December’s calendar is a full one! Celebrate the end of 2022 with us at one of our nights of projected artworks, sign up for a drawing & animation workshop, and join us for an ‘early’ NYE illuminated event and 8pm countdown at the CN Rail Trestles!

You’re invited to the 4th Annual Pumpkin Parade! This free event takes place on the night after Halloween and gives the community an opportunity to show off their creative designs and display their jack-o-lanterns for all to see one last time!

September is one of the busiest months in Port Hope for events! Here’s a look at what we have planned for September! Come meet and co-create an idyllic cardboard version of Port Hope with our final artists and residents for the 2022 season – The Department of Illumination! You will find them weekends at the Little Station, and out at signature events such as Fall Fair and Cultivate. 

August is Arts Month in Port Hope! We’re delighted to showcase Port Hope based artist Oli Goldsmith for our August Artist in Residence. To register for a workshop rsvp at info@criticalmassart.com.

Life of a Small Town by Greta Grip & Lee Jones will document a year in the life of the Port Hope community emerging from the pandemic together.

We’re currently recruiting Board Members to help lead our organization in the next phase of growth.

We’re considering some big ideas for making contemporary art more prominent in Port Hope, and we really want to hear what sort of arts activities and programming you would like to see, do, and experience!

Critical Mass Art: Port Hope is lighting up the town this winter with ILLUMINIGHTS! This winter series of outdoor projection art installations will feature three artists, in 3 locations, on 3 nights. Curated by Artengine, ILLUMINIGHTS presents works that reflect on the fluid relationship between ourselves, change, and the technology that surrounds us. 

At sundown, enjoy a free screening of Colin Carvey’s Long Halloween, a funny, black & white silent slasher film by Two Blue Shirts Productions! Projected on the Little Station, at the Pumpkin Parade.

Join us Saturday, September 3rd in Memorial Park (from 10 to 3)  to help our artists in residence kick off their residency with a BIG cardboard community build! What does your idyllic town look like? Let’s build it together!

Join us Saturday, August 13th at dusk for a visual Art Bingo and a BBQ.

Where do we go from here? Let’s raise some questions together collectively to find out.

Multi-media artist Jessica Thompson uses sound to create new meanings of place. On May 28th, she led a soundwalk in downtown Port Hope. She will return on June 26th for a Borderlines workshop.

Life of a Small Town by Greta Grip & Lee Jones will document a year in the life of the Port Hope community emerging from the pandemic together.

We have an exciting year planned and need helping hands for a variety of roles!

RAIN DATE – Wednesday, December 15th – Hamilton-based Métis artist, Tracey-Mae Chambers will spread her message of Hope and Healing with red yarn installation on the front lawn at Port Hope Town Hall. Residents are invited to watch and to engage with Chambers as she works on her art installation throughout the day.

That’s a Wrap! Critical Mass celebrates the artists of our pilot Artist-in-Residence program, and our funders Ontario Trillium Foundation and Municipality of Port Hope who made it all possible. Join us Saturday, Oct 23rd at 5:30 p.m. for an early evening picnic to recap the highlights!

During their residency, Mast Year Collective will explore how food – from making, to sharing, to eating – is entwined and grounded in our physical environments both past and present.

We are excited to announce our 2021 artist in residence line up! Made possible with funding from Ontario Trillium Foundation.

During his residency, Brian Hoad will explore personal narratives from his time coming-of-age in Port Hope, considering themes of memory, nostalgia, and an interest in how people connect with their envionment, both now and throughout history.