Hamilton Street Art Project to be Completed

A project that includes a series of art installations depicting the Hamilton community and its business precinct will be restarted this week. The Hamilton Business Association project will repair existing art as well as creating new art installations on telecommunications and electricity pillars and boxes and will be undertaken by local artist Rebecca Murray.

Hamilton Business Association Chair, Janice Musumeci said that the project was the first of a number of projects that would be rolled-out out in coming weeks.

“When the Hamilton Business Association was established late last year, we asked local business people to provide feedback about how they wanted the Association to spend funds. Many people wanted to see projects that would help beautify and attract people to our precinct,” she said.

“Our plans for 2020 were all but finalised when Covid19 struck, and like many, we used the months of isolation to realign our plans to ensure that we could also help drive economic recovery. The completion of the art project, however, remained a priority.”

The Hamilton Chamber started the initial project, and at the time, Rebecca Murray created several art installations. Some of these original art pieces now need repair, and an additional ten pieces will be created.

Rebecca is the owner of Flying Spanner Gallery and is well known as the artist who created similar art installations across the Newcastle CBD. She is currently also researching the history of each of the 17 locations to develop visual narratives relevant to the local community. The project sees an investment of $10,000 into the precinct and is expected to take several months to complete.

“The Association is keen to extend the footprint and scope of the project,” said Janice.

“ Hamilton has a heritage walk developed by well-known local historian Ruth Cotton, and we hope to also now integrate this with cultural walks that might include these art pieces into citywide Apps and tourism promotions. We are also working with other BIAs to consider rolling the projects into other business precincts in Newcastle.”

In the next few weeks, Hamilton Business Association will announce details about other projects that will support people to establish businesses in the precinct, create a citywide live performance initiative, integrate lighting for safety and beautification and a number of other projects. Throughout the pandemic shutdowns, the volunteer board has worked closely with their colleagues in the BIAs of Mayfield, Newcastle City and Wallsend to discuss Covid19 recovery processes with the City of Newcastle and provide feedback on masterplans for James Street Plaza and Gregson Park.

Hamilton Business Association is a not for profit independent business improvement association (BIA) that represents people who own or occupy commercial spaces in the Hamilton precinct. Along with its counterparts in Newcastle, Wallsend and Mayfield, the Association has a service agreement with the City of Newcastle which provides up to $100,000 annually for projects that promote, beautify and drive economic development for the Hamilton precinct. For more information visit www.facebook.com/Hamilton-Business-Association