Boon Sculpture Trail To Transform City Into An Artscape Next Summer

Boon is bringing an exciting new arts experience to Kirikiriroa in 2024. From 3rd February to 31st March, 23 sculptures will form a trail through the centre of Hamilton City, transforming the city into an artscape. But who is Boon and where did such an idea come from?

Boon Arts aka the Hamilton Arts Trust is a for-purpose organisation with the vision of ‘bringing the streets of Hamilton alive with art’. Founded during a time when the central city was struggling, Boon is best known for their annual mural painting week, the Boon Street Art Festival. Now, with help from the Brian Perry Charitable Trust, Clive and Dorothy Gibson, Hamilton City Council and WEL Energy Trust among others, they’re bringing the Boon Sculpture Trail to the central city of Hamilton.

The brainchild of this endeavour is Nancy Caiger, art critic, collector, and philanthropist. She has had significant involvement in the arts community for the past 25 years, from the Hamilton Community Arts Council, ArtNexus, being a founding trustee of MESH Sculpture Hamilton and currently a trustee of Boon. Nancy is a great traveller and has always been interested in art in public spaces. On her travels she would see the sculpture trails of other cities and “go green with envy thinking, why can’t we have something like that in Hamilton?” After speaking to Boon she joined their trust in 2018, with this ambition in mind.

“I wanted something within the CBD, wanted something that would be a trail that would connect other outdoor artworks, murals, sculptures etc, tie everything up, give these existing works a new lease of life”. says Nancy. She decided it made sense to hold it in the summer when a lot of other activities are happening. “It'll be the summer to be in Hamilton - all we need is the weather,” she quips.

The Boon Sculpture Trail will also feature a range of tours and performances; two of the works are performance pieces and one is a virtual reality sculpture. Boon is unique in that it really wants to reach out to Hamilton’s diverse community by offering tours of the Sculpture Trail not just in English, but also in Te Reo, NZSL, Mandarin, Spanish and Arabic. Of course, they’ll need plenty of help. Nancy is looking for volunteers to help out as tour guides as well as Kaitiaki (Guardians) of the trail, contact Boon at volunteers@boonarts.co.nz if you’d like to be a part of this exciting arts event!

‘I had a dream that one day I will be walking around the Hamilton CBD appreciating art in all the public spaces. And I’m really excited that we’re bringing this, that we’re making it happen. That the dream will become a reality in the summer of 2024.’

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