Making Waves Blog

More than 5,000 local volunteers are gearing up for the 2015 MLB All-Star Game. The volunteer effort for the 2012 World Choir Games inspired the creation of The Welcomers Network.

I want to tell you the stories of Three Wise Men and One Very Brave Young Woman – all of them committed to those wonderful holiday ideals of Peace and Harmony, in unlikely ways.

Throughout 2014, ArtsWave’s arts and community partners made an impact on our region, creating community through the arts. Here are just 25 of the amazing arts stories from this past year.

2014 turned out to be an amazing year at ArtsWave. Here are a few of the highlights we’ll be talking about for years to come.

Now is also the moment to look forward to exciting events in the New Year. At ArtsWave, we’re focused on the 2015 Annual Community Campaign. Here are just a few reasons we’re getting excited to kick-off in Feburary:

My twin 7-year-olds have a big-deal, second-grade project this week: to write and present reports on their favorite holiday traditions I confess that this assignment has caused me some angst because, thanks to the various dreams and ambitions imposed on them by me and my husband, their young lives have been fairly nomadic. I worry that we've done a less-than-pinterest-worthy job of things like instilling and documenting family traditions. So imagine my surprise and delight...

How can a story about a dentist become a story about the arts? The relationship is strong between the arts and local businesses.

The ArtsPass program, available for a $75 minimum donation to ArtsWave’s annual community campaign, offers its members discounted tickets and other special offers at over 40 arts organizations around the region. In an effort to further drive its key impact areas, ArtsWave began adding retail and restaurant offers, helping members craft a full, affordable evening out.

More than 80 arts organizations, non-profits, restaurants, shops, and companies are committed to helping our community discover the region through the ArtsPass and CincYPerks.

This weekend made me take stock of all the things that arts organizations do in Greater Cincinnati to ensure access to stimulating, inspiring experiences like these for people dealing with the physical challenges of age or disability.

For several years, ArtsWave has partnered with a number of arts organizations whose primary focus area is serving individuals with disabilities of all kinds (physical, mental, emotional). The impact of these "very special arts" groups extends beyond the individual artists they serve and into the broader community.

ArtsWave believes in the inherent ability of the arts to connect, inspire, and engage at both individual and community levels has direct implications for the role that arts can play in promoting clinical and general health outcomes. If an expressive life can help increase the health and happiness of our region’s residents, then ArtsWave wants to support and enhance these critical collaborations as part of its community investment strategy.

CCHMC has been a tremendous supporter of the ArtsWave annual community campaign for many years. CCHMC understands the arts can have a transformative effect on the lives of everyone in our community.

‘Tis the season to count our blessings, and ArtsWave has begun taking inventory. Here’s Part One of our Gratitude List:

A relative newcomer to Cincinnati, Karen Bowman joined the ArtsWave board in 2007, establishing herself as a key strategist at a time when a decades-old institution was at a critical juncture for transformational change.

One of the ways that ArtsWave says “thanks” to our leadership donors is with ArtsBreak, a quarterly series of behind-the-scenes presentations by Greater Cincinnati arts leaders.

A global company with deep Cincinnati roots, P&G has been an essential partner for ArtsWave for decades. It runs the largest workplace campaign for ArtsWave with more than 6,200 employees and nearly 400 retirees giving over $1.3 million in 2014 alone. But P&G’s contributions to ArtsWave and our community go far beyond dollars.

Music Hall and Union Terminal are hubs of very necessary educational and cultural activity – activity that results in a ripple effect of benefits for the entire community. Mine are just two among thousands of personal memories that have been made inside Music Hall and Union Terminal.

Cincinnati Opera is reaching out to new audiences and communities all over the region. Community and school tours provide people of all ages a chance to discover how this classic art form can bring us together.

Have you overheard Shakespeare at the airport? Seen the Ballet at the ballpark? Enjoyed a symphony under the stars? You may not have known it, but that’s ArtsWave in Action.