Flow: An African American Arts Experience
Your all-inclusive pass to the best of Black artistry in Cincy.
Come Flow with us.
The Flow Pass is your all-inclusive ticket to four unmissable Black arts experiences this season, each opening with an exclusive Flow Social gathering, only available to Pass holders. We handle the seats, the lineup, the reception. All you do is show up.
With your Pass, you’re also joining a culturally curious community showing up for Black artistry across the region, again and again, ensuring that Black artists thrive on Cincy’s biggest stages.
About Flow
Flow: An African American Arts Experience is a curated series from ArtsWave showcasing the richness of Black artistry, culture and creativity through performances, exhibitions and conversations. Launched in 2020, Flow connects audiences to acclaimed Black artists from across the country and right here at home, working across a range of disciplines, in partnership with organizations already doing this work throughout the region.
Branford Marsalis & Diane Reeves: Tribute to John Coltrane
Thursday, September 10, 2026
THE ARONOFF CENTER
P&G Hall
Performance + Pre-Show Social
September 2026 marks the centennial of John Coltrane’s birth. NEA Jazz Masters Branford Marsalis and Dianne Reeves mark the milestone with a new tribute album revisiting Coltrane’s landmark 1963 collaboration with Johnny Hartman, ahead of a worldwide tour. Reeves, a five-time Grammy winner featured in Good Night, and Good Luck, joins the Marsalis Quartet for a performance that kicks off the season in style.
The African Company Presents Richard III
Thursday, February 11, 2027
CINCINNATI SHAKESPEARE COMPANY
Performance + Pre-Show Social
By Carlyle Brown, one of the 21st century’s foremost Black playwrights. History and theater collide in this true story: an all-Black theater troupe in 1821, determined to stage Shakespeare’s tragedy on their own terms while a rival white theater mounts a competing production blocks away, turning performance itself into an act of defiance.
Robert S. Duncanson Experience
Spring 2027, Date TBD
THE TAFT MUSEUM OF ART
Curator-Led Experience + Reception
An intimate exploration of Robert S. Duncanson’s legacy, exclusive to Flow Pass holders, hosted jointly with the Taft Museum’s Duncanson Society. Duncanson’s murals at the Taft are among the most significant pre-Civil War domestic artworks in the country and a cornerstone of Cincinnati’s cultural heritage.
John Lewis: Good Trouble
Friday, June 18, 2027
CINCINNATI OPERA
Music Hall
part of the Black Opera Project
Performance + Pre-Show Social
Music by Maria Thompson Corley. The second installment of Cincinnati Opera’s Black Opera Project follows John Lewis from a young catalyst of the 1960s civil rights movement to an elder statesman remembered as the conscience of Congress, in a story of nonviolent resistance and civic responsibility. Features Morris Robinson, bass and Cincinnati Opera Artistic Advisor.
**Bonus for Flow Pass Holders
South Chicago Dance Theatre
October 2-3, 2026
THE ARONOFF CENTER
Jarson-Kaplan Theater
Performance
Flow Pass holders get 50% off tickets (up to two) to experience this fast-growing, highly acclaimed company, presented by Cincinnati’s Mutual Dance Theatre, with choreography by founder Kia S. Smith.
The Flow Social
With every Flow Pass event, your night begins at a Flow Social. These pre-show gatherings bring you together with fellow Flow Pass holders, artists, arts leaders, community changemakers and sponsors.
Each themed reception includes drinks, light bites and real conversation. It’s a community you won’t find at the box office, and it’s central to what Flow is: a shared experience for a culturally curious audience showing up for Black artistry in Cincy.
