The gallery is currently closed to the public as we are preparing for our spring exhibitions: Prince Sîpihko, Sailor Wâpakwiniy by Jasmine Piper (Curated by our Artistic Director, Sanaa Humayun) & Dreams to get you through the night by Abby Nowkakowski and Rania Haider. Our opening reception for these exhibitions will be on Friday, February 20th from 7-9pm. Come & join us!
Hamilton Artists Inc. (The Inc.) is a charitable, not-for-profit artist-run centre. It was founded in 1975, incorporated in 1979, and received charitable status in 1981.
Since its inception, The Inc. has been committed to the values of artist-run culture, offering an alternative to commercial spaces and established public galleries and museums by providing artists with opportunities for critical engagement, exploration, and risk-taking. We serve members of our community at all stages in their careers by presenting local, national, and international exhibitions, workshops, artist talks, and professional development services. As a member-driven organization, we provide our more than 300 members with an accessible and inclusive forum to address the social and professional needs of artists through workshops, lectures, and our dedicated Members’ Gallery.
As an artist-run centre, Hamilton Artists Inc. empowers artists of all career levels to take risks with their contemporary visual arts practices and present their work in a critical context. Our exhibitions, publications, and special projects offer education and mentorship, facilitate regional and national dialogue, and encourage collaboration, conversation, and critical inquiry. Our programs are free and open to everyone.
Hamilton Artists Inc. aspires to connect with our changing communities by taking an intersectional approach, identifying and removing systemic barriers, and supporting artists and art practices that reflect the people of our region. We aim to be a destination for critical, unconventional, and challenging contemporary art practices that contribute to regional and national discourses.
Our communities are local, regional, and national in scope. The following values speak to our commitment to these communities in the broadest sense.
Criticality, Creativity, and Art: We value art that is creative, challenging, and responsive to critical discourses, providing fruitful connections between local, regional, and national artists and art audiences.
Dismantling Structural Barriers: We are aware of systemic barriers within the art world, and strive to implement equitable models that provide true access and engagement with our programs. We are proactively taking actions so that our Board, Staff, and artistic platforms will reflect our diverse and changing communities.
Responsive to Change: We are aware of our responsibility to be responsive and informed and we are taking actions to ensure that our operations and programming can meet the emerging needs of our communities on an ongoing basis.
Mentorship & Education: We are committed to providing resources that offer all artists the professional development they need.
Collaboration: We believe in collaboration with community partners as a core principle that allows us to serve our shared communities through reciprocal fostering of creativity, criticality, inclusivity, mentorship, and responsiveness to changing needs.
The staff at Hamilton Artists Inc. is endorsing PACBI, The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.
As an artist-run centre dedicated to critical engagement, it behooves us to look critically at our own organization and how the arts sector is complicit. We know that artists and cultural workers hold power, and who we decide to work, collaborate with, and accept funding reflects our values.
Staff felt compelled to endorse PACBI because we believe in clearly drawing the line between cultural workers and the actions of governments funding and endorsing the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by Israel.
In the midst of a televised genocide, staff refuse to artwash Israel’s occupation, and systemic denial of Palestinian rights.
Please visit https://www.bdsmovement.net/pacbi to learn more about key PACBI guidelines and principals.
For questions about the Inc staff’s endorsement of PACBI, please contact info@theinc.ca
Writers Against the War on Gaza provides resources about PACBI and is available to support organizations wishing to endorse the PACBI guidelines. Visit them here: https://writersagainstthewarongaza.com/pacbi or email boycott@wawog.com
Download a PDF of our 2024-2026 Strategic Plan.
Derek Jenkins (he/him) is a multidisciplinary artist. His practice tends toward the handmade and the documentary, with an interest in labour, ecology, and technology. His films have screened widely, and he also makes work for the gallery setting. Derek was previously general manager and lab technician at Niagara Custom Lab, and he currently serves as Chair on the board of directors of the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre. He is from Arkansas and has lived in central Hamilton for over a decade.
Sanaa Humayun (she/her) is an artist, writer, & curator, living and working in Hamilton, ON. Her practice thinks about non-narrative story telling, secret keeping, and play and joy as acts of resistance. She is the Artistic Director at Hamilton Artists Inc. Along with Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet, Sanaa co-organizes Making Space - a peer mentorship group for early-career BIPOC artists. You can usually find her laughing a little too loudly with her friends in public places.
Sonali Menezes (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist, writer and artist-educator. She has been most recently focused in zines, video and printmaking. Sonali makes art as a way to find meaning under the weight of capitalism and the unending anxiety of the climate crisis. Her zines live in personal and public zine libraries worldwide. https://sonali-menezes.com/
Paige Paton (she/her) is an emerging self-taught artist whose practice encompasses film, video, music, collage, and mixed media. Fusing analog lens-based processes and manipulation techniques with digital finessing and obfuscation, her visual practice ranges from concert photography to landscapes, documentary to abstraction, and experimental processes to multi-media. She creates music under the moniker Milk Knife.
https://www.paigepaton.ca/
The Hamilton Artists Inc. is seeking engaged, committed and enthusiastic volunteers to submit applications to the Board of Directors. The Board consists of Inc. members who possess a variety of skills, knowledge, perspectives and talents. The Board strives to reflect the diverse community of Hamilton and to be a welcoming, inclusive environment. We encourage applications from individuals from diverse backgrounds.
