#MyFirstArts Challenge

The #MyFirstArts Challenge is a part of the 2023 ArtsWave Campaign that underscores the importance of arts education and early arts experiences. We'll share stories from participants throughout the Campaign, both on social media and in a physical gallery in the ArtsWave lobby! At our Campaign finale celebration, we'll share the full array of images to show how important the arts have been to creating the people and community we are today.

Taking part is simple:

1. Share your early arts experience. This can be:

a. A plain text post sharing a brief story.
b. A short story plus an image — a picture of the venue, a picture of you at that age, a picture of the art you made, etc.
c. A short video of you telling your story (check out this example from Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval).

2. Use the hashtags #MyFirstArts and #CreatedToGrow in your post. Be sure to tag @ArtsWave (Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn) or @ArtsWaveCincy (TikTok) as well!

That's all there is to it! Here are some examples of what it might look like:

#MyFirstArts for your Workplace Giving Campaign

Join other companies across the region in spreading the word about how important early arts experiences are to us all. (And this year, besides the thousands of performances, exhibitions and experiences your annual gifts will fund, we’ll also provide 50,000 field trips so that all CPS elementary school children can visit an arts organization)!

The easiest way is to share the instructions above and ask fellow employees or staff to participate. Working with your organizations’ social media person or team, we encourage you to get creative and participate as a group to do any of the following:

• Have everyone write a brief summary of their story on a sign or mini whiteboard to hold up in pictures. You can post these individually or as a collage.
• Take short videos where multiple people share their experience (just the "what, where and when" part) and combine them into one video to post.
• Have everyone write their story on a single whiteboard (add some decorations to it as well!) and take a picture.
• Turn it into a trivia session for your campaign events — have everyone share their stories anonymously, then see who can match the most stories to staff members.
• Let us know your own ideas!

If it's not possible to share any of these from your company's social media accounts, you can use this form to send the images or videos to ArtsWave and we’ll tag your company in the post we create.

Here are some examples: