Hey y'alls, we're less than a week to the start of all the House of PainT events that will lead up to the big party on Saturday August 6th!

You may have seen the flyer and poster around town (If not, check it out here and here) and some buzz building up on the likes of Facebook and Twitter.  Spread the word 'cause it's going to be a kickass week of workshops and parties.

The full schedule on this website has been updated too (see it here), with all the details and angles you need.  Still, if you have any questions feel free to email us!

One IMPORTANT NOTE, we made a small error (ok, major error- eeps) on the printed flyer.  The "Connecting with Youth" workshop is really on wednesday and the "Cashmoney" workshop is on friday.  On the printed flyer it's reversed.  Sorry and hopefully no one shows up on the wrong days.

To all the writers who have registered with us: Thanks for all your interest.  We apologize if the online registration system was a bit wonky.  I've been working to build a nice CMS of my own to run this site, and there's a few bugs to iron out.  We could've gone the easy way with Wordpress or something, but eventually we want to have a lot more custom interactivity on this site so I figured... no pain no gain!  PHP or death!

See everyone soon.

Kenji

Save the Date! You knew it was coming, but now it’s official: The 9th annual House of PainT is going down August 3-7th, 2011-- under the bridge!

We’ve been celebrating Ottawa’s hip hop culture for years, and this year will include all of the things you know you love: graffiti artists filling the walls with colour, DJs filling the air with funk an’ hip hop, MCs speaking their peace and bboys and bgirls battling it out at the main event. With workshops, art shows, club nights and more in the mix, this is still an event you don’t want to miss.

But 2011 will bring new stuff too! This year we’re taking it back to fundamentals and asking House of PainT participants to do one simple thing: CONNECT.

HoP has always been about connection. Each year we unite the four pillars of hip hop and bring people of all ages, from across the country, together under one bridge. Even the spot represents: the bridge links the city south to north, the underpass ties Carleton with Old Ottawa South, and the walls create space for Ottawa to connect with graffiti art. We may have grown, but our goals are still the same: bringing b-boys, b-girls, graffiti artists, DJs, MCs and hip hop heads together to strengthen our community, share the art that we love and connect at the capital city’s biggest free hip hop jam.

So expect the theme CONNECT to flow throughout the 2011 event, with the graffiti wall portioned out like interconnected puzzle pieces, professional development workshops linking artists with tools of the trade, a photo exhibit connecting Ottawa to the urban truth of our city and much, much more.

Since we know HoP 2011 will be jam packed, we’re starting to connect early -- reaching out to our community and asking ‘What do YOU want from the House of PainT?’ Got an idea for the jam? Want to be involved? Need to know more? Holler! You are our community and we want to hear from you. Don’t be shy! EVERYONE - artists, heads, friends and family - is asked to share their thoughts in our survey – and the results will be plugged into plans for 2011, 2012 and further.

Visit us on Facebook, check out our website or email us at info@houseofpaint.ca for details and info. And - most important - save the date and come out to the Jam! August 3-7th, 2011 (Main Event August 6th, under the bridge).

Reach and CONNECT!

After running with a blog-feed style website for a while, we've decided to upgrade to a full fledged site that groups the important stuff into clearer sections.  It's still mostly the basics, but over time we hope to include more interactivity as well as features that will help support local artists and members of the community.

The new site was designed and developed by Kenji Toyooka using his own content system.