RSVP For The Arts: 2010 Neighborhood Summit

You're invited to support the benefits of arts in our city by attending the 2010 Neighborhood Summit on February 27 and participating in the planning process for the City of Cincinnati Comprehensive Plan.

A few months ago, we asked you to participate in the Plan Cincinnati "Great City" Survey about the first comprehensive plan for our city in a generation. Many of you and other arts supporters in the community did respond to the survey.

Thank you -- we made a difference!

The survey results are online now and you can see them here. We're excited to let you know that the top response to the question "What makes a great city?" is arts & culture.

Plan Cincinnati informs current and future decision makers about where we are now, where we want to go, how we intend to get there, and who will help us along the way. No doubt, there will be budget implications of the final plan down the road!

Please view the invitation here and make sure your organization and friends participate in this great opportunity. There will be a breakout session for arts planning (at 10:30 a.m.) and we expect that arts will be discussed in other sessions -- on topics like transportation, urban design, neighborhood development, etc -- so plan to stay for the day if you can!

RSVP now by clicking here.

Reading Lessons: The Art Thief

In the evening, I like to escape into a novel and I'm almost always reading one. (Hardly a weekend goes by without a visit to my neighborhood library -- luckily mine is open on Saturdays and Sundays.)

Last night, I came across this paragraph in my current novel, The Art Thief, by Noah Charney. It's entirely consistent with everything we've learned in our recent research on how people think about "the arts" -- through the lens of the contemporary protagonist who is tracking a series of thefts of paintings.

"[Art crime] was considered high class. At the top level of the caste system, art crime was socially acceptable, even thought of as prestigious and intriguing. It was the only serious crime for which the public tended to root for the criminals....The average citizen felt somewhat detached, and sometimes threatened, by fine art. It was considered elite and elusive...and therefore frightening to many. It was with some satisfaction that the public read about gracefully orchestrated art thefts. It was a combination of voyeurism into a glamorous world apart, and a satisfying jab at an institution that felt exclusive."

You Shared Your Favorites and the Winner Is.......

We asked the community to send art and got almost a full alphabet (21) of submitted designs. Then we asked everyone to vote and hundreds of you did.

Today we announce the winner of our 'Sharing Art' - Community Competition. Now we'll print the winning design on tote bags for everyone who comes to our ArtAlive Celebration on February 20.

And The Winner Is....

by Tina Clyburn

Thank you to everyone who came together to share the art!

Celebrating the Art All Around Us

Please join us, Saturday, February 20, to celebrate the creative things happening all across our community.

During the annual Fine Arts Fund Sampler Weekend, Friends For the Arts is hosting the ArtAlive Celebration at the Contemporary Art Center. The evening will include access to art in the galleries, live performances, music, food, drink, and more. Guests will receive a tote bag featuring the winning design from our 'Sharing Art' Community Competition. You can vote for your favorite artwork here.

For all the details on ArtAlive, please click here.

RSVP online at www.cincinnatichamber.com

Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door.

Vote on Your Favorite 'Sharing Art' Design

We asked artists from all over our community to send us their artwork expressing 'Sharing Art'. Now it is your turn to vote on which design you think expresses our theme the best. We will print the winning design on tote bags that we will hand out at the Friends For the Arts party, ArtAlive, on Saturday, February 20.

The ArtAlive party, which we are hosting at the Contemporary Arts Center, is part of our Sampler Weekend - a weekend when creative things will be happening all over the place -- music, dance, storytelling, theatre, painting, and much more. Find more details on Sampler Weekend here.

Click here to vote the 'Sharing Art' designs. The deadline to vote is Tuesday, January 26 - so make sure you get your vote in now!

Singing in Haiti

One



Two

Speaking with One Voice about Supporting the Arts

Want to talk about creating an echo chamber to strengthen the community through the arts? We've learned lots about the WAY to start the conversation about the benefits of the arts in our community and we're sharing those lessons in our new report.

Now you can join a discussion about the best way to share these ideas with our elected and appointed decision-makers too.

Join Northern Kentucky University's Institute for Nonprofit Capacity for their Breakthrough Breakfast on February 4 to learn more. Phillip Sparkes, assistant Professor at Salmon Chase College of Law and Director of the Local Government Law center will speak on the topic and Margaret Hulbert and our own Margy Waller will reflect on the presentation.

Register for the Breakthrough Breakfast here.

For more information on this event click here.

CityBeat on Us!

John Fox at CityBeat reported on us this week! We just finished a first-in-the-nation communications research initiative on building more support for arts & culture and he's posted a really nice summary of our just-released report: The Arts Ripple Effect: A Research-Based Strategy to Build Shared Responsibility for the Arts.

