Backward Glance

For most of us, the memory of standing in a crowd of people marveling at the magic of light and movement during BLINK is a distant–and nearly unimaginable–memory. BLINK transformed the region into an outdoor art phenomenon with 100 installations including large-scale projection mappings, murals, and interactive light sculptures (projection mapping is the art of turning unusual or irregularly shaped objects–such as buildings–into a video projection surface.

This month, though, the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, in partnership with AGAR, ArtWorks, Brave Berlin, and the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation, released the BLINK® 2019 Economic Impact Report. The results far surpassed the numbers from the first BLINK in 2017,

In October 2019, Cincinnati’s art and light phenomenon, BLINK®, attracted over 1.2 million attendees resulting in a total combined economic impact of $86.7 million and supported 1,015 jobs earning a total of $28.3 million dollars.

The four-day event featured 42 projection mappings, 38 interactive installation locations, and 17 murals stretching across 30 city blocks, two states and a river. BLINK’s inaugural event in October 2017 spanned 20 Cincinnati blocks and was experienced by more than one million visitors, the largest gathering of people ever in downtown Cincinnati and Over-the-Rhine until 2019.

The full report outlines the economic impact of BLINK, including its overall digital reach, survey results, and scope of events. For the detailed impact BLINK had on the Cincinnati region in 2019 download the full report here.

The BLINK team is excited about the City of Cincinnati’s commitment to fund BLINK in 2022 and will be working to announce plans for our return in the coming months. BLINK is produced by Agar, ArtWorks, Brave Berlin, the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation, and the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber.