Hamilton fest Frost Bites brings art and social change together this week

Frost Bites opened its six-day winter festival in Hamilton on Wednesday, bringing performances and events to the city to educate and empower community voices, organizers say.

The festival runs until Family Day on Monday and adds to the city's roster of free and low-cost activities during the colder months. 

"I am so excited for this week," Frost Bites director Claire Calnan told CBC Hamilton on Wednesday.

She said the festival is an important venue for community members to talk about social issues and the ways they want to improve their neighbourhoods.

"We wanted to provide a space where storytellers could come together and share life experiences," Calnan said.

This year features local changemakers Plains Cree woman and "community Auntie" Jordan Carrier, movement educator Robin Lacambra, spoken word poet Fareh Malik and community organizer Ahona Mehdi. Their words have inspired local artists to create works around them. 

Calnan said conversations with them "really fed the curation of this festival."

Performances and workshops not to miss

Performances, open houses and drop-in events are scheduled at both the Bernie Morelli recreation centre at 876 Cannon St. E — right next to the Tim Hortons Field — and at Theatre Aquarius at 191 King William St.

There are also guided bus tours on Thursday, Friday and Sunday.

Here are a few performances and workshops to see:

Lantern-making and a procession of light

• Running every day at noon at the Bernie Morelli recreation centre, the Shadowland Theatre company is running lantern-making workshops for all ages. These oiled paper lanterns are personalized and can be made using your own designs. On Sunday, the workshop will run from noon to 5:30 p.m., which will lead to a procession of light parade, led by the Hamilton Aerial Group and musician Nathan Muir, where all lanterns made during the week will become part of a walk.

Show Home

• Show Home features a research project based on firsthand experiences of people that work in long-term care settings, drawing on experiences of Carlyn Rhamey, a relief direct support worker. According to Frost Bites, Show Home was inspired from a workshop done with participants from Mainstream Niagara, a facility in St. Catharines that supports people with developmental differences. It runs on Feb. 16 at 5:30 p.m., and Feb. 19 and Feb. 20 at 1 p.m.

Life in Transit(ion): HSR audio tours

• Connecting the two event locations are offered guided tours on bus routes 1 King or the 3 Cannon, as part of a Life in Transition feature facilitated by Paula Grove and presented by the YWCA Hamilton's Transitional Living Program meant for audiences 13 years and older. The recordings include discussions around violence, homelessness and trauma but sprinkled with humour and lived experiences from residents of the YWCA program. 

A Latte for Mahsa

• A Latte for Mahsa, written by Hamilton playwright Trick Campbell and directed by Sungwon Cho, follows the power of social activism and social media when an Iranian refugee in a Hamilton coffee shop gets involved in a controversial viral video after the death of Mahsa Amini in Iran. The show is produced by Switchboard Theatre, featuring performers Mohad Abdiyan, Shayna Burns and Johnny Thirakul. It runs at the Bernie Morelli recreation centre Feb. 16 at 7 p.m., Feb. 17 at 6 p.m, and Feb. 18 and 19 at 2:30 p.m.

Community in Conversation: Decolonizing Artistic Practices

• At 4 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Monday, at Theatre Aquarius, Hamilton artist Kitoko Mai is hosting a discussion with artists on decolonization in relation to artistic practices. These discussions will also be livestreamed.

The festival runs until Monday at 8:30 p.m., when the closing ceremonies will be held at Theatre Aquarius.

Most of the events at Frost Bites are free or of low cost to attend, but a few performances have a ticket price of $15.50 plus GST — $13 plus GST for the guided bus tour — and are available online.