Graffitti: The Tivoli Street Art Project

The Tivoli Theatre was a built in the late 1800's in Hamilton, and was at first a carriage factory until 1924 when it became a combination vaudeville and movie house.  It remained a movie house for 71 years, until in 1995 it became a venue for live shows, from music to plays.  This is how I remember the Tivoli theatre.  I started acting in community theatre in this building.  I was in a couple of musicals including Jekyll and Hyde: The Musical, here.  It was my favorite place to act; it had an old vibe-- and I may or may not have pretended to be part of Phantom of the Opera while lurking its halls.

I remember the hoopla about the plans to demolish the theatre.  Its roof had collapse, and the 3rd floor had to be removed.  It was structurally unsound.  The city had hoped to save the theatre, but it was demolished (along with the record store I worked in next door.)

 
Where it once was, there is an empty lot, that the Hamilton Police Department, and the neighbourhood association have turned into an improptu little parkette.  How it did this was through the creation of the Tivoli Street Art Project.  It became sanctioned to create street art and graffitti in this place, instead of people illegally creating a space for, well graffitti in this space.



How the project works, is every so often (I'm not sure of the schedule, its not monthly anymore) the walls of the old theatre are re-decorated by local artists.  Its done during a street festival we have in Hamilton every month called James North Art Crawl.  People are encouraged to watch the artists work on the new pieces.  I like to go and take pictures, to have a record of the murals that have been created in the space. 



I went for a walk to check out the murals that are up right now; our SuperCrawl is coming up, and I have a feeling that the mural will change!  I really love the murals that are on display right now.  Although I wish that the theatre was still standing, the art on its walls is a nice memorial.