Picture It
by Jackie Reau
National eyes will be on Cincinnati’s arts scene in 2025.
Over this next year, leaders of America’s creative economy will pay a visit to Cincinnati for their annual meetings and to learn about how Cincinnati leads with cultural vibrancy.
The Americans for the Arts annual convention will visit in June, the Association of Film Commissions International and the American Association for State and Local History Museums both convene in Cincinnati in September.
Earlier this month, Cincinnati maintained its status on another prestigious national list, thanks to its arts community. SMU DataArts, the National Center for Arts Research, released its annual ranking of the most arts-vibrant communities in the United States.
The 2024 Arts Vibrancy Index once again includes the Cincinnati region among the top 20 large communities. The Cincinnati region is the only one in Ohio, Kentucky or Indiana to be named to the list of large communities. Other Midwest cities joining Cincy are Chicago, Milwaukee and Nashville.
This ranking is determined through a data-driven analysis of arts supply, demand, and government support across more than 900 communities nationwide. Cincinnati has earned a spot on the list every year since its debut in 2020.
“In the Cincinnati region, our community recognizes that the arts are not just a nice-to-have, they are a necessary part of the economy to the tune of $1.6 billion in economic impact over the last four years,” says Alecia Kintner, President and CEO of ArtsWave, the region’s main source for arts funding and the community’s local arts agency (LAA). “This report is yet another proof point that our arts in Cincinnati are a significant driver of the vibrancy that is coming to define our region.”
Among the study’s metrics, Cincinnati ranks in the top 1% for earned program revenue, such as ticket sales, and in the top 2% for total compensation for arts workers. “This highlights the strength of our arts industry and our ability to attract high-quality creative talent that enhances our region’s growing reputation as a national creative hub,” says Kintner. “This growth is the result of decades of strategic, philanthropic investment in the arts by individuals and businesses, and the index provides a tangible way to showcase the return on that investment.”
Cincinnati is also on the short list to become the new home of one of America’s most prestigious cultural events, the Sundance Film Festival beginning in 2027. The new host city for the festival will be announced this spring.
During a Sundance site visit this summer, Film Cincinnati CEO Kristen Schlotman toured the contingent from theatre to theatre, all within a three-mile radius and easily accessible by foot or free streetcar.
Also during the site visit, Kintner invited 30+ cultural leaders from museums, theaters and performing arts groups to meet the Sundance group. Conversations immediately led to collaborations among the Cincinnati Art Museum, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati Pops and Children’s Theatre, and many more. These cultural collabs happen regularly and easily in Cincinnati.
These cultural institutions have also been a part of $750 million infusion of capital investments in Cincinnati arts over the last decade and would easily accommodate the film festival at its state-of-the-arts venues.
In October, Cincinnati welcomed two million visitors to its downtown and Northern Kentucky neighborhoods with BLINK Cincinnati, now the largest festival in America featuring over 80 interactive installations by dozens of muralists, light installation and projection artists.
In the fall of 2025, Cincinnati will kick off America’s 250th national celebration with a signature event called America’s River Roots. The five-day event from Oct. 8–12 will honor America’s river culture with live music, cuisine and thematic river cruises along the Ohio River. Another million or so are expected for this event.
Cincinnati puts its money where its mouth is. Some 30,000 donors contributed nearly $13 million last year to the ArtsWave community campaign to support more than 100 arts groups. It’s the largest such campaign to support the arts in America and has been for many years. A campaign so important to the city that P&G CEO Jon Moeller and his wife, Lisa Sauer, led it.
Annual attendance at arts performances, museums and concerts outperforms Cincinnati’s beloved pro sports teams. On any given evening, you may see a soprano from the opera singing the national anthem at a ball game.
Each July, Paycor Stadium, the home to the NFL, shares the stage with the Cincinnati Music Festival, America’s largest R&B music festival and the city’s largest annual tourism weekend with an economic impact of $107 million each year. Summerfair Cincinnati, the city’s largest outdoor art fair, is regularly recognized as a top 10 art festival in America.
As America’s creative economy visits Cincinnati this year, they will learn about a number of creative collaborations including the Cincinnati Pops performing the song book of Tina Turner, the Taft Museum’s 250th celebration of J.M.W. Turner and his watercolors from their collection and the Cincinnati Art Museum, and Ensemble Theatre’s staging of 2024 Tony nominee, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, and so much more.