Samuel de Lange (he/him) is an artist based in Hamilton, Ontario. He received his MFA from the Glasgow School of Art in 2019, and has participated in residencies and exhibitions in Canada, Europe and the UK. His work brings together combinations of photographic material, moving image, cast objects and furniture making as site-sensitive responses to space and context. His most recent research has looked to gestures of preservation and how they might reflect conflicting forces of care and control.
Jordyn Stewart (she/her) is an artist, educator and arts administrator. She received her MFA from the University of Waterloo and her BA from the University of Toronto, joint program with Sheridan College in Art & Art History. Her work has been programmed in spaces such as Art Museum, Hamilton Artists Inc., Trinity Square Video, Idea Exchange, and Gallery Stratford. She teaches in the Department of Visual Studies at The University of Toronto Mississauga and is living in Onguiaahra/Niagara. visit: www.jordynstewart.ca
Dianne Twombly (she/her) is a Hamilton based artist currently completing a BFA at York University. A former social worker and post-secondary administrator, she has extensive experience in educational, non-profit and community-based programming. Dianne’s surreal mixed media and digital works explore themes of decay, transformation, and cycles of life, death and rebirth in both natural and constructed environments. She holds degrees (BA, MSW) from the University of Toronto, as well as a certificate in Dynamic Media from the Center for Electronic Art in San Francisco. Visit: diannetwombly.com
Alexandria Holm (she/her) is a Toronto based art historian and art advisor specializing in contemporary Canadian art. Previously, she has sat on the Special Events Committee at Hamilton Artist Inc. In her role as Programming Chair on the Board, she brings a decade of experience working in the arts and has held various roles in museums, artist-run centres, and commercial art galleries. Alexandria holds a BA in Art History with minors in Philosophy and Russian Studies from McGill University, and an MA in Art History and a diploma in Curatorial Practice from York University where her area of research focused on contemporary Canadian art and galleries, and Inuit art. Visit: alexandriaadvisory.com and follow ig: alexholm_
Suad Badri was born in Sudan, moved to Canada in 2014, as a refugee. She is active in Environmental Governance, with a focus on Sustainable Energy research. Since arriving in Hamilton, she works in community services; currently instructing SACHA’s sewing circle. Suad's heart is in social justice/ community development; and she finds peace in exploring African Folk Art.
Raul (he/him) was born in Mexico, moved to Canada in 2009 and to Hamilton in 2020. He is an office worker from 9:00 to 5:00 and an artist at all other times. His artist practice focuses mostly on writing and drawing comic books and zines and on making playful paintings using acrylics and india inks. He's also a co-founder and editing team member of Bonk'd, an independent comic books publisher based in Hamilton.
Susan Curran is a seasoned leader in the media industry with over three decades of experience in marketing and distribution. Her executive roles at organizations like Sony Wonder, Tower Records, Universal Music, Vortex Media and A71 Entertainment showcase her expertise in elevating brand profiles through innovative strategies. As former COO of A71 Entertainment, she championed emerging talent and successfully brought various projects to market. Currently Susan has shifted her focus to producing and consulting throughout the development and delivery process of film and TV projects. Her extensive background and commitment to the arts make her a valuable addition to our Board of Directors.
Paula Rebello (she/they) is an artist & arts worker and is currently working for the McMaster Museum of Art. They received her BFA in Studio Art from McMaster University and has recently completed their studies from the International Curatorial Studies Program at NODE Center. As an artist, Paula’s practice consists of drawing, illustration, pattern-making, mixed media and coloured cyanotypes, and their work can be found under the moniker ‘PauTheRebel’. https://pautherebel.cargo.site
Mikah Fortier (they/them) is a multidisciplinary artist, art therapist (DTATI Candidate), and registered psychotherapist (qualifying) who believes that art, creativity, and imagination are powerful tools for growth and change. They received their BA from OCAD University, and are in the midst of completing their post-graduate thesis at the Toronto Art Therapy Institute (TATI). Inspired by the natural world, Mikah's creative practice explores themes of environmentalism, identity, social issues, impermanence, and play.
Each year Hamilton Artists Inc. prepares an Annual Report which documents what our organization has accomplished in the past year, and plans for the future. The document includes reports from the Chair of the Board of Directors, the Executive Director, Programming Director, Communications and Outreach Coordinator, Treasurer and Committees including Development, and Special Events and Fundraising, Programming, Facilities, and the NEW Commitee.
The Annual Report is presented to our membership and community during the Annual General Meeting scheduled each winter.
Please find an archive of Annual Reports below:
Please find an archive of Audited Financial Statements below:
2023 Financial Statements
©2026 Hamilton Artists Inc.
