Just as the 2010-11 theater season is about to kick off, Know Theatre of Cincinnati has shared plans for its 13th season. They'll offer four mainstage productions (there were five in 2009-10), the eighth annual Cincy Fringe Festival and a new family of programs dubbed the "Jackson Street Market." The season begins in earnest after Know hosts MidPoint Music Festival showcases Sept. 23-25.

Read More

It's taken 17 years for Cincinnati Shakespeare Company to get around to staging King John. With only four more beyond this one to complete the cycle of producing all 37 of Shakespeare's plays, CSC is headed to a position that few theater companies can boast about.

Read More

Tune to PBS this evening for A Broadway Celebration: In Performance at the White House (9 p.m. on WCET locally) , featuring some of the biggest stars from the New York stage. Nathan Lane emcees the quickly paced hour, Idina Menzel — recently in Cincinnati with the Pops — sings "Defying Gravity" from Wicked and "What I Did for Love" (with composer Marvin Hamlisch as her accompanist), and veteran Elaine Stritch belts out two numbers from Stephen Sondheim's Follies, "Broadway Baby" and "I'm Still Here" (the latter earns the event's only standing ovation).

Read More

I’m smarting from an Oct. 21 article in The New York Times by Nicolai Ouroussoff called “Art and Commerce Canoodling in Central Park.” The piece reviews the most recent stop of the Chanel Pavilion designed by Zaha Hadid (of local reputation for designing the Contemporary Arts Center) in loose collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld. I won’t recount all my bruises from Ouroussoff’s varied grievances; you can read through them here.

Read More

Under the old system, grants of $3,000-$5,000 were awarded to local artists. Now, the Cincinnati Arts Ambassador Fellowship Committee will provide more impactful grants of $6,000 to seven different artists.

The process kicked off at the beginning of the year when artists were invited to submit a letter and resume to City Councilwoman Laure Quinlivan before Jan. 15. The invitation was open to artists of all different disciplines but they had to be residents of Cincinnati throughout the program (July 1, 2012-May 31, 2013).

After more than 100 applications applied, twelve finalists were announced on Tuesday.

“We were blown away at the number of applications,” Todd Wurzbacher, Chair of the Cincinnati Arts Allocation Committee, said in a press release. He presented the list of finalists in Quinlivan’s Strategic Growth Committee today.  

The twelve finalists are Jesse Mooney-Bullock, Tatiana Berman, Pam Kravetz, Karen Heyl, Melissa Godoy, Guy Michael Davis, Tonya Matthews, Terri Kern, Casey Riordan Millard, Brad Austin Smith, Rondle West and Nathaniel Chaitkin.

The finalists will be interviewed by the Cincinnati Arts Allocation Committee members, who will then choose the final seven artists to receive awards. The final awards will be given to seven artists on Tuesday, Oct. 16 at 11:30 a.m. on the steps of City Hall.

“I’m excited we have visual artists, musicians, dancers, filmmakers, and even a puppeteer in our finalists,” Quinlivan said in a press release. Quinlivan got council support to create the CAAF program. “More than 125 Cincinnati artists applied for the newly created Arts Ambassador Fellowship, proof that Cincinnati is a strong arts city,” she said.

Starting at 5 p.m. this Friday, the Clifton Cultural Arts Center will hold a ceremony for the lighting of its historic 1906 Clifton School Building. The actual lighting is slated for 6 p.m. The new exterior lighting has been provided by funds raised by the CCAC, with and installation donated by Architectural Landscape Lighting & Design of Miamitown.

Read More

It's official: the Contemporary Arts Center today announced that hot Shepard Fairey retrospective currently at Boston's Institute for Contemporary Art will be coming there for the 2009-10 season. Fairey, creator of the famous Obama posters, will also come when the show opens here to do public art and participate in CAC events.

Read More

The new elevator for the Clifton Cultural Arts Center (CCAC) and it’s only going to cost $1.5 million. OK, not really – the entire first phase of renovations to the old Clifton School that are needed to make the facility handicap accessible – which includes an elevator – also include a fire protection system and a secured lobby entrance.

Those busy arts volunteers and staff have been hard at work coming up with the cash needed. A $250,000 grant from the City of Cincinnati and $250,000 from the State of Ohio combine with a “$1 million leadership gift” round out the total.

“These remarkable investments - from an anonymous donor and from the City's 2009 Capital Budget - combine with to allow us to move forward with renovations,” says a press release from the CCAC.

The renovations will make it possible to use the auditorium, music rooms and other classrooms on the third floor of the building.

"We are deeply grateful to this anonymous donor, the City of Cincinnati and the State of Ohio for investing in the preservation of the Clifton School as an asset that will serve the entire community through arts and cultural programming," says Cindy Herrick, Board President of CCAC.

"Particularly in this challenging economic climate, the leadership and commitment of these funders are truly incredible, and will provide invaluable momentum to move this ambitious project forward."

The goal is to begin construction in fall 2009 with a completion target of June 2010. Sadly, the money is for renovations only. Operating expenses for the facility that was built in 1909 and covers things like heat, lights and water still depends on donors like you – so give early and give often.

Better yet, take a class!

In what sounds like an innovative way to bring its art to the people, a mobile printmaking studio known as Drive By Press will be parked at the plaza outside the student union at Northern Kentucky University on Thursday to show the contemporary graphic art its creators have collected driving across the country.

Actually, the exhibition will be in the Fine Arts Building for that day; Drive By's Gregory Nanney and Joseph Velasquez will be making and selling (for about $20) fine-art T-shirts derived from their woodcuts. They'll also be doing a lecture in the Fine Arts Building at noon. Nanney and Velasquez, in their travels, have collected 1,200 contemporary prints from around the country. Their journey is self-funded through T-shirt sales and honoraria from universities and museums.

You can learn more about them at www.Drivebypress.org.