Go with the Flow
Flow Pass subscribers enjoy five all-inclusive nights of theater, dance and art plus popular Flow Social parties.
Cost: $185, subscribers receive $50 off their second pass when they bring a friend.
More information at artswave.org/flow.
Enjoying a variety of arts experiences all year long just got easier –and more economical – thanks to ArtsWave.
With the new Flow Pass, subscribers will have access to five unique, Black-centered events during the the 2023-2024 season of Flow, An African American Arts Experience. Orders placed before Sept. 30 receive a limited-edition print of “Acts of Holding Dance,” by BLINK 2022 artist Wendi Yu with Elementz.
“Our opportunity is to continue building an audience who appreciates the various expressions of Black art,” said Flow’s Co-Chair Mel Gravely. “In the end, we hope to cultivate a culturally curious and racially diverse audience that will create a level of demand that enables more and more Black artists to sustain, thrive and inspire. An audience that is ready and willing to connect with rhythm, vibe and yes, the flow of Black artists that may have been unfamiliar to them.”
The inaugural season of the Flow Pass, presented by Fifth Third Bank, kicks off Oct. 20 at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s new Rouse Theater. Following the Flow Social pre-show reception, subscribers will enjoy premium seating at “Clyde’s,” a dramedy about a group of people recently released from prison who find redemption and purpose through the art of sandwich-making. The show is written by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning African American playwright Lynn Nottage and directed by Timothy Douglas.
From Feb. 8 through 10, 2024, Flow Pass subscribers will enjoy exclusive access to “African American Modernism” at the Taft Museum of Art, which features more than 60 dynamic and vivid works of art created in African during the 1950s and ‘60s, which challenge the assumptions of the time about African arts being isolated to a “primitive past.” The exhibition will be preceded by a choice of cocktails or brunch, depending on the date chosen, before experiencing the exhibition.
Flow Pass subscribers will enjoy August Wilson’s “How I Learned What I Learned” at Ensemble Theater on Feb. 16 and 17. This autobiographical tour-de-force charts Wilson’s journey of self-discovery and what it means to be a Black Artist in America. The production is directed by well-known local theater artist Torie Wiggins. A Flow Social will be held before the performance.
On April 5, Flow Pass subscribers will celebrate at Lempicka by Jeff Ruby with a pre-concert dinner-by-the-bite and champagne toast, followed by Cincinnati Ballet’s “Mercurial Landscapes” at the Aronoff Center. The mixed-bill program features four dynamic contemporary works and includes new choreography by Rena Butler of New York’s Gibney Dance Company, with costumes by Cincinnati’s own designer-for-the-stars and recipient of a 2023 ArtsWave Black & Brown Artist Commission, Asha Ama Daniels.
The final Flow Pass event of the season is an exclusive, inspiring conversation with conceptual artist Charles Gaines on his monumental project, ‘The American Manifest’ coming to Cincinnati in the spring. The project, called one of the most consequential works of public art of the century, consists of “Moving Chains,” a massive outdoor art installation; a second installation of “Roots” coming to the Cincinnati Art Museum; and an original musical composition, “Manifestos Four,” to be performed by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
Flow, An African American Arts Experience began in 2020 as a quarterly performance series featuring renowned Black artists and ensembles from around the country and close to home, working in various disciplines. The series is presented by ArtsWave, the region’s engine for the arts, with support from area businesses, foundations and individuals and with guidance from a steering committee comprised of representatives from the region’s top corporations.
Flow supports and promotes professional, evocative African American artists. The goal for the series is to attract a highly diverse, culturally adventurous audience and create a shared and elevated appreciation for artists of color. Flow complements and expands the region’s existing inventory of multicultural experiences offered by local arts organizations. ArtsWave President & CEO Alecia Kintner explains, “The new Flow Pass is first-of-its-kind in the region, bringing a core audience together to enjoy Black-centered arts created and presented by local and national partners.”