If you listen closely, you can hear witches cackling, ghouls moaning, and werewolves howling. This can only mean one thing: Halloween is drawing near.

Arts organizations throughout Cincinnati have many different ways to thrill you this Halloween season, and ArtsWave has all the details. Just last month, ArtsWave released the Cincy Arts Guide, a comprehensive and detailed calendar of arts events across the region, connecting you to the arts in Cincinnati. With the help of Cincinnati’s arts organizations, we created a special category just for this season: Spooky Arts, and a special hashtag: #SpookyArts.When you click on our Spooky Arts content stream, every event that has been tagged as Halloween or seasonally-themed will pop up.

“The ability to curate streams of themed content is one of the most interesting features of Cincy Arts Guide, and one that we hope enhances residents’ experience of the season in Cincinnati,” says Rebecca Bromels, Senior Director, Communications and Engagement. “Look for more of these mini-guides in the run-up to the winter holidays.”

Whether you want your socks knocked off in terror or to enjoy the various fall craft opportunities, there is a #SpookyArts event just for you. Let’s take a peek at a few.


Taft Museum of Art is showcasing Halloween through the ages with Antique Halloween, open through November 1. Experience Halloween as earlier generations did when the Taft presents a one-room display of antiques from local collectors during this fun holiday. Ranging in date from 1900 to the 1950s, the objects on view will recall tricks and treats from earlier eras. Lanterns, candle shades, and jack-o-lanterns—all designed to light up the darkness—evoke the nighttime setting of Halloween celebrations. Toys, games, candy-cups, and room decorations masquerade as black cats, skeletons, witches, and goblins in old-fashioned styles will take you back years into the past.

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s Symphony Spooktacular Lollipops concert on Halloween day is a perfect #SpookyArts event for your little monsters—ahem, children. Head to Music Hall in the morning on Saturday, October 31 and enjoy a family-friendly concert of fun and spooky music, including tunes from Frozen! Costumes are encouraged, and plenty of activities abound in the free Family Fun Zone (starts at 9:30 am!) 

The Cincinnati Arts Museum’s Art After Dark: Art of Thrones is also a perfect #SpookyArts offering. On October 30, the museum will keep their doors open after hours, from 5 until 9 pm, for those who wish to journey to the medieval times in this Game of Thrones themed event. Expect to see costumes of kings, queens, and mythical creatures, and take guided tours inspired by the popular TV show. For those in need of a little more spook, Cincinnati Art Museum will lead two ghost tours… after all; the museum is rumored to be haunted.

Exhale Dance Tribe’s annual Dead Can Dance event is another way to get into the spooky spirit this Halloween! This year’s incarnation makes its debut at the Aronoff Center’s Jarson-Kaplan Theater on October 24. Look for Exhale founders/artistic directors Missy Lay Zimmer and Andrew Hubbard to deliver eclectic, exciting choreography, melding elements of contemporary and jazz dance in their own idiosyncratic style. Expect some thrilling dancing and ghoulish works — and feel free to come in costume!

Whichever Halloween-inspired arts events you choose, be sure to let us know of all your thrills with #SpookyArts.