Kick off the semester by checking out these exciting winter events in Hamilton 

With the new year, it is a great idea to explore the fun arts and cultural activities taking place around campus and in Hamilton. Especially as we all return to school – and before the semester gets too busy – it's important to take the opportunity to have some fun and explore what McMaster University and Hamilton’s arts and cultural community has to offer. So, here are some of the fun events that are on in these next few weeks! 

Hamilton Winterfest 

The Hamilton Winterfest is coming back this year and will be happening between Feb. 2 through 20 on the rooftop of Jackson Square. The event will include special celebrations for Valentine’s Day and Family Day.  

This free event will include over 60 community-led events, including classical concerts, exhibitions, workshops and story-times among others. It will also feature site-specific light installations, murals, skating, food vendors and live performances.  

Filmy Fiesta 2.0 

Hosted by Bollywood at Mac, this is McMaster’s largest annual Bollywood bash. Taking place on Jan. 13 at CIBC Hall, this night will be filled with entertainment, music and fun.  

The doors will open at 8:00 p.m. and the event will include DJs Mani and Beatz. Tickets will start at $20. 

Charity Ball 

The 24th annual MSU Charity Ball is coming back in-person this year – Moulin Rouge style! Charity Ball is McMaster’s largest student-run gala and will be taking place at the Hamilton Convention Centre on Jan. 27. This is a night of dancing and fun with a live DJ, appetizers and a photo booth.  

Tickets are now in Tier 3 and sell for $70. 

Hamilton's Food & Drink Festival 

The Hamilton Food and Drink Festival will be taking place from Mar. 17 to18 at the Hamilton Convention Centre. This event is a culinary and drink expo showcasing a myriad of food and drinks, including gourmet local food and specialty coffees among many others.  

Popular restaurants, culinary experts, chefs, innovative food trucks, breweries and wineries from Hamilton, Burlington, Oakville, Halton, Brant, Haldimand, Lake Erie North Shore, Pelee Island, Prince Edward County, Niagara Peninsula and Niagara-On-The-Lake's will be participating. There will also be live musical acts and fun informative cooking demonstrations.  

Have fun checking these events out! 

When I walked into the MSU Charity Ball, I didn’t exactly hold my breath. Instead I staggered in, put my hands into my pant pockets, and whispered to no one at all, “Here we go again.”

Maybe it was the jumbling together of the decay and life of the city that branded me with a smug weariness. Right near Jackson Square with the wet-smog of a sewer filling my nostrils, I was asked for change by a homeless man. I, donned in my suit and tie, probably seemed insulting in my fumbling reply: don’t have any.

Or maybe it was because I felt the night would be like all others. Loud music would drum through my ears. I’d bounce. I’d teeter. I’d repeat in that order. I’d dance this way then that way then this way again, painfully aware of how bad I am at shuffling around. Photos would be taken. I’d smile, be told I blinked, I’d smile again, be told I wasn’t smiling, I’d smile one more time, and a grumble of forced satisfaction would answer how I looked. I’d talk to people who I don’t know for no other reason besides close proximity. I’d have dressed up myself in every way, laughing at jokes that I don’t find funny and doing things I probably wouldn’t do otherwise. Most of all, I’d probably be drunk – poisoned at any cost in order to have fun.

But unlike my brain-grinding first year formal events where being zonked was a requirement, not a necessity, the Charity Ball was different. I was surprised. For the first time a party’s mould wasn’t forced onto the attendants. Rather than everyone having to dance to music that a select number of people liked, there were videogame consoles, silent auctions, rooms playing alternate music like Motown, and rooms filled with various hor d'oeuvres, from vegetarian poutine to cotton candy, where one could just sit and socialize with friends.

This variety was enlivening. Though I have been critical of the MSU in the past – an inevitability that comes with power – I saw that this less like a ball and more of a gathering of many different people with many different interests. More than glitter on the dresses or the lasers that pulsed through the darkness, what shined through was the attempt to be inclusive for all those in the diverse McMaster community.

If you pardon the poor play-on words, this inclusivity was magical.

Farzeen Foda

Senior News Editor

 

The 14th annual Charity Ball, themed Cirque, will be held on Feb. 3. Hamilton Convention Centre will see hundreds of McMaster students piling through its doors, dressed to impress.

Over the years, Charity Ball has been seen as the biggest formal for McMaster students, and until recent years, has been consistently sold out. Each year, a charity is carefully decided upon. The charity is chosen based on a proposal given by the charity, as well as its contribution and connection to McMaster

students and the surrounding Hamilton community.

Each year, 90 per cent of after-expenses revenue is donated to the chosen charity. The remaining 10 per cent is dedicated to the Alumni Advancement’s McMaster Senior Class Gift Fund. Proceeds from Cirque, will support Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Hamilton and Burlington and the goal is to sell 1,300 tickets to reach a target donation of $15,000.

As hundreds of students put money toward a charitable cause for an evening of dance, entertainment and light gambling, it seems very few students are fully aware of the charity aspect of Charity Ball.

Although embedded in the name “Charity Ball,” a mere three out of 30 randomly sampled McMaster students, all of whom were familiar with Charity Ball, knew which charity was to be supported by Cirque.

MSU Charity Ball Chair 2012, Christine Corso, contended that most students do understand and are aware of the charity aspect of the formal, noting that many students, when deciding between a faculty or club formal and Charity Ball, are more inclined to support a charity over a non-charitable formal.

Aware of the need to effectively communicate the charity supported by the Ball, a separate advertising campaign was established for the Big Brothers and Big Sisters aspect of the proceeds. But such advertising appears to be relatively scarce in comparison to the promotion presenting Charity Ball as an entertainment-oriented event.

Corso explained the intention of the posters as a means of relaying important information about the event as concisely as possible without being visually overbearing. “Without overwhelming people with posters, we need to communicate the date and time, and which charity we are supporting is also important, and that is why we had a separate ad campaign for it.” She also acknowledged that the promotional methods employed for Charity Ball have, in recent years, had to compete with other campus clubs and faculties holding their own formals, which has led to a decline in Charity Ball attendance.

In its early years, Charity Ball tickets would invariably be sold out, so advertising efforts were relatively weak and virtually unnecessary until recently. Corso noted that it is possible that as the need for Charity Ball promotion increased, “the charity aspect may have gotten lost in that, and [the event] started being advertised as more of a formal.”

Last year, Charity Ball raised $9,500 for The Ronald McDonald House, falling well below the preceding two years, which raised $31,500 and $27,500, respectively.

With hundreds of tickets sold for a night of fun in the name of charity, there may be something to be said about the fact that the charitable aspect of the night is drowning in the glitz and glam of the formal event.

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