In the News
Three Weekends Highlight 2012 Macy’s Arts Sampler
ArtsWave Presents Free Theatre, Dance, Music, and Museum Events for All
CINCINNATI (January 17, 2012) – The annual Macy’s Arts Sampler presented by ArtsWave will cover three Saturdays this winter, February 11, February 25 and March 10. More than 16,000 visitors attended Sampler performances in 2011. This year, the events will be condensed into three Saturdays featuring almost 100 performances over the three days.
All events are free and open to the public thanks to the generous sponsorship of Macy’s. Macy’s Arts Sampler, presented by ArtsWave, celebrates the creative things —theater, dance, museums, music, and festivals — happening in large and small ways throughout our region. These weekends are great opportunities for families, friends, and neighbors to connect with one another and experience the arts through free events.
Highlights from each weekend, include the following:
Saturday, February 11 Highlights
- Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra family concert, “The Big, Bad Brass Bash!” 10 a.m., Music Hall
- Cincinnati Art Museum, interactive yarn-art installation with the BombShells of Cincinnati and live performances from Madcap Puppets, Bacchanal Steel Drum Band, Kique Infante, Sakura Ladies Chorus, beginning at 11 a.m.
- Playhouse in the Park presents “In a Fool’s Kitchen” by Z Puppets Rosenschnaz at 10:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., plus backstage tours and a Creative Dramatics class beginning at 9 a.m.
- Cincinnati Opera performs “Opera Redux: Porgy & Bess”, noon, Fairfield Community Arts Center
- Cincinnati Boychoir, Cincinnati Children’s Choir, and MUSE: Cincinnati Women’s Choir, choral concerts, St. John’s Unitarian Universalist church in Clifton, beginning 1:00 p.m.
- Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati presents “The Whipping Man”, 2 p.m., Limited Seating
- Wyoming Fine Arts Center, live performances from School House Symphony, Musik Kids, beginning at 10 a.m.
Saturday, February 25 Highlights
- Circus skills demonstration and mini-lessons, beginning at 11:30 a.m., Circus Mojo Center
- Kennedy Heights Arts Center, live performances and activities on the art and culture of Haiti, beginning at 1 p.m.
- Baker Hunt Art & Cultural Center, live performances by Jonathan Heart Origami and Peraza Music Workshop: Suzuki Group and Allegro Ensemble, beginning at 1 p.m. Cincinnati Shakespeare Company performs “Selections from a Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1 p.m. at University of Cincinnati Clermont College
- Visionaries and Voices in Northside, create your own family tree art tile, beginning 11 a.m.
Saturday, March 10 Highlights
- Cincinnati Ballet with live dance performances from Anaya Gypsy Dance, CCM Prep Dance and Cultural Centre of India and more, beginning at 12 p.m. at the Cincinnati Ballet Studios
- ArtWorks will offer guided bus tours of their City Murals, 12 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. Contemporary Arts Center presents family workshops in the UNMuseum, plus live performances by John Ford and David Hawkins, beginning at 12 p.m.
- Taft Museum of Art with a live performance by Tracy Walker, 3:30 p.m. and guided tours of exhibitions beginning at 11 a.m.
- My Nose Turns Red Theatre and Ballet Theatre Midwest perform at Emanuel Community Center beginning at 11 a.m.
- Clifton Cultural Arts Center with live performances by Raison d’Etre, Clark and Jones, Cincinnati Caledonian Pipes and Drums, beginning at noon
A complete schedule will be available on www.theartswave.org/sampler “We found that our audience enjoyed the opportunity to sample the region’s arts over more than one weekend,” said Rebecca Bromels, director of communications for ArtsWave.
“This way, with Macy’s Arts Sampler events on three different Saturdays, patrons can choose the performances that fit into their schedules and discover the arts groups in their neighborhood.” By concentrating performances and activities at some of the larger venues, the schedule encourages families to enjoy more arts at each location.
ArtsWave will also launch a smartphone app at the end of this month to help guests find Sampler events that match their interests, map the routes and create schedules.
Also, ArtsWave’s iSpyArt app, launched last year for the iPhone, is now available to Android users and includes features for viewing a virtual gallery of photos of art and sharing photos on social media.
