Group seeks $250,000 for arts incubator

Proponents of an arts incubator in Hamilton hope politicians earmark $250,000 for the next phase of the project tomorrow.

The Hamilton Creative Catalyst concept goes before the city's committee of the whole — one step below full council — Friday.

Broken into two funding components worth a total $500,000, today's recommendation request will be for a quarter-million dollars to hire a fundraising coordinator, begin to focus on one building or cluster of buildings downtown, and negotiate with lead institutional tenants.

It would then have to go to council for final ratification.

The Creative Catalyst project, first proposed by the non-profit Imperial Cotton Centre for the Arts, calls for the city to harness creative energies bubbling away in town and concentrate some of them in an 'incubator" somewhere downtown.

The idea is that artists and creative industry entrepreneurs working together in close proximity will feed off each other and starting creating new creative industries.