season.”
Visit the BNMO website for information on future concerts and to enjoy past video recordings.
