Polaris Festival & Supercrawl Present: Sister Ray & Eliza Niemi
$19.99 Concert | Sep 12, 8-10:30 PM | Mills Hardware, Hamilton
19+ | Accessible Venue | Concert
In celebration of 20 years of Polaris Music Prize, we’ve created the Polaris Festival presented by Sirius XM Canada. The Festival is happening throughout September with over 15 events like Salons, Concerts, Listening Sessions, and our Concert & Award Ceremony at Massey Hall. Browse Festival events here.
Polaris has partnered with Supercrawl to produce a concert during the Festival featuring Polaris 2025 Long Listed artist Sister Ray and Eliza Niemi at Mills Hardware in Hamilton. A special side-quest to both Supercrawl and the Polaris Concert & Award Ceremony, this bill of past nominees will take place at the intimate Mills Hardware space.
Buy tickets now.
7 PM – Doors
8 PM Show Start
12 AM – Venue Curfew
SISTER RAY
Sister Ray is the stage name of Ella Coyes, a Métis singer-songwriter from Sturgeon County, Alberta. She is known for her debut album Communion, released in 2022, and her previous EP Untitled. Her music blends folk and experimental elements, exploring themes of personal experience and self-awareness.
Sister Ray’s Believer album was long-listed for the 2025 Polaris Music Prize.
ELIZA NIEMI
Kneading dough is tricky. You should know how it’s supposed to feel, and if you try too hard, you could make it worse. It’s a beautiful practice – creation with a gentle touch. This is the same instinctual skill Toronto-based artist Eliza Niemi has cultivated in her songwriting over decades. Before she became a cellist and vocalist, her father taught her the basics of bass and guitar at home. They would play together by ear, which fostered her deep musicality and a creative ethic that prioritizes joyful collaboration. Collaboration has always been at the centre of her practice — whether it be in improvising, playing in bands, or running her label Vain Mina Records. Her critically acclaimed debut Staying Mellow Blows (2022) was long-listed for the Polaris Prize and her scores and compositions have appeared on CBC, BBC, Radiotopia, No Budge, and the Tribeca and FIN Atlantic Film Festivals. @eliza.niemi
SUPERCRAWL
Supercrawl is Hamilton’s premier multi-arts festival, September 12-14, 2025, fusing new and independent music with art installations, fashion, performance, literature, theatre, and artisanal craft. Supercrawl’s diverse multi-disciplinary program of sound, performance, visual and media arts is staged along a pedestrian-only creative corridor in the heart of downtown.
A not-for-profit arts organization, Supercrawl is committed to honouring, showcasing and celebrating all varieties of creative work, positioning local and emerging artists alongside significant provincial, national and international peers. The festival fosters and promotes arts and culture as well as the myriad benefits they provide.
A team of Hamilton artists and community builders founded Supercrawl in 2009 out of a desire to showcase the city’s cultural vibrancy and eclectic arts landscape. The event’s principals had based their independent business in the dynamic James North neighbourhood since 1997 and had long been active and prominent partners in the city’s creative community.
POLARIS MUSIC PRIZE
Polaris Music Prize is a Canadian charitable arts organization celebrating 20 years of honouring music as art. From June to September 2025, the new Polaris Music Prize Festival brings concerts, salons, and listening sessions to Toronto and across Ontario — culminating in the Polaris Concert & Award Ceremony on September 16 at Massey Hall. Through its Album, Song, and Heritage Prizes, Polaris amplifies Canadian artists based on artistic merit — not genre, sales, or algorithmic popularity. With 700+ artists championed, over $1.4M in prize and artist fees awarded, and a jury of over 200 music critics and curators, Polaris protects space for boundary-pushing music and fosters a deeper national music culture. Learn more at polarismusicprize.ca.
The event is part of the Polaris Music Prize Festival presented by SiriusXM Canada. CBC presents the 2025 Polaris Music Prize. This project is funded in part by FACTOR, the Government of Canada, and Canada’s private radio broadcasters. It is supported by SiriusXM Canada, Ontario Creates, the Government of Ontario, the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, and the Slaight Family Foundation.
