12/12/2016
Dearest community,
It’s been a little over 4 months since Homegrown Hamilton packed up and moved out of our original home. We felt that we owe you all an update. Please know first and foremost that we miss you all tremendously and are so sorry to be testing your patience.
There isn’t much to share as of yet. We continue to look forward to occupying the beautiful first floor of 31 John St. N on the corner of John and King William St. Unfortunately when a building has been left unoccupied for such a long time, it results in significant disrepair. Large renovations take time and cost money. At this point we are waiting for the owner of the building to put together the financing for necessary repairs. This work needs to be done before we can begin the renovations for Homegrown specifically. This delay is out of our control at this point, but rest assured we are doing everything we can to push this project forward.
Moving on to the good news: we have made strides towards our goal of teaming up with other independent Hamilton music venues to better serve the local music scene and Hamilton musicians and entertainers! Homegrown Hamilton owner Mike Pattison has been instated as the president of the brand new Live Entertainment Venue Alliance Hamilton (LEVAH). He will be working closely with vice president Lou Molinaro of This Ain’t Hollywood, along with other owners of local independent entertainment venues and the City of Hamilton.
LEVAH’s mandate is to advance the economic interests affecting all venues in Hamilton, including workers in the industry, entertainers and their management, City of Hamilton by-laws, insurance needs etc. with the intention of making Hamilton’s music scene survive and thrive under today’s current market-share. LEVAH will be researching how to grow the live entertainment audience in Hamilton using hands-on, front-line findings of the Hamilton Music Strategy Team. Their goal is to streamline the efficiency of every venue in the city while ultimately showcasing each venue’s individuality. LEVAH intends to instill cooperation instead of competition between venues, enabling more ease for organizing and promoting events and better pay for employees and entertainment acts. As a specific example; events can be coordinated so as not to book similar acts at different venues on the same night.
Over the next few months LEVAH will be incorporating as a not-for-profit organization and putting together a one-stop all things entertainment listings guide. LEVAH will be drawing up a business plan outlining specifics of their goals and intentions including who will be affected, timelines, budgets etc. They are looking forward to helping both local independent venues and local live entertainers to succeed with more ease in Hamilton!
Take care, have a wonderful holiday season and keep warm Hamilton! We hope to see you soon!
![*** ** FINAL WEEK COFFEE SALE ** ***[Save $30 on 5lbs of our delicious ethical coffee]Hey, so we've got a lot of our fre...](https://img5.bars10.com/368/141/864228363681417.jpg)