Macy’s Arts Sampler shines a spotlight on the arts in our community and is the kickoff for the annual ArtsWave Community Campaign, when people all across our region come together to support the creative things that make greater Cincinnati a great place to live. This year’s Campaign goal will be announced in February.
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About ArtsWave: ArtsWave helps create the kind of thriving arts environment that makes the Cincinnati region a better place to live, work, play, and stay. We support and collaborate with arts organizations large and small throughout the area. Music, dance, theatre, galleries, museums, art centers, festivals, and more create communitywide benefits for everyone here. The arts create benefits like attractive, lively neighborhoods and a population that comes together to share ideas and experiences.
iSpyArt: ArtsWave’s Popular App now available for Android
This just in! Our innovative iSpyArt App is now available to Android smartphone users. The app includes features for viewing the virtual gallery of user submitted photos, and sharing from the gallery on Facebook and Twitter.
iSpyArt gives people all over the world the chance to share the art they find in unusual and surprising places—as well as the more likely venues.
iSpyArt is already a hit with iPhone and web-based users. Appolicious - a national site featuring new and creative apps - highlighted the initial streamlined release, as did numerous other online app reviewers. CityBeat named iSpyArt Best Arts App, saying that it’s a “fun way... to engage the public in the arts” and the app is one of 10 featured case studies in a groundbreaking paper on innovative active arts participation commissioned by The James Irvine Foundation.
Every month, we commission a new show with a theme for sharing the art all around us - art that connects our community and makes neighborhoods exciting. To celebrate the launch, ArtsWave has announced a new virtual installation of “Fresh Art” and is calling for submissions beginning today.
All photos are placed in the ArtsWave virtual gallery, which can be viewed from the app or on our website - . Hundreds of photos from all over the world are already “hanging” in the online showcase. Every Tuesday, ArtsWave shares a few photos on the Fountain Square’s jumbotron where thousands can view the art while walking to work, eating lunch, enjoying other events and more.
This version of iSpyArt offers social media sharing opportunities. Visitors can use Facebook and Twitter directly from the app gallery, as well as online via the ArtsWave website.
iSpyArt is in the Market today. Find it here or by searching for ArtsWave. Everyone can also upload photos directly via the Internet.
ArtsWave is leading arts organizations across the country with digital tools and will release a new app for the Macy’s Arts Sampler festival later this month. The app will be available on all platforms and provide an easy way for everyone to find, choose, and plan for festival events that match their schedule, neighborhood, and household interests. Macy's Arts Sampler offers free events including theatre, music, dance, participatory activities in locations and venues across the region over three weekends.
The State of the Arts Forum Section 2.14.2010
The Enquirer -- our local newspaper -- provides a lot of arts coverage still. And now they are beginning to think even harder about how they should use their platform (both the traditional paper and the online portal) to cover the arts.
They started with a big spread about the arts in the Sunday Section on 2.14.2010. (AKA: a lotta love for Valentine's Day!)
All in all, this a very positive set of stories about the benefits to our community through the arts. The reporters and editors thoroughly capture both our optimism and the challenges we face.
We're sharing links to some of the articles and commentary below.
Society's changed, but arts still a 'Big Deal'
Ray Cooklis
"We're also seeing people become more willing to expand their notions of what art can be - and can mean to them. Waller has the right idea. On her FAF blog, she posts her photos of "found" art that's all around us, looking at everyday objects in new ways. She helps organize events, such as the recent surprise "Splash Dance," that make us rethink where and when creative expression can be found.
We need the arts. We need the logic and passion and discipline they bring to our minds. We need the store of knowledge they have brought us through the centuries."
City's vitality, creativity on the upswing
Margy Waller
"New galleries, theaters, and community centers bring economic vitality to these neighborhoods. There's lots of energy and life on the streets and people want to be part of these appealing places where there are concerts and tourists, renovated buildings, festivals, and new housing."
How arts organizations reach out
Fundraisers May Be Running Uphill
Arts Groups Tighten Their Belt
Carnegie pares schedule, sharpens focus - and gets by