ArtsWave has a new strategic partnership with Northern Kentucky’s convention and visitor’s bureau designed to increase cultural vibrancy in that part of the Greater Cincinnati region through art and creative placemaking.
As part of the collaboration, ArtsWave and meetNKY will jointly fund and execute strategies to enhance the character and identity communities across Northern Kentucky.
With support from meetNKY, matched in part by a generous gift from Corporex, ArtsWave will hire a new staff member to work primarily in Covington, Newport and other surrounding cities just south of the Ohio River.
Leaders from meetNKY announced the details during its 2024 annual meeting last week.
“Placemaking projects can boost Northern Kentucky’s appeal as a destination for meetings, conventions and tourists,” said Julie Kirkpatrick, CEO of meetNKY. “It makes sense to leverage our resources and build upon ArtsWave’s capabilities to tie NKY more closely to the region’s arts ecosystem.”
A truly regional approach
Through this initiative, ArtsWave will have a physical presence in Northern Kentucky for the first time and with this expanded staff capacity, according to the organization’s CEO, Alecia Kintner. She said the aim is to enable her organization to take part in more events in that part of the region.
That means being able to have more face-to-face time with community partners and working directly with someone dedicated to finding new and increased ways for arts organizations to make an impact in the NKY region.
“This is an intentional step to be more relevant to more people and more places in our region – it’s the ultimate regional approach,” Kintner said. “It’s about connecting various parts of our region to very local cultural assets and to the large cultural institutions primarily located in the region’s urban core of Cincinnati.”
Initial funding for the program also comes from the annual ArtsWave Community Campaign and its Stronger Arts for a Stronger Region early-gift drive.
Chaired by Jon Moeller – Procter & Gamble president, CEO and chairman – and his wife, retired P&G executive Lisa Sauer, the 2024 campaign has a special focus on growing ArtsWave’s investment in NKY and cultivating philanthropic support from the area’s residents and businesses. It runs through May 23.
Neither ArtsWave nor meetNKY outlined any specific fundraising or arts investment goals.
“ArtsWave has funded arts projects and organizations in Northern Kentucky for years. However, dedicated resources raised in the 2024 ArtsWave Campaign will help catalyze even more creative activity there,” Kintner said.
An investment in Greater Cincinnati
ArtsWave and meetNKY stressed a shared belief that this new, pointed activity in Northern Kentucky will add to the arts’ overall impact in the region. A recent report by the Cincinnati Regional Chamber determined that for every $1 invested by ArtsWave, cultural organizations return nearly $43 in economic value to the region.
Over the last four years, arts and culture contributed $1.6 billion to the area’s economy. The report projected that number to grow to $2.8 billion over the next four years with increased investment. SMU Data Arts ranked the Cincinnati metro area at No. 11 on its list of the top 20 large United States regions on its Arts Vibrancy Index.
Kintner described ArtsWave and meetNKY as being at the very beginning of planning. “Lots of conversations and collaborations will be looked at, among ongoing and new partners,” she said.
While still in the early stages, Kintner believes this “small experiment with radical intent” has the potential could become a model for how ArtsWave engages with other parts of the region.
“Investment in the arts, like the one meetNKY is making, builds the Cincinnati region’s reputation as a great place to live, work, stay and play,” she added.
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