Hamilton Celebrates Canadian Music Week: Music Mondays & Event to Support Local Musicians

HAMILTON, ON – Canadian Music Week is this May 6 - 12 and the City of Hamilton is ready to support and celebrate once again. Join us at the steps of Hamilton City Hall to enjoy music, at noon, every Monday starting May 6, 2019 to June 24, with the exception of the Victoria Day statutory holiday.

The City wants to showcase Hamilton musicians and their diverse, musical styles so they’ll be six different music genres represented for all to enjoy.

Cultivating local musical talent and supporting the growth of the appreciation of music are two key goals that the City of Hamilton, along with the Hamilton Music Advisory Team, is focusing on this year.

To support local talent, the City is also launching a new networking session for musicians.  It’s called the, “Ask the Expert: Speed Networking Event for Musicians.”

It’s a drop-in session on Friday, May 10 from 6 pm - 7:30 pm, at the Hamilton Visitor Centre, (located at 28 James St. North). Four local musicians, representing different music genres, will be on hand. They’ll be offering advice and sharing their experiences on everything from how to break into the industry, song writing and arranging to marketing and promotion.

In the meantime, join us for Music Mondays at Hamilton City Hall:

• May 6 - Bonnie Hamilton & the Midnight Daydreamers (Soul/Rock Gospel)
• May 13 - Solstice Trio (Latin Jazz)
• May 27 - versaCello (Classical Pop)
• June 3 - Matty Simpson with Justine Fischer (Rock)
• June 10 - LTtheMonk (Hip-Hop)
• June 17 - Shealagh Rose (Folk/Singer-Songwriter)
• June 24 - Luckystickz (R&B/Pop/Afro-Caribbean)

“Hamilton wants to be the foremost music city in the country, and to do that, we have to support our musicians. The City is proud to be working with the Hamilton Music Advisory Team to offer these professional development workshops for musicians, and to create more opportunities for musicians to play, and showcase their talents, at Music Mondays,” says Jason Thorne, General Manager, Planning and Economic Development Department. 

“Providing opportunities and spaces for artists to perform is just one way to support our emerging musicians. Music Mondays, a free live, weekly lunchtime concert series on the steps of City Hall, is a great way to get out and actively show support for local musicians. You never know when you are going to discover your new favourite local artist – it might just be at City Hall,” said Mark Furukawa, Chair of the Hamilton Music Advisory Team.

Quick Facts

• 2019 is the second year for the Music Monday performance series.
• Music Mondays details: Biographies, websites, and social media for each musician
• New for 2019, one food truck will be on site for each performance date. Participating food trucks are Jonny Blonde, Tony’s Corner Streatery and Dora’s Express
• Ask the Expert Musician details: Bios and event details
• Music plays a role in a strong vibrant city. Music is part of Hamilton’s economic prosperity and identity – locally, nationally and internationally
• Hamilton’s current music scene includes a growing and dynamic eclectic mix of songwriters, musicians, venues, producers, recording studios, and retail stores
• Hamilton is identified as 7th in the world for independent musicians per capita. This means Hamilton has more independent musicians per capita than many top tier cities with large local music scenes including Toronto, Montreal and New York
• HMAT is a group of volunteers representing the local music industry who advise the City on Music Strategy related actions.

For more information, please go to www.hamilton.ca/music or contact:

Debbie Spence
Business Development Consultant, Creative Industries
City of Hamilton
905-546-2424, ext. 3049
[email protected]

Chat with us on Social Media:

Twitter & Facebook - @HamOntMusic
Instagram  - @HamOnt_Music

Follow #HamOntMusic and #LiveMusicMondays to see what’s upcoming on the Hamilton music scene.