Hamilton Festival Theatre Company

Since 2003, Hamilton Festival Theatre Company (HFTco) has been providing a platform for independent, emerging, and established theatre artists in Hamilton. HFTco strives to make theatre welcoming and affordable and to encourage open dialogue between theatre makers and audience members. Annual programming includes the flagship 12-day Hamilton Fringe Festival, the Frost Bites winter festival, the ALERT education program for emerging arts leaders, and our Spark Teen Intensive.

Mission
The Hamilton Festival Theatre Company (HFTco) is committed to training, platforming, and amplifying Hamilton’s theatre artists and storytellers. We believe that the arts in Hamilton are strengthened through broader participation in the sector. We therefore strive to eliminate barriers to access through: acknowledging shortcomings and opportunities for growth in the organization and the broader industry and taking concrete actions to address them; creating a space for meaningful dialogue with the broader community; offering opportunities for Hamiltonians to share and exchange with national and international artists; and maintaining affordable rates for all of our offerings—all to give artists and audiences accessible entry-points to cultural activities.

Mandate
HFTco strives to make theatre accessible to both audience members and theatre makers and is committed to fostering both the development of professional artists and an appreciation of the arts in Hamilton.

Vision
As a leader in the performing arts sector that responds to the changing culture of Hamilton, HFTco builds a community for artists and cultivates work that is accessible, innovative, and artistically adventurous.

Values
HFTco has emerged as a local presenter, promoter, and arts service organization founded on the Canadian Association of Fringe Festival’s model of accessibility and openness. With that model in mind, we have developed the following values to guide us:

Listen to and learn from community stakeholders reflecting a diversity of ages, abilities, gender identities and expressions, sexual orientations, and members of racialized groups.
Operate with accountability to our community of stakeholders.
Act as a community leader to encourage new collaborations and partnerships and help to redefine a more inclusive, equitable, just, and accessible culture of theatre in Hamilton.
Provide accessible programming in form and price, for artists and audiences, to help ‘level the playing field’ and promote diverse artistic creation.
Promote an open-minded atmosphere that embraces traditional and non-traditional artistic production.
Support the development of excellence within the theatre community through education, mentorship, recognition, and access to performance spaces and other such resources.
Maintain a presence that is adaptive and responsive to the changing theatre environment.