To market, to market we must go....

So said many diverse artistic voices to the Immigrant Culture & Art Association and the Workers Arts & Heritage Centre when asked how they could dismantle the barriers to inclusion and create opportunities for sustainable living.

Why did they ask?
These Hamilton based organizations are committed to supporting and creating programs for the cultural and artistic expressions, experiences and abilities of our diverse community.

A few years ago, this journey began to explore the notion that a local art market could create a new creative economic engine that would provide opportunities for diverse and marginalized communities. How to initiate, sustain and provide real support systems to create independence for this project and the individual artists working in it, were the next steps.

The two local community non-profits decided that this could be done and they would partner together to create the opportunity. So, the Immigrant Culture & Art Association (ICAA) and the Workers Arts & Heritage Centre (WAHC) used their experience working in the local community to write grants to secure funding for a Feasibility Study.

In 2007 a partnership between the Community Centre for Media Arts & the Imperial Cotton Centre for the Arts submitted the final report for a Feasibility Study on the project. The purpose of this study was stated as:

"To further explore the concept of establishing an artist market in Hamilton, Ontario aimed at serving low income / poverty affected, racialized, people of colour, Aboriginal, Immigrant, disability Affected and non-mainstream identified cultural producers."

This report referenced the markets in Southern Ontario for initial findings them worked through the Hamilton community to establish site recommendations, sustainability issues and micro-credit programming ideas to facilitate the involvement of diverse and marginalized communities.

Again WAHC & the ICAA wrote grants and worked with diverse communities, community leaders and organizations to find financial support for this project, using the Feasibility report to support their proposal.

Now with funding support from the Hamilton Community Foundation: Tackling Poverty Together fund and the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Sabawoon Bazaar has emerged in Hamilton and after  4 consecutive years, the project relaunched in 2011 as the Hamilton Art Market. This pilot project creates a forum for all artists to share their cultural heritage and social backgrounds with the community at large. It is the first project of its kind in the country.

In order to achieve the creation of a truly inclusive, dynamic and sustainable marketplace a micro economic training and financial support program has been designed for the first year of the bazaar's (market) development. Fifteen contracted positions for this program have now been awarded to artists and crafts people. A further fifteen weekly stallholder positions have been offered to artists throughout the community at no cost. This creates the possibility of a new mix of artists every week (a true Bazaar environment) and the constant exchange of new ideas between the stallholders and the general public. It also ensures we are creating an environment of opportunity for all.