This past Sunday, Chris and I attended the Hamilton Hive‘s first annual Hive X conference at the Sheridan Hotel in downtown Hamilton. Bringing young professionals, from all over the city, together to discuss Hamilton’s future for business and creative development, the day started off bright and early but was full of great conversations and seminars.

Some highlights included Ryan McGreal and Peter Topalovic‘s workshop on Transportation. McGreal and Topalovic discussed the importance of urbanization and looked at Hamilton’s streets both past and present. After comparing Hamilton’s transportation to other cities around the world, they opened up the floor for discussion. The room was buzzing as the audience talked of the importance of Light Rail Transit, making Hamilton more walkable and connecting the upper and lower city.

In the afternoon, we attended Ryan Moran’s talk on youth retainment and attraction. The room was similarly abuzz with discussion.

kitestring’s friend and popular social media and technology expert, Amber MacArthur, spoke during the lunch time keynote. Amber Mac’s charming presentation had the audience thinking about their use of social media to leverage online success. Highly entertaining, Amber Mac even mentioned kitestring in her presentation! Such a pleasant surprise!

You can read more about Hive X and Amber MacArthur at The Hamilton Spectator. Overall, it felt great to be a part of many valuable discussions and in a room full of like-minded people – you could almost feel Hamilton changing at the tip of your finger tips.

After I heard about Madison Lord’s lemonade stand’s cooler being stolen, I suggested to the kitestring team that we step up and help out. Turns out, some of our good friends also had the same idea! With the power of social media, we rallied our followers and the kitestringers came together with Mark Scutella (of Pinstripe Painting) to provide 10-year-old Madison with a brand new lemonade stand! I got to help paint it and everything!

The Cossart Exchange is also going to provide Madison with free entrepreneurship classes – she’ll be the youngest person to ever go through their program! Plus, she’ll get to sell lemonade for charity at the Ottawa Street Sew Hungry: Food Truck Rally! Tomorrow everyone is getting together at the kitestring studio to present Madison and her family with the new lemonade stand and the big news! There will be lemonade and cookies to celebrate! We’re so excited!

Wanna come?

Contact meg@kitestring.ca or margaret@kitestring.ca and let us know!

This shindig’s smack dab in downtown Hamilton, just over yonder from the Locke Street district. (Corner of King and Locke streets)

There’s fun aplenty and a chance to satisfy yer hankering for some Southern fare with all the fixins!

Get three sheets to the wind with $8 mini-pitchers of beer!

As per usual, HYPE is a free event for professional young bucks where both howdya do’s and sass are welcome and business card stickups are considered real tacky-like.

Wednesday, September 7^th from 5:30 p.m. till whenever we get tuckered out!

Rolly Rockets
470 King Street West
Hamilton, Ontario
L8P 1B7

Ya’all better give us a head’s up on Facebook and invite yer friends, ya hear? (Check out the invite here!)

Gotta question? Email meg@kitestring.ca or tweet @Ettiekit

Before working at kitestring, I went to school for theatre. Now I find the balance of work and play by participating in community theatre groups such as Black Box Fire. I’ve recently cowritten and directed a show, with my friend Jessica Perkins, for BBF called Death of a Rollercoaster.

Death of a Rollercoaster is a comedic (we hope!) ensemble piece about the last day of a wooden roller coaster, The Great Canadian Grizzly. Set in 1988 at Beaver Tail Island Amusement Park, the show follows Gus, the parks longest standing employee and roller coaster operator/repair man, as he struggles to let go of his favourite ride in the park. Along the way, he meets bizzaro riders and other park employees who are forced to reflect on what the ride means to them. To some, it is a mere heap of wood and steel. To others, it is much more. Through the characters, the play explores the infinite possibilities of a product’s use value.

Working with Black Box Fire has brought many groups and ideas together that may have not flourished in other theatre groups. Jessica and I have a theatre philosophy based on the foundation of community and collaboration. BBF has allowed for this philosophy to grow as so many unexpected people have stepped forward to help us out. It never ceases to amaze me how the Hamilton theatre community will simply volunteer their time and thoughts to make a small idea into something so much more. This is what makes Hamilton and community theatre so special – groups in Hamilton, such as BBF, bring people together and enable ideas to happen just for the heck of it! So if you decide to see our production for any reason, let that reason simply be to join us in a celebration of community, friends and effortlessly belonging.

Death of a Rollercoaster opens a week today! It runs on July 7, 8 and 9 at 8pm each night and 2pm on the Saturday at Hamilton Theatre Inc. (140 MacNab St. N). It’s a part of a special Original Works Double Bill Night with Enter Alice! For more information please visit the Black Box Fire website!

Poster by Justin Nusca

HYPE is on this Wednesday, July 7th after your nine to five grind at Bad Dog Café and Wine Bar on Locke Street . Have some vino in the sun, give your tootsies some well deserved flippy floppin’ freedom, and meet up with other like-minded creative young professionals who live in Hamilton this summer.

Getting your buzz on in the sunshine with buds, yes! *
Stodgy business card hand offs with ulterior motives, no!

*Be bad responsibly. Don’t drink and drive.

RSVP by emailing meg@kitestring.ca so we can give Bad Dog a good heads up.

July 7th from around 5:00 till… whenever
Bad Dog Café
229 Locke Street South

You’re lucky, he’s lucky, I’m lucky, we’re all lucky!

Damnit, Hamilton! Theatre Aquarius does the Rocky Horror Show from April 21 – May 30, 2010!!!!!
Rocky Horror is my all time favourite counter-cultural-sexy-time-spooky-rock-star-musical!

I can’t wait to get all dolled up as my favourite raunchy character and make some noise in the dark theatre!

The theatre is going to have party packs filled with all the usual suspects for Rocky Horror debauchery…. well, at least the ones that won’t rot on the theatre floor.

Who is with me?!

Stay tuned, I’ll blog about my experience getting lost in time, and lost in space… and meaning.

Click the Read More link below to see the video!

The holiday season is just around the corner. Have you started your shopping yet? Jenn was telling me today, on the way to a client meeting in TO, that she is almost done all her shopping for her little guy Jack. I haven’t even started to think about it yet. Maybe I better.

What about you? Have you started your Holiday shopping yet? We’ll I have a few links for you to help find just the right thing for that little person in your life. And they are all my clients!

Hit the read more button to get-a-shoppin’!

The Hamilton 24-hour film festival is the largest of it’s kind in Canada. Last weekend team kitestring produced a 5 min film titled “O CRAAP!” for the festival.

“O CRAAP!” stands for Canadian Rebels Against American Patriation

The requirements were to produce a short film entirely within a set 24-hour period using three elements randomly selected at a kick-off meeting. These elements were: a line of dialogue (SHOW ME THE MONEY), a prop (CANADIAN FLAG), and a location type (IN A CAR). A celebrity jury reviewed the completed films, and the top films were selected for showing at the festival screening.

We are so excited and happy to announce that Team kitestring came in the top 10 out of 36 entries and Jared Lenover (Kirk) won best actor at the ceremony!

Thank you to my whole team for a fun filled day of movie making. I had a blast and am very proud of the film we produced. CONGRATS!!! We are definitely looking forward to next years event! I also want to thank Martinus Geleynse for organizing the festival and for helping us all to realize how great a city we live in.

Watch the film below…

or click here to view it on youtube

You can see Jared in the production of “Down the Road” this weekend at Hamilton Theatre Inc. For more information on the show here

To hear more of the music in the film click here

Chris Farias – Hamilton Ontario – www.kitestring.ca
kitestring creesign – graphic design, marketing, illustration, web design, creative thinking, strategic markeative marketing + dting, total fun!

kitestring is proud to have developed the promo material and video for Black Box Fire’s latest production; Down The Road. Be sure to check it out!

Black Box Fire Website

Black Box Fire is proud to present:

“Down the Road” by Lee Blessing

The story centers on a convicted serial killer, and the husband and wife writing team hired to help him write an account of his crimes. The killer, Bill Reach, has admitted to the murder of 19 women, but there may have been more. Over many weeks of interviews, the couple, Dan and Iris Henniman, grow more and more uncertain of the ethics of what they are doing. Are they simply relating terrifying events, or are they helping readers consume rape, murder, and mutilation as if they are consuming any other product of our society? Are they, in fact, helping to turn Bill Reach into a celebrity?

Starring:

AJ Haygarth as William Reach

Alexa Holbrook as Iris Henniman

Jared Lenover as Dan Henniman

Directed by Matt Moore

Stage Managed by Monica Cairney

Set Designed by Chris Farias

Tickets: $15

Show times:

Friday, May 8th, 8pm

Saturday, May 9th, 2pm

Saturday, May 9th, 8pm

Thursday, May 14th, 8pm

Friday, May 15th, 8pm

Saturday, May 16th, 2pm

Saturday May 16th, 8pm

Reserve online before May 6th for a chance to win some killer door prizes!

Video and Promotion Material by kitestring.

Chris Farias – Hamilton Ontario – www.kitestring.ca
kitestring creesign – graphic design, marketing, illustration, web design, creative thinking, strategic markeative marketing + dting, total fun!