Making Waves Blog

As part of our Fall Arts Preview, ArtsWave spoke with local artistic directors about their programming for the coming year. This week, we connected with Lynn Meyers, Producing Artistic Director of Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.

As kids head back to school, teachers and friends are bound to ask “What did you do on your summer vacation?” Kids may perceive their weeks at camp as being a break from lessons, but parents know that learning and developing important life skills is a big part of the summer camp experience.

The Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton provides a hub of activity for the community. New Executive Director Ian Mackenzie-Thurley shares his excitement for upcoming season.

At home and at work, it’s all about the right recipe. Of course, recipes do best when you have high quality and abundant ingredients on hand. At ArtsWave, we’ve been thinking about what happens when you add Cincinnati’s high quality and abundant arts experiences into the mix of other civic and regional priorities.

Cincinnati knows how to throw a festive party whether it’s all about baseball, music, beer, or innovation. It’s time to invite more of the world to our party, not just for the national spotlight and tourist revenue that these events provide, but also for the infusion of energy and exchange of new ideas that they inspire among our creative workforce. The more, the merrier… and the stronger our region becomes.

Contemporary Arts Center's One Night One Craft sessions offer adults the chance to make art and make new connections in the community.

At first glance, the field of engineering, the natural sciences, technology, and mathematics may seem to have little to do with a discussion about arts education. Yet one local organization is changing the way our community educates our students by embracing an attitude of collaboration across these fields in a practical way.

The arts have been in the news a lot over the past two weeks. In response to these stories, I’ve heard more than a few times that these results are impressive for “a city our size.” As much as I understand the sentiment and our region's population size, I think we are selling ourselves short with this qualifier. Within the space of twelve days, Cincinnati has done something that other cities, large or small or in between, can only envy. We’ve shown our unique capacity for collaborative action around things that we value—namely, a thriving, innovative, and inclusive arts scene.

The Cincinnati Fringe Festival brings 150 artists, 45 productions, and over 170 performances to the Queen City each year. Performers from across the region and the globe look forward to this innovative and cutting-edge theatre festival to put new works in front of new audiences.

It’s been four years since the Fine Arts Fund changed its name, mission, and vision for building community. Like any bold endeavor, the new “ArtsWave” made a splash. What did it mean, then? And what does it mean, today?