ArtsWave has announced its second set of project grant recipients. These “Catalyzing Impact” grants ($166,000), combined with those announced earlier in its fiscal year ($231,000), amount to $397,000 in total funds supporting 67 organizations.
While ArtsWave amassed more than $13 million over the last year for the arts, in addition to administering hundreds of thousands of dollars in CARES Act funding, the significance of these grants is in how they enable the arts to impact the community.
This set of grants will enable projects such as the following:
- The “It’s Commonly Jazz” festival will move beyond its Bond Hill location – into OTR, Kennedy Heights and Walnut Hills – offering 14 neighborhood concerts while simulcasting its programming on its social media channels and reaching more people in the process.
- Cincinnati Museum Center will present “Once Upon a Canvas: Storytelling through Art,” an innovative, collaborative project which will bring together local artists of color, children and their families at the intersection of art and storytelling.
- Dearborn Highlands Arts Council in Indiana will create a “Mural of Hope” by graduates of the Jail Chemical Addictions Program (JCAP), working with the assistance of an artist. This mural will tell their story of hope, and in addition, graduates will participate in workshops to explore color and healing through their art.
- Ish Festival will present “Rising in Love,” a new musical theater work by Philadelphia-based Rory Michelle Sullivan, which is a modern-day coming-of-age story about engaged interracial Millennial Jewish couple, who confront their fears and anxieties surrounding their upcoming marriage, turning to family and friends who help them learn what it takes to rise in love.
- Through the upcoming production of “Big Fish,” Commonwealth Artists Student Theatre will elevate their technical skills and create a stronger artistic vision for their production. Included will be: fantastical costuming elements, tricks such as launching people out of a cannon, and an almost cinematic flow from scene-to-scene. The construct of the show relies heavily on the use of projections, some which incorporate animation.
- Vulcan’s Forge Performing Arts Collaborative will bring the Dancing Wheels Dance Company to Memorial Hall in September to showcase its integrated dance technique using challenged dancers in wheelchairs, highlighting the talents of the challenged community while creating paid opportunities for local artists with disabilities.
- MyCincinnati, a free, daily youth orchestra program serving 100 children in Price Hill will celebrate its 10th birthday through a major expansion of at last 30 new students along with reinvigorated programming.
See full list of project grant amounts below.
All approved projects were selected based on their ability to further ArtsWave’s vision to create a more vibrant regional economy and more connected community, emphasizing one or more of the arts sector’s Blueprint for Collective Action goals.
All of these projects are funded through the 2020 ArtsWave Campaign and the support of tens of thousands of individuals, companies and organizations. There is still time to donate to this year’s campaign as it wraps up this month.
For more information on ArtsWave’s grant and other funding opportunities, visit artswave.org/funding.
FY2021 Catalyzing Impact Grant Program – Spring 2021
The purpose of the Catalyzing Impact Grant Program is to encourage a breadth of programming through arts and cultural heritage projects that support the goals of ArtsWave’s Blueprint for Collective Action. In Spring 2021, over $165,000 in grant support was awarded to the following 28 organizations:
| Organization | FY21 Grant |
| ARTE: Art Reconciliation Truth & Empowerment | $5,000 |
| BasketShop | $3,730 |
| CIFF | $10,000 |
| Cincinnati Museum Center | $5,000 |
| Cincinnati Nature Center | $3,750 |
| Commonwealth Artists Student Theatre, Inc. dba CAST | $5,000 |
| Community Happens Here, Inc. | $1,880 |
| Dearborn Highlands Arts Council, Inc. | $3,700 |
| Educational Theatre Association | $5,000 |
| Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Film Commission (DBA Film Cincinnati) | $10,000 |
| ish Festival (dba ish) | $10,000 |
| It’s Commonly Jazz | $9,775 |
| Jazz Vivace | $6,500 |
| KnowledgeWorks | $5,000 |
| Make Music Cincinnati | $5,000 |
| National Underground Railroad Freedom Center | $7,500 |
| Northern Kentucky University Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement | $7,000 |
| O’Keefe Music Foundation | $5,000 |
| Over-the-Rhine Community Housing | $10,000 |
| Over-the-Rhine Museum | $1,000 |
| Price Hill Arts Connection | $9,834 |
| Price Hill Will | $10,000 |
| Slavic Voices | $750 |
| Sunset Players/Arts Center at Dunham | $3,480 |
| The Center for Great Neighborhoods | $5,000 |
| Vulcan’s Forge Performing Arts Collaborative | $10,000 |
| Walterhoope | $2,000 |
| Westwood Works | $5,000 |
FY2021 Catalyzing Impact Grant Program – Fall 2020
The purpose of the Catalyzing Impact Grant Program is to encourage a breadth of programming through arts and cultural heritage projects that support the goals of ArtsWave’s Blueprint for Collective Action. In fall 2020, nearly $231,000 in grant support was awarded to the following 39 organizations:
| Organization | FY21 Grant |
| 4-Way Quartet LLC | $6,000 |
| A Mindful Moment | $3,600 |
| Academy of Cinematic Arts | $8,000 |
| Activities Beyond The Classroom – Fourthwall Youth Studios | $6,000 |
| Activities Beyond the Classroom – The Ben Carlson-Berne Scholarship Fund | $4,100 |
| American Legacy Theatre | $5,000 |
| Art Academy of Cincinnati | $5,000 |
| Art of the Piano | $6,500 |
| Art on the Streets | $8,000 |
| Artsville Corp | $4,875 |
| Band in a Bus | $5,000 |
| Chase Elementary-Cincinnati Public Schools | $7,000 |
| Church of Our Saviour/La Iglesia de Nuestro Salvador | $6,000 |
| Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (Memorial Hall) | $6,500 |
| Cincinnati Fusion Ensemble | $10,000 |
| Cincinnati Music & Wellness Coalition | $6,500 |
| Cincinnati Parks Foundation | $7,000 |
| Cincinnati Skirball Museum of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion | $5,490 |
| Cincinnati Song Initiative | $4,900 |
| College-Conservatory of Music/University of Cincinnati Foundation | $8,000 |
| Corporation for Findlay Market | $10,000 |
| Corryville Suzuki Project Inc. | $6,000 |
| Covington Partners | $8,000 |
| Creative Aging Cincinnati | $6,000 |
| Episcopal Retirement Services Affordable Living | $6,500 |
| i.imagine | $2,100 |
| Jazz Alive, Inc. | $3,500 |
| Keep Cincinnati Beautiful | $8,000 |
| Living Arrangements for the Developmentally Disabled, Inc. (LADD) | $6,500 |
| Paloozanoire, LLC | $5,000 |
| Queen City Cabaret | $1,300 |
| Revolution Dance Theatre | $8,000 |
| SCPA Fund | $3,000 |
| Southbank Partners, Inc | $7,000 |
| The Catalytic Fund (Catalytic Development Funding Corp. of Northern Kentucky) | $5,000 |
| The Melindy Condo Association’s Northern Row Park | $5,000 |
| Warren County Arts Council, dba ArtScape Lebanon | $5,000 |
| Wave Pool | $3,600 |