Organizational Updates
February 2011
Creating Vibrancy
2011 Community Campaign for the Arts
The 2011 ArtsWave Community Campaign officially began the week of February 7. Edgar L. Smith, Jr. and his cabinet have received some very affirmative feedback from company leaders regarding the change from the Fine Arts Fund to ArtsWave as evidenced in quotes and feedback that was shared with the board in mid-January. So far most business leaders have been receptive and believe this is an opportunity to engage more of their employees in the campaign by focusing on the benefits the arts have on the entire community. Despite the excitement and energy around ArtsWave’s expanded mission and goals, we also acknowledge that this is still a challenging economic environment, so during company calls we have been focusing on increasing participation and that is what we plan to highlight this year.
Setting the Goal
The majority of the goal-setting meetings have occurred, but there are still several key accounts that we need to confirm. Understanding the realities of the economic climate, we have announced a goal of $11,000,000 matching 2010 results. There is still a gap to get to this number so it’s a bit of a leap of faith, but Edgar L. Smith, Jr. and his cabinet know that it is important to generate the same level of financial support as last year if at all possible.
Campaign Kickoff
We have many exciting things planned for this year’s campaign and even our kick off has several components:
- Announcement in Sunday Enquirer on February 6th: To maximize our audience for the campaign announcement, we worked closely with Enquirer staff to get a feature story. Besides the campaign’s total goal, the story focused on our goal of growing the number of donors to the campaign.
- Press release to all other press outlets. We expect other outlets to follow with a story based on the Enquirer exclusive.
- Feature the annual community campaign video. While the campaign video is live on our site and on YouTube, we have not promoted it at all. When the campaign officially starts, we will begin promoting the video to highlight our new brand.
- Launch of the ArtsWave digital game.
Sampler Weekend Expands to Six Weekends
One of the most popular events of the annual community campaign is Sampler Weekend, sponsored by Macy’s. It drives the most media and public attention during the year to our organization and is an important tool for the campaign. So, this year we are trying a new approach by extending the annual two-day, one weekend event into six days across the twelve weekends of the campaign. This approach allows campaign leaders to share an upcoming weekend of activities with all potential donors. Moreover, the media will be able to feature arts activities connected to ArtsWave week after week, highlighting the benefits of the arts – and encouraging support – time and again. ArtsWave leaders, media contacts, and Macy’s are all excited about this new approach.
Sampler Weekend’s six weekend days will be February 12th and 26th, March 12th and 26th, and April 10th and 23rd. These weekends are great opportunities for families, friends, and neighbors to connect with one another and experience the music, theatre, dance and visual arts that make our community great. The six weekends will offer some 180 free events at over 75 venues all over the region. Area residents can choose from a menu of fun activities from Fairfield to Newport, Mason to Batavia, Pleasant Ridge to Downtown and more. Each Sampler weekend also features one of Cincinnati’s anchor arts institutions and a Neighborhood Spotlight, highlighting several venues in one area with multiple programs on the same day.
Also new this year, the ArtsWave staff conceived and commissioned a new interactive searchable calendar.
Once again, Sampler will bring back some favorites, Get Smart About Art (see below for more info), Arte Latino, and Gospel Brunch.
Engaging New Audiences
In an effort to engage new people in the campaign, Edgar L. Smith, Jr. and Crystal Kendrick will host a multicultural donor engagement event at the Taft Museum of Art on Wednesday, February 16. Diverse members of the community will be invited to hear about ArtsWave’s Multicultural Arts Ambassadors Circle and be asked to support the community campaign.
The Friends for the Arts will host a ‘Surprise Party’ at the Contemporary Arts Center on Friday, March 4. Geared toward young professionals, the ‘Surprise Party’ provides an opportunity for them to enjoy great art in the performance spaces and galleries and meet other young Cincinnati residents in a fun and exciting atmosphere.
ArtsWave Presents…
ArtsWave Presents..., is a program that brings musicians, dancers, actors, and artists from Cincinnati’s anchor arts organizations into local neighborhoods for public performances.
To date, the Cincinnati Ballet, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra have taken advantage of this opportunity. On Saturday, February 19th, the Ballet will be bringing a showcase of classic and contemporary ballet to the College Theatre at the College of Mount St. Joseph; the Playhouse will bring its “Off the Hill” family series to a growing list community venues throughout the region; and the Cincinnati Pops will be featured at an outdoor community concert at Cottell Park in the Mason-Deerfield Township area on Friday, June 10. 
Connecting People
ArtsWave’s Second Annual Holiday Ta Da
On the Final Friday in December, people from across our region came together to sing and create a holiday surprise for everyone out & about! Final Friday is the monthly event in Over-the-Rhine when stores, galleries, eateries, and pubs plan special events and crowds of people come from all over to fill the sidewalks of our new neighborhood on Main and Vine Streets.
At the beginning of December we asked people to sign up for our Second Annual Holiday Ta Da, only informing them we would meet in a secret location in the downtown area where other holiday activities were taking place, and surprise others in the area with some holiday cheer.
On the evening of the event, Friday, December 17, we started singing in front of forkheartknife, the popular eatery at the corner of Main and Liberty, with a few rounds of Jingle Bells – including that little known second verse!
We had so much fun that someone shouted: “Who wants to walk down to Park+Vine and do it again?” We headed there, picking up some shoppers along the way, and sang again.
Before and after the event, many of the TaDa participants visited the galleries and businesses along the route – shopping for the holidays and raising a glass in cheer.
Initiatives to Engage Young Residents Increase
ArtsWave continues to reach out to residents in their 20s and 30s with programs designed to engage them with Cincinnati’s arts organizations. Paint the Street and other TaDa events drew many young workers downtown, as we recruited groups from workplaces across the region. We recently partnered with Blackbook Experience Management Group, a new enterprise working with some of the region’s top employers to recruit and retain new employees, to facilitate introductions to local arts and culture organizations and provide counsel on organizing arts activities with Cincinnati’s anchor arts organizations as part of Blackbook’s Access program. Project Audience, a national initiative funded by the Mellon Foundation, plans to develop a digital platform for accessing information about arts (and other) events, creating customizable, hyper-local websites for arts organizations. Project Audience expects these sites to develop user history that allows arts organizations to push special offers, combination deals, and unique experiences to interested individuals. ArtsWave hopes to collaborate with Cincinnati Media to bring this national project to Cincinnati. While this initiative is many months from fruition, it holds much promise and potential savings as a national platform supported by a major arts funder. We would like to provide a mobile and online option even sooner – and we are hoping to identify resources to get started on the R & D for such a tool.
New Program Aims to Diversify Next Generation of Arts Professionals
Community Engagement announces the development of a new internship program, Career Links. Designed to encourage diversity in the field of arts management, Career Links plans to offer paid summer internships with Cincinnati’s anchor arts institutions to local undergraduate students. Students from groups underrepresented in the staffs of arts institutions, such as African American, Asian, Latino/Hispanic, Native American and Pacific Islander, are strongly encouraged to apply. To date, five arts organizations have agreed to host interns this summer and offer students experience in areas such as public relations, marketing, fundraising, education, and programming. Recruitment has begun both for interns and for business leaders interested in acting as their mentors. Interns and placements will be announced May 1st.
ArtsWave’s Inclusion Committee Retreat Outcomes
In January, the Inclusion Committee hosted a planning retreat to assess the direction and future goals for the Committee in light of ArtsWave’s new strategic direction. We reviewed the goals and objectives of ArtsWave’s Inclusion Plan; the Committee’s proposed five-year goals for diversity and inclusion for the anchor institutions; a summary of progress over the last five years (2005 – 2010) of both ArtsWave and the anchor organizations. The Committee affirmed that continuing our efforts in the area of diversity and inclusion are aligned with ArtsWave’s new goals and direction. We agreed to amend the Committee’s current plan to reflect the following points of discussion.
The Inclusion Committee:
- Maintains that it is important that the composition of the boards, staff and volunteers of ArtsWave and arts and cultural organizations continue to reflect the interests, needs and perspectives of the community.
- Encourages the arts and culture organizations to have mechanisms in place to facilitate input from the broadest representation of stakeholders.
- Believes that ArtsWave should continue to play an active role in supporting the arts and cultural organizations’ efforts in being more inclusive by shifting from a set of goals that insists on compliance to establishing metrics that encourage deeper engagement.
- Agrees that ArtsWave should reward bold and innovative partnerships that create art experiences that reflect all diverse cultures of the region.
- Emphasizes that the Committee will have greater oversight over the portion of the dollars allocated to diversity and inclusion from the ArtsWave general operating budget.
- Challenges the Committee and the boards of ArtsWave and anchor organizations to do special fundraising to encourage partnerships and collaborations to create more diversified arts experiences.
Communications Department Adds Two New Team Members
The Communications Team recently filled two empty positions. In January, Rebecca Bromels joined the Communications team as Director of Communications. A twelve-year veteran of the local arts community, Ms. Bromels brings a unique and important perspective to ArtsWave. In February, the Communications team added a second Communications Associate, Jenny Kessler. A graduate of DAAP and blogger for UrbanCincy, Ms. Kessler will provide support in writing, graphic design, and social media.
Opportunities for Families & Young People
Sampler Weekend’s Get Smart About Art Festival, sponsored by P&G
On Saturday, February 26th from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., the 3rd Annual Get Smart About Art Festival and STUDIO 2011 will be held at the School of Creative and Performing Arts at the Kunzel Center for Arts and Education in historic Over-The-Rhine.
The festivities begin at Music Hall with the Lollipops Family Concert, Mozart!, performed by Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and the Know Theatre Company. The 45-minute concert begins at 10:00 a.m. The fun continues from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the School for Creative and Performing Arts, one block south from Music Hall. Food Trucks Cafe de Wheels and Senor Roy offer lunch on the go, and free shuttles provide families an easy way to get from the festival to their cars. A wide variety of performances and interactive art-making activities throughout the day make this a great way for parents and kids to connect to the community’s diverse arts organizations. STUDIO 2011, an exclusive space with performances by and for teens, returns for its second year.
Organizational Support for Arts Organizations
Our lively arts environment requires thriving arts organizations, whether it’s local dance troupes, our symphony orchestra, neighborhood theaters, or exciting gallery exhibits and more. ArtsWave supports these groups in a number of ways, including organizing and managing the annual community campaign and offering expert advice through volunteers.
Board Engagement Classes Spring 2011
ArtsWave will be offering a modified version of its noteworthy BOARDway Bound program designed to coach community volunteers and current board members on three Tuesday evenings from 4:45 to 7 PM on March 1, 8 and 15. In addition to four hours of assigned, independent computer learning, the three classroom sessions will include case studies, presentations by professionals working in the field and discussions which complement the web-based learning. Following the training, graduates will complete a survey profile and be added to the on-line BOARDway Bound Board Bank, accessible to qualified arts groups looking for board and committee members. Please contact Heather Hallenberg at 513.632.0128 or heather.hallenberg@TheArtsWave.org for more information.
Fundraising Boot Camp with Arts Boards
On Wednesday, February 16th from 4:30 – 6 PM, ArtsWave will be offering an introductory overview of a new opportunity for established mid-sized arts organizations with strategic consultant John Bloomstrom. Twenty organizations that indicated a need for improved Board engagement in fundraising and a comprehensive fundraising plan have been invited to attend. After the introductory session, two organizations will receive grants to work with Bloomstrom over an 8-month period.
At the completion of this process, the two chosen organizations will gain the following:
- Board members will become more successful fundraisers with a better understanding of the four stages of the solicitation process, best techniques for each stage, how to leverage key staff and other organizational resources, and the personal and professional characteristics needed.
- A board-designed and approved action plan to improve its development efforts toward increasing contributed income.
- Continuous monitoring by John Bloomstrom to ensure organization focus and forward progress on its plan
At the conclusion of this pilot period, ArtsWave hopes to offer this training and mentoring process to more arts and culture groups in the future.
December 2010
Connecting People
Second Annual TaDa: Paint the Street = 1500 Citizen Painters & Six City Blocks!
On September 26, 2010, an amazing 1500 people from all over greater Cincinnati – and beyond – came together for Paint the Street, an event that transformed a half-mile of center-city street pavement into a vibrant and colorful visual art installation.
ArtsWave collaborated with Soapbox to premiere the video of ArtsWave’s historic and unprecedented Paint the Street event. The video captures the energy and beauty of a community collaboration to create and celebrate art.
Recently, ArtsWave has conceived and organized several such surprising arts activities in the Cincinnati area. In each case, the organization has created and shared a video of the event, including one of the nation’s first surprise “flash mob” dances, unexpected holiday singing at an iconic train display, and dancing and galleries on public buses.
The new video of Paint the Street shows a time-lapse view of local artists using chalk to create the design outline on the street at dawn and citizen painters with rollers and paintbrushes completing the street art during the day. It concludes with an overhead view from a Sheriff’s helicopter.
Local artists developed the street art design based on community input at a meeting hosted by ArtsWave several weeks before the event. On September 26, organizers arrived on the site at 4:30 am for street cleaning; the artists began chalking the design at 6 am; and the first citizen painters arrived at 8 am. By 5 pm, 56,000 square feet of street - (a Bengals’ football-field-sized area - was painted in bright, colorful designs.
Strolling street performers entertained the painters all day, including artists from Xavier University, Walnut Hills High School, the School for Creative and Performing Arts, Cincinnati Ballet, and Pones, Inc. A former member of the local orchestra, an editor of the local paper, and a candidate for local office formed a Tonette band with local young people joining in, all tooting plastic flutes.
Local media/graphics studio Lightborne was on site to create this video. Photographers have posted hundreds of photos of Paint the Street on social media sites including Facebook, tumblr, and flickr. Paint the Street has received attention from international websites like let's colour project, muchatinta, and woostercollective, too.
Paint the Street portrays the benefits of the arts to the greater Cincinnati region: creating an exciting and unique place to live and visit, and connecting people from all over in a new way.
To watch the Paint the Street video, please visit our website.
Click here to watch the video.
Community Dialogues
Through our continued efforts to engage the community through the arts, in partnership with the areas’ Chambers, we have commissioned a theatrical adaptation of the booklet, “Cincinnati: A City of Immigrants,” produced by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The play will weave common experiences of immigrants who have settled in the region over the last couple of hundred years. It will be presented at venues throughout the region as a way to create dialogue about the topic, and bring people together in ways that build understanding across community.
Multicultural Arts Partnership Update
A thriving arts scene benefits the entire community. The more people participate, the greater the benefits – more artists and audience members mean more vitality. And the more opportunities there are, the greater the chances that arts events will bring people of different backgrounds together to share something meaningful. For these reasons, ArtsWave is investing in its Multicultural Arts Partnership to support and nurture arts organizations by offering a range of programming that reflects and benefits the community in all its diversity. For the past year and a half, we have worked with five organizations in this capacity:
- arts innovation movement Cincinnati, (aim cincinnati, formerly balletech Cincinnati)
- Bi-Okoto Cultural Institute
- Cincinnati Black Theatre Company
- Elementz
- Eye of the Artist
We also initiated work with three other organizations:
- DanzaContigo Peru
- Mosaic
- School of Indian Dance NrityaArpana
The Partnership assists organizations to develop sustainable organizational capacity. Projects may take a variety of forms and each is tailored specifically to the needs of each organization receiving support. Eligible support includes but is not limited to:
- strengthening financial management and fund development capacity
- identifying and addressing structural and operational issues
- improving board functioning and governance
- establishing or refining personnel or volunteer management systems
- organizational and executive coaching
- business, strategic and succession planning
- marketing research and planning and audience development efforts
- creating new collaborative efforts among arts organizations
- technology planning
We have recently increased our own capacity to better support these organizations in building their capacity by hiring Erin Gilbert, who is working with Vanessa White on this program. (See more about Erin below.) We also recently received a grant from P&G to further enhance and expand this important work.
Community Engagement Welcomes New Team Member!
Erin Gilbert was born in Berkeley, California. She grew up in Malawi, Africa and Rockford, Illinois.
Erin comes to ArtsWave after serving 3 years as Associate Director of the Leadership Advisory Committee of the Art Institute of Chicago. She worked with the Committee to increase the participation of African Americans in the daily life of the museum by increasing the museum’s collection of African American art and increasing its outreach into Chicago’s African American community through marketing, development and educational programming.
She was also responsible for the planning and execution of an international professional-development exchange program. Erin executed this program working closely with staff from the Ford Foundation and the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments. As a member of the Constituent Relations team at the Art Institute of Chicago, she was integrally involved in the fundraising for and opening of the museum’s new Modern Wing.
Erin has more than ten years experience in nonprofit visual and performing arts administration. Her strength is building strategic, mutually beneficial relationships between nonprofit arts organizations, foundations, corporations, and government entities. Her passion lies in organizational capacity-building projects for culturally specific organizations. She earned her B.A. in Political Science and African-African American Studies from the University of Michigan.
As the Community Engagement Program Manager at ArtsWave, she looks forward to building new relationships, building the capacity of multicultural arts organizations and generating resources to produce, promote, and preserve work by diverse artists.
Board Inclusion Committee Retreat
The Board’s Inclusion Committee is planning an extended retreat to look at the current ArtsWave Inclusion Plan and the Committee’s goals in light of ArtsWave’s new mission, vision and strategic direction. We look forward to sharing the outcome of this session with you.
Creating Vibrancy
Rocco Landesman Visits ArtsWave Praises the Arts Impact on Community Here
On September 28, the chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, Rocco Landesman, visited ArtsWave. We took him on a walk through our neighborhood – 12th, Vine and Main Streets – and to see a bit of rehearsal at the Know Theatre for “Skin Tight.”
Later that day, we held a public conversation at Ensemble Theatre, where Rocco informed a full house of people from all across the region that he would like to see communities throughout the U.S. accomplish what we have with art and artists contributing to the new vibrancy of our community.
After his visit, Rocco blogged about his Cincinnati experience, saying:
"Over the Rhine is a transformed place, and the arts are the catalyst, there’s no doubt about it. In fact, I was saying that Over-the-Rhine is one of the prime exhibits for the NEA as we start showcasing what the arts can do. We want to point to that and shine a big spotlight on it."
We love this reaction. It's what we know – but it's terrific to have the nation's top arts official see it and say it, too!
The First Annual Community Arts Centers Day – September 12, 2010
Community Arts Centers Day was a free, 4-hour celebration of community-based arts that brought people from all over the region into neighborhoods. It was organized by Greater Cincinnati’s network of 26 Community Arts Centers, supported by ArtsWave, and sponsored by the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. /U.S. Bank Foundation.
A sample of the events and activities included:
- Hip Hop Dance Performance (Clifton Cultural Arts Center)
- Kazoo Making Activity (Sayler Park Arts Council
- Instrument Petting Zoo (Center for the Arts Wyoming)
- Family Portraits (Peaslee Neighborhood Center)
- Face Painting (Sharonville Fine Arts Center)
The aggregate attendance approached 2,490 for the afternoon period, with an average of 96 participants (many of them for the first time!) at each location.
In email correspondence following the event, Community Arts Centers colleagues offered the following comments:
“Sayler Park is a small community of about 1,100 residents and we are a very new arts center, our attendance was 140 – we were thrilled!”
Dennis Betz, Sayler Park Village Arts Council
“The Day was very successful for us . . . we booked 17 new registrations for various classes.”
David Laug, Baker Hunt Art and Culture Center
“The publicity tools and materials created by the ArtsWave Communication Team were so helpful. The Centers agree that the tools saved time and provided the local community and media with a uniform message.”
Ellen Muse-Lindeman
Community Festivals
Cultural and community festivals by nature create an atmosphere of togetherness, vibrancy, and fun! ArtsWave is creating more opportunity for arts organizations to engage and participate in cultural and community festivals by sponsoring an arts space at community festivals. We are seeing to the coordination of the arts organizations and covering their expenses for participation.
The festivals where we’ve sponsored arts spaces include Cincy Cinco on the square, Kids Fest and the Midwest Black Family Reunion at Sawyer Point, Kids in the Kitchen at the University of Cincinnati, the Center for Closing the Health Gap at Duke Energy Center, the Blast in West Chester, the Pumpkin Patch Festival in College Hill, and Holiday on the Hill in Price Hill. As a result, many more people were able to experience the arts — music, poetry, storytelling, drama, and more. In every case, the participation of arts organizations large and small creates a positive, meaningful impact for the festival organizers, attendees, and the arts organizations, which build awareness and audiences.
Music On the Go
During Cincinnati’s MidPoint Music Festival, ArtsWave sponsored traveling MidPoint acts on the Metro buses that transported the festival’s attendees around the area. This was a great opportunity to spread the word of our new name and expanded mission, as well as invite people to join us for Paint the Street (which took place the next day).
Several local media outlets, including City Beat and Soapbox, recognized ArtsWave for taking the MidPoint show on the road and decreasing the down time of people experiencing art, by putting music on Metro buses. It was wonderful bringing people together in such a visible way – and making the music fest more exciting, too!
Arts Sampler Weekends
ArtsWave is pleased to report that Macy’s has generously renewed its sponsorship of Sampler Weekend. This year marks the 25thyear for this community event. This year, Sampler will take place over five Saturdays and one Sunday making this free celebration of the arts even more accessible to everyone in our community. This year our expanded Sampler will feature several days of events in featured neighborhoods, highlighting the way the arts make places exciting places to visit and live.
Arts Sampler Weekend Dates
February 12
February 26
March 12
March 26
April 10
April 23
New Website and Recognition
Immediately following the launch of our new name, expanded goals, mission and vision – all encapsulated on our redesigned website – we began receiving a lot of praise and recognition for the “relaunch” of the former Fine Arts Fund. People in greater Cincinnati and beyond are able to read all about our new mission and see many examples of how the arts make our region unique by visiting our new website, www.TheArtsWave.org.
We also received significant media coverage about our relaunch throughout the region. We are thrilled that the coverage focused on our new mission in the community, rather than just the name or branding as often happens with a relaunch. The coverage summarized our new name, strategic goals, and future funding model. Selected pieces are attached to this report.
Opportunities for Families & Young People
Arts Infused Learning in Cincinnati Public Schools 
Now in its second year, the Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) Arts Integration program is helping to make learning exciting for young people through a variety of strategies that build on partnerships geared toward sustainable impact. This year 21 classrooms (400 students) will have a vibrant arts learning experience (in visual art, theatre, dance, and music) that connects to core curriculum (English language arts, social studies, math and science). This growth – an increase from last year’s eight classrooms (160 students) - is the result of enthusiastic collaboration by teachers, principals, artists, and arts organizations.
Scope and Impact: The Arts Integration program delivers three 10-week arts learning sessions throughout the school year in six schools. Each student will have exposure to three different arts disciplines throughout the year. Quantitative assessments include data benchmark test scores (reading and math), academic achievement (grades), behavioral incidences, and attendance records. Qualitative assessments are performed through in-class observations, rubrics, photos, and videos records, and include anecdotes on critical thinking skills as well as social/emotional growth. Qualitative evaluation is ongoing, with written reports compiled at each session‘s end and at years’ end. The goal: to build continuous improvement towards a best practice model. A community-wide celebration of all the students and their achievements is planned for the end of the year in May and will be an excellent opportunity to gauge overall impact of the arts on student success.
