Making Waves Blog

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

In partnership with the Community Organizing Committee (@BatterUpCincy) and Downtown Cincinnati, Inc., ArtsWave created a series of pop-up arts performances at CVG Airport and around Downtown.

The development and production of new work is just one of the ways our largest arts organizations build the national and international reputation of our region. This summer, Cincinnati Opera produces the world premiere of Morning Star, a new opera by celebrated composter Ricky Ian Gordon. The piece received two workshops through Opera Fusion: New Works, a unique collaboration between Cincinnati Opera and University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music created in 2011 to foster the development of new American operas.

We, too, have a set of assets that distinguish our region from others, even if our history has been less about musical exports and more about building institutions. We can take a page from Nashville’s playbook by better leveraging our nationally significant arts and cultural organizations to drive economic growth and civic identity. We also have burgeoning festival, neighborhood, pop-up art, and maker cultures that have yet to be fully leveraged as thriving, complementary counterparts to our enviable legacy institutions. With all this going for us, what if we simply put a stake in the ground and declared, “Cincy is an Arts City”!?

The arts can play a powerful role in uncovering and celebrating our shared history. Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park is bringing a new, uniquely Cincinnati story to our region with Cincinnati King, a new play about the legendary King Records.

From outdoor concerts to experimental theater festivals, summer in Cincinnati brings a host of opportunities to enjoy our region’s amazing arts scene with family and friends. Here are just a few upcoming highlights at the start of the summer season.