ArtsWave, the region’s leading local arts agency, and Greater Cincinnati STEM Collaborative (GCSC) have joined together to create a new community resource to fuel creativity and learning. CincyArtsandSTEM.org is an online resource to help parents and teachers find arts and STEM programs, activities, summer camps, field trips and other services to augment their children’s education. 

“Both the arts and STEM are vital parts of education, and both our organizations are focused on ensuring that students in Greater Cincinnati develop the skills necessary to succeed in the 21st century workforce: innovation, creativity, collaboration and more,” ArtsWave President and CEO Alecia Kintner said. “