Sustainability: Arts partners co-plan with a team of classroom teachers and specialists to ensure that lessons are inclusive and meet the needs of all children. Arts specialists in the schools (visual art and music) are drawn into the process for their insight and support. Valuable input from all teachers is sought continuously through active engagement in the arts experiences. Teachers and arts partners develop bi-annual professional-development workshops to share challenges and build on successes. We are creating professional-development workshops to help train teachers in techniques that use the arts as effective teaching tools. Additionally, we are collaborating with the Greater Cincinnati Art Educators Alliance on other professional-development projects.
Access: After-school sites offer a terrific opportunity for students to continue learning through the arts. In Northern Kentucky, the Brighton Center (through its Youth Leadership Development program) continues to be a partner with ArtsWave in developing arts learning experiences that explore issues like bullying and positive self-image. Last summer, ArtsWave partnered with CPS’ innovative 5th Quarter program to facilitate a month of arts enrichment activities at 11 sites.
Teen Arts Council
Teens add a unique and important vitality to our community. The Community Engagement & Partnerships team started preparations in October to create a Teen Arts Council. This council will consist of about 15-20 high school students who have various interests in the arts and who represent the diverse backgrounds of youth in our community. The Council’s objective is to organize and produce events that bring teens together through the arts.
ArtsWave sent information to public, private and parochial high school students in Cincinnati, Covington, and Newport schools. We also asked these schools’ arts teachers to spread the word and identify interested students. Students from Cincinnati, Greenhills, Hamilton, Loveland, Mason, Milford, Newport, and Wyoming who have interests in dance, literature, music, theater, and visual arts have applied to be part of this council. The arts are vital to them, and they want to share their passion.
The first council meeting was December 7th and the students choose their mission and objectives in more detail, with guidance from ArtsWave staff.
Organizational Support for Arts Organizations
Our lively arts environment requires thriving arts organizations, whether it’s local dance troupes, our symphony orchestra, neighborhood theaters, or exciting gallery exhibits and more. ArtsWave supports these groups in a number of ways, including organizing and managing the annual community campaign and offering expert advice through volunteers.
2011 Annual Community Campaign
Edgar Smith, Campaign Chair, and his 2011 campaign cabinet, are meeting with CEOs, recruiting employee campaign coordinators, identifying and calling on prospect companies in order to confirm and generate support for this year’s campaign. The goal is to have enough information to set the campaign goal in January and announce it for the campaign kick-off on February 9. The people we’ve met with are receptive to the new mission, goals, name and branding of ArtsWave. Many of our contacts see this as an opportunity to reach out and engage more people in their employee campaign effort and we are asking companies to strive to increase their participation by at least 5 percent. Edgar and the cabinet are working to have the majority of meetings and calls completed by the end of the year in order to set our goal in January. Most companies so far have agreed to seek support at last year’s level or even work to achieve a slight increase.
2011 Campaign Cabinet
EDGAR L. SMITH, JR.
Founder, Chairman & CEO
World Pac Paper, LLC
JOSEPH WILLKE
President
The Nielsen Company
SANDRA R. HUGHES
Global Ethics, Compliance & Privacy
Procter & Gamble
JOHN A. MONGELLUZZO
Attorney
Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP
TIMOTHY KIMMEL
Tax Partner
Ernst & Young
DEBRA POOLEY
Vice President of Finance
Ohio Casualty
JOSE GUERRA
President
L5 Source
JANE GARVEY
Vice President, Marketing & Communication
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
JAMES YUNKER
President & CEO
Smith, Beers &Yunker Company
MONICA POSEY
Cincinnati State Technical&Community College
Academic Vice President
LAURA BRUNNER
Executive Vice President
Al Neyer, Inc.
RIC POWELL
Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer
d.e. Foxx and Associates
JASON BRIGHT
Vice President Commercial Banking
PNC
JOHN WHARTON
Assistant General Counsel
Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America
CHRISTOPHER COLE
CEO
Intelligrated
CRYSTAL KENDRICK
President and CEO
The Voice of Your Customer
RICK REYNOLDS
Investment Advisor
Bartlett & Co.
