One of the things that makes the Greater Cincinnati arts scene unusual is the high degree of collaboration between arts organizations across disciplines and communities.  By regularly convening arts leaders and staff from large and small organizations, ArtsWave serves as a hub for the development of collaborations, partnerships, and shared resources. 

Here are five collaborations that have had an impact on the community – all sparked by connections made through ArtsWave.

1. CincyInNYC When Victoria Morgan, Artistic Director and CEO of Cincinnati Ballet, overheard at an ArtsWave innovation workshop that the May Festival Chorus and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra would be performing in New York City in May 2014, she realized that there was an opportunity that could not be missed. Her conversation quickly expanded to other arts organizations, including the Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, CCM, and more.  The idea of CincyInNYC was born and soon gained momentum as civic leaders joined the trip and SOURCE Cincinnati organized a series of events, media interviews, and desk-side conversations. Cincinnati is still enjoying the results of this profile-raising event that leveraged the strength of Cincinnati’s arts scene to attract national attention.

2. Greater Cincinnati Choral Consortium Capitalizing on the great success of the World Choir Games, local choral leaders saw an opportunity to work together to advance the region’s great tradition of choral music. With support and encouragement from ArtsWave, they founded the Greater Cincinnati Choral Consortium in 2013. The GCCC works to expand awareness for choral music in our area, share resources, offer workshops and provide services to local singers, and promote communication between groups. Visit their website for a comprehensive calendar of choral music events in our area and enjoy 12 local choirs in concert at Memorial Hall on Saturday, March 7 as part of Macy’s Arts Sampler.

3. League of Cincinnati Theatres Founded in 1999 with a small project grant from ArtsWave, the League of Cincinnati Theatres works to promote the region’s theater scene and help share artistic and administrative resources inside the theater community.

4. Community Arts Centers Network With the support of the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, jr./US Bank Foundation, ArtsWave convened a series of meetings over several years with more than 20 community arts centers across the region. These meetings helped the centers to develop and share best practices, find common resources, and create collective programming such as Community Arts Centers Day. As a result, the network of community arts centers has become a vital part of our arts community, providing original programming and classes in neighborhoods across the region, and serving as performance spaces for larger arts institutions like Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Cincinnati Ballet, and more. 

5. Cincinnati Arts Alliance Health Insurance Group For more than 20 years, ArtsWave has served as the coordinator for the Cincinnati Arts Alliance, a group of local arts organizations that comes together to purchase collective health insurance for their employees. Buying health insurance collectively has helped arts organizations large and small control their costs, resulting in more than $1 million in savings over the past 20 years. For many organizations, the ability to participate in this program has helped them offer better benefits to employees, resulting in better talent attraction and retention.

When arts organizations collaborate, they create efficiencies and increase visibility which helps to further expand the benefits of the arts to more people in the community. Working together to build community… that’s ArtsWave in action.

Spring For Music - James Conlon conducts the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and May Festival Chorus, Carnegie Hall 5/9/14. (Photo: Steve J. Sherman, Cincinnati.com)