Enjoy a Local Performance from Playhouse in the Park or the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company Lorelai loved any opportunity to get involved in her community, even if it meant participating in the 24-hour dance marathon or the Festival of Living Art. But, if being on the stage isn’t your thing, the Greater Cincinnati area has plenty of options to be in the audience. Check out the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s production of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to get in the spooky season spirit, or gather the whole family for Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s Tomás and the Library Lady. Hailey Bollinger

Cincinnati is a pretty artsy city, according to a new report.

SMU DataArts, the National Center for Arts Research, recently released its ninth annual Arts Vibrancy Index, with the Cincinnati region ranking 19th out of the top 20 most arts-vibrant large regions in the United States. Analyzing the levels of supply, demand and federal and state government support for the arts, the index ranks a total of 40 communities, separated into three size categories, out of more than 900 across the country. The Queen City has appeared in the Arts Vibrancy Index since its debut at No. 20 in 2020.

“In the Cincinnati region, our community recognizes that the arts are not just a nice-to-have, they are a necessary part of the economy to the tune of $1.6 billion in economic impact over the last 4 years,” Alecia Kintner, president and CEO of ArtsWave, said in a press release. “This report is yet another proof point that our arts in Cincinnati are a significant driver of the vibrancy that is coming to define our region.”

The index is made up of 13 unique metrics that touch on supply, demand and government support for arts and culture. It’s also adjusted for cost of living and population differences across each region. Among the metrics, Cincinnati ranked in the top 1% for earned program revenue, which includes ticket sales, and in the top 2% for total compensation for arts workers. 

“This highlights the strength of our arts industry and our ability to attract high-quality creative talent that enhances our region’s growing reputation as a national creative hub,” Kintner added. “This growth is the result of decades of strategic, philanthropic investment in the arts by individuals and businesses, and the index provides a tangible way to showcase the return on that investment.”

Of the top 20 large communities with a population of 1 million or more, the San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City region, followed by New York-Jersey City-White Plains and Boston ranked in the top three. Cincinnati was the only region in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana to be named to the list of large communities. Other Midwest cities joining Cincinnati in the rankings include Chicago and Milwaukee.

See the full Arts Vibrancy Index here.

This article appears in Dec 11-24, 2024.

Katherine Barrier is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati’s journalism program and has nearly 10 years of experience reporting local and national news as a digital journalist. At CityBeat, she...