GEORGE VINCENT
Managing Partner and Chairman
Dinsmore and Shohl
CHRISTINE G. MEYER
McInturf Associates
MATT STAUTBERG
Operations V.P., Financial Planning & Analysis
Macy's
Multicultural Donor Engagement Event
In an effort to engage new people in the Annual Community Campaign, Edgar Smith and Crystal Kendrick will host a multicultural donor engagement event at the Taft Museum of Art on January 20. Diverse members of the community will be invited to hear about ArtsWave’s Multicultural Arts Partnership and asked to support the community campaign. For the third consecutive year, ArtsWave also will organize an event for young professionals during the campaign to showcase the many creative and exciting things happening in the arts.
Community Arts Centers Public Ally – Samantha Robinson
“My name is Samantha Robinson and I am the 2010-2011 Public Ally at ArtsWave. Public Allies is an AmeriCorps leadership development program that combines full-time nonprofit apprenticeships and intensive skills training with community-building team service projects.
My responsibilities as the Public Ally and Community Arts Center Liason at ArtsWave include assiting selected Community Art Centers with community outreach and marketing initiatives, managing the recently launched www.FindYourCenterNow.com website, and coordinating the Community Art Centers’ involvement in ArtsWave’s Sampler Weekends sponsored by Macys, February - April, 2011.
Throughout my first two months of service, I have conducted 2-day site visits at seven Community Arts Centers to prepare for the development of customized community engagement reports and action plans. I will continue to work collaboratively with staff and volunteers at select organizations to increase community awareness and participation. I am grateful to Public Allies andArtsWave for this opportunity to develop my leadership skills, support Community Arts Centers, and assist in the development of vibrant communities in Cincinnati.”
BOARDway Bound
The seventh graduating class of BOARDway Bound, the dynamic program designed to identify, recruit, train, and place a diverse pool of high-potential professionals as board members of Greater Cincinnati arts organizations, recently participated in the annual “Speed Dating the Arts” mega session at the offices of ArtsWave. Having already watched online videos and attended classroom sessions on board administration, the board candidates moved from desk to desk at 4-minute intervals exchanging questions and responses with their arts client dates. Scorecards are tabulated and candidates and clients are matched for a 3-month observership to ensure that the marriage is secure!
2010 – 2011 BOARDway Bound Graduates
Business Volunteers for the Arts
This fall, 20 new Business Volunteers for the Arts from the professional sector joined ArtsWaves’ volunteer corps to actively work on short-term projects to improve the operational efficiencies of various arts groups. Kelsey Nagel works in the PR/Marketing Department of the Cincinnati Art Museum and was interested in stretching her creative skills through our volunteer program. She was matched with Dramakinetics, an organization with a mission to engage individuals of all abilities through movement, music, and drama; empowering all individuals to reach their full potential. Recently, after moving to a new space in Northside and with an ever-increasing number of participants, Dramakinetics needed help to create and launch their very first e-newsletter! Kelsey continues to work with the staff at Dramakinetics to increase their self-sufficiency to distribute their own e-newsletters in the future.
Allocations
Over the past quarter, our two volunteer allocation committees have been meeting to develop and announce the allocations process for 2011. The focus of the 2011 allocations evaluation criteria will again be on community engagement and fiscal health. Three percent of available funds will be set aside for targeted efforts to invest in developing and cultivating new relationships that encourage a range of programming reflecting and benefiting the community in all its diversity.
Cincinnati Arts Health Insurance Alliance
The Cincinnati Arts Health Insurance Alliance is a small employer health care alliance. Sixteen participating arts organizations are pooled together for underwriting purposes, thereby spreading the risk across a larger employment base and allowing the organizations more control of their health care costs.
The renewal for the Cincinnati Arts Health Insurance Alliance is February 1. All partners understand the benefits of being in a large group and have again renewed their commitment. Through plan design changes, the health insurance alliance’s medical insurance premiums will be slightly lower next year for the high-deductible plan and premium increases for the two PPO offerings will be less than 10 percent. The dental insurance premiums have been established based on a 3 percent increase.