"The Fine Arts Fund has released the results of a year-long study intended to start the process of building more collective responsibility in Greater Cincinnati for the arts. Despite the general public’s longstanding support for arts and culture in their communities, charitable giving to and public funding of the arts struggle to keep up with demand nationally and locally — and this study was undertaken to try to “change the conversation” here about the arts as a shared public good and to motivate Cincinnatians to increase support."

You can read the full article here.

We Need Artists to Tell Our Story

First we moved -- and now we're changing our name.

It's true. (But we don't know our new name yet - honest!)

This is NOT our new name.

Now we are looking for partners to assist with these concrete steps to illustrate the expansion of our work.

Then we'll need your help to share the news with everyone! We thought about putting on a show (public dancing or singing even!) -- and we might still go there -- but we need some hot thinking on this.

Interested agencies and others can find out more about our plans and how to indicate your interest by downloading this official Request-for-Qualifications.

'Sharing Art' -- Community Competition

Cincinnati, OH – The Fine Arts Fund is planning a community competition for everyone as part of this year's annual Sampler Weekend. The staff is inviting submissions that celebrate the way our large and small arts events across the region bring people together and make Greater Cincinnati a vibrant place to live, work, play, and stay.

Utilizing word-of-mouth tools like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, the Fine Arts Fund staffers are letting the community know about this opportunity to share their art. There is just one guideline: the design must incorporate artists' view of 'Sharing Art'. Beginning on January 20, 2010, the Fine Arts Fund staff will post submissions and invite everyone in our community to vote on the designs.

The Fine Arts Fund leaders plan to print the winning design on tote bags and give them to partygoers at the Friends For the Arts Party, held at the Contemporary Arts Center on the Saturday of Sampler Weekend. Sampler Weekend will be on Saturday February 20 and Sunday February 21 and is an annual event when creative things happen all over the place – music, dance, storytelling, theatre, painting, and much more. Area residents and visitors enjoy these events every year and can find more information about Sampler Weekend by visiting www.FineArtsFund.org/sampler.

“It'll be great to see how people across the community celebrate the way arts connect us and make our region so much fun,” said Margy Waller, Vice President of Arts & Culture Partnership at the Fine Arts Fund.

To view details about the contest and the application form for submissions, please click here.

Art = Love

On the expansion of citizen participation in art-making:

How good can any of this stuff be? That's missing the point, says Robert Lynch, president of the nonprofit arts promoter Americans for the Arts: "The word 'amateur' comes from the Latin root for love." Where the arts are concerned, love is definitely in the air.

Read the whole report in Newsweek.

Things We Liked in Our Sunday Reading

On the last day before back-to-work in twenty-ten (yep, that's what I've settled on)...it was nice to stay inside and warm and read the Sunday papers.

In the New York Times, we liked seeing this report from Damien Cave on people connecting at museums and sharing art a lot these days:

...compared with 2005, Americans spent less time in 2008 buying goods and services and more time cooking or taking part in “organizational, civic and religious activities.”

Just as tellingly, evidence can also be found in culture. While one new study shows that attendance at museums and cultural events dropped from 2002 to 2008, it has climbed in 2009 at many major institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago. Movie attendance was also up 5 percent in 2009, and in the world of the Walt Disney Company, product sales have declined as the company’s theme parks enjoyed a 3 percent increase in visitors last quarter.

Even here in Miami, a city famous for its materialism, retailers are hurting while audiences continue to grow at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, at parks and for cheap activities like yoga by the beach.

“It’s a different kind of recession,” said Richard Florida, the author of several best-selling books about the economics of cities. “It’s not like in the ’30s when people stopped going to concerts. Now people seem to be keeping up with experience consumption and cutting back on other necessities.”

In the same paper, we noticed a call for a creative jobs initiative - the kind of thing that means more paintings and storytelling for all of us. We still enjoy art created with a similar effort in the thirties -- like this mural in Cincinnati-- today.

And in our local paper, we read an optimistic commentary written by Tom Callinan, on the role of local media and plans for more connections between the Enquirer and our local arts. Great way to start our year!

Our Biggest Web Hit of the Year: Cincinnati Splash Dance

To celebrate the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010, we bring back our biggest hit of the year: the Cincinnati Splash Dance! The Splash Dance is a great example of the way the arts connect us all and make our city such a vibrant, fun place to live, work, play, and stay!

Happy New Year to all!

Holiday Art: The Slide Show

Lee Carter is a GREAT Guy!

This is soooo RIGHT! The Chamber of Commerce just announced that Lee Ault Carter, our very own Chairman of the Board and longtime volunteer, is a Great Living Cincinnatian!

Lee Carter with board member Jack Rouse

We knew this already - but it's suh-weet that the Chamber is saying so officially! Congratulations Lee!

Surprise Singers Enjoy the Sights and Sounds of Cincinnati

On a recent weekend during the holidays, the Fine Arts Fund staff organized and hosted surprise caroling for visitors at the 64th annual Duke Energy train display. (You can watch the video below!)

We encouraged the singers who came from all over the region to stay in the neighborhood after the surprise and explore all the great holiday events in the central business district. Many of the carolers did so and here’s the report back from one of the participants.

We like to organize people for singing and dancing together – and love that they enjoy the sights and sounds of our wonderful neighborhoods at the same time!

"Last Saturday, as I was walking downtown, it felt …all was right with the world! The sun was shining, the air was brisk and there was hustle and bustle everywhere I looked. There were skaters on Fountain Square, carolers singing at many, many spots, the carriages and trolleys were all decked out for Christmas, parents were bringing their children by the droves to see the trains and all the sights and sounds of the season. THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all who have worked over the years to reinvigorate our downtown and make it a wondrous place for families to come and make Christmas memories. Those impressions of downtown at Christmas will be with me forever."

Carol O'Toole, Anderson

Surprise Singing!

Cincinnatians surprised visitors when they burst into song at the 64th annual Duke Energy holiday train display on the afternoon of Saturday, December 12. Hundreds of people, coordinated by the Fine Arts Fund staff and friends, joined in singing songs of the season.

Accompanied by a band of train engineers on harmonicas and one former Cincinnati Symphony clarinetist on his tonette, people from all parts of the metro area and all walks of life came together to share some holiday cheer with the community. One of the train engineers has been working on the train display for 62 years and has assisted with many surprise events, but this was his first flash mob caroling.

Similar to Cincinnati’s Splash Dance in September, a few people shared an interest in singing together as a surprise. We invited friends, family, and volunteers to share the joy of the season and the vibrancy of our regional holiday events.



Participants were invited by email to help with the Fine Arts Fund annual campaign for the arts by participating in a surprise community event nicknamed the "Do-Re-Mi". They pledged to keep the secret via an online sign-up form. With no more information than the date and time of the event, over 150 people agreed to participate.



Later, these volunteers and readers of the My.Arts.Blog on the Fine Arts Fund website were invited to vote on their favorite holiday song to sing. Just days before the event, participants received a few details: meet at 4th and Main Streets in Cincinnati and be familiar with the lyrics of the two songs that received the most votes online: Jingle Bells and Winter Wonderland.



On the day of the event, carolers erupted in song filling the lobby of the Duke Energy train display with sounds of the season. Families waiting in line to see the trains joined in for a few moments before returning to holiday activities.

Our First Staff Meeting in the New Office

You can also see a video from our day of unpacking in the new office here.

Surprise Holiday Singers Spread Holiday Cheer

Cincinnatians surprised visitors when they burst into song at the 64th annual Duke Energy holiday train display Saturday afternoon. Hundreds of people, coordinated by the Fine Arts Fund staff and friends, joined in singing songs of the season.

Accompanied by a band of train engineers on harmonicas and one former Cincinnati Symphony clarinetist on his tonette, people from all parts of the metro area and all walks of life came together to share some holiday cheer with the community. One of the train engineers has been working on the train display for 62 years and has assisted with many surprise events, but this was his first flash mob caroling.

“Similar to Cincinnati’s Splash Dance in September, a few people shared an interest in singing together as a surprise. We invited friends, family, and volunteers to share the joy of the season and the vibrancy of our regional holiday events,” said Margy Waller, Vice President at the Fine Arts Fund.



Participants were invited by email to help with the Fine Arts Fund annual campaign for the arts by participating in a surprise community event nicknamed the "Do-Re-Mi". They pledged to keep the secret via an online sign-up form. With no more information than the date and time of the event, over 150 people agreed to participate.



Later, these volunteers and readers of the My.Arts.Blog on the Fine Arts Fund website were invited to vote on their favorite holiday song to sing. Just days before the event, participants received a few details: meet at 4th and Main Streets in Cincinnati and be familiar with the lyrics of the two songs that received the most votes online: Jingle Bells and Winter Wonderland.



On the day of the event, carolers erupted in song filling the lobby of the Duke Energy train display with sounds of the season. Families waiting in line to see the trains joined in for a few moments before returning to holiday activities.



Note: Video of the surprise caroling will be available on our YouTube channel and website shortly.

PHOTO CREDIT - Scott Beseler

Unpacking in the new Fine Arts Fund Office!

Get the first viewing of the new Fine Arts Fund offices as we unpack in Over the Rhine!