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A guide to top happenings in Hamilton Central in August
Mark your calendar—Hamilton Central is the place to be this August!
Mark your calendar—Hamilton Central is the place to be this August!
You are invited to the Vetro Spring Festival!
The festival will be held on Rostrevor Street in and around Vetro Mediterranean!
Join us for a few hours of entertainment, delicious food,instore tastings at Vetro and go in the draw to win a Weber BBQ.
Brought to you by Vetro Mediterranean
Supported by Love the Centre & Connect Hamilton
Every year in August, Hamilton Book Month celebrates New Zealand authors and their writing, with events covering different genres and age groups. Readers from the Waikato and beyond are invited to meet authors, listen to them discuss their work, and ask questions. With activities and events for all ages, all month, this is a local celebration you won't want to miss.
Visit their website for the full schedule of events.
Opening: 5.30 - 7.30pm
Thursday 14th August 2025
Exhibition Date: 14th August - 13th September 2025
In Reflex, Sarah Munro invites viewers into a quiet, instinctual space — where watercolor becomes not a tool of control, but a collaborator in uncertainty. These works arise from a process of immediate, unfiltered response: to memory, to mood, to the body’s own rhythm.
Watercolor, with its fluidity and resistance to overworking, mirrors Munro’s interest in what lies beneath conscious thought. Each brushstroke is a reflex — quick, unrehearsed, and honest. Color seeps, bleeds, and settles in ways that cannot be entirely predicted, revealing the tension between surrender and intention that defines her practice.
Rather than plan or perfect, Munro listens. She listens to the way water moves, how pigment pools or vanishes, how gesture meets gravity. The result is work that feels ephemeral yet grounded—at once fleeting and deeply rooted in presence.
Reflex is not a narrative. It is an impulse. A visual record of the moment before interpretation, before language. In this body of work, Munro explores what happens when we trust the immediacy of the hand, the weight of the brush, and the quiet logic of the unconscious.
Han Chao - Hanrad Gallery
Artist Statement:
I am a studio-based painter in Hamilton, New Zealand and an academic specialising in creative practice research in painting and embodied cognition. I have exhibited in New York, Italy and France. Since 2018, I have taught art theory and supervised Honors and Masters-level creative practice research at Waikato Institute of Technology. My doctoral studies explored how painting activates embodied cognition and I am committed to developing this research in both my painting practice and teaching.
Sarah Mitchell Munro
The Bruce Springsteen Experience is an international-level show dedicated to honouring the timeless music of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Featuring a full nine-piece lineup, this captivating performance delivers an electrifying blend of visual and audio excitement. Audiences are consistently wowed, with standing ovations being the norm.
As 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the iconic "Born to Run" album, The Bruce Springsteen Experience will perform the album in its entirety, along with a selection of The Boss's greatest hits. This special celebration promises to be a remarkable tribute, allowing fans to relive the magic of Springsteen’s music like never before. Don't miss this unforgettable experience!
Attendees will be provided one of the best views in Hamilton, along with some key speakers providing updates on the central city, some delicious canapes and minimal formalities, we would love to see you there!
Speakers
Market update - Brett Wood – Loan Market
Development update - Mike Neale – NAI Harcourts
Hospitality update - Hear from the new hospitality provider of the Waikato Regional Theatre & Hamilton Hotel
If you are interested to join the Executive Committee of the HCBA, please contact Vanessa Williams (HCBA General Manager) by email vanessa.williams@lovethecentre.co.nz or by phoning 07 838 3905.
If you would like to attend the AGM please RSVP by 25th August by emailing admin@lovethecentre.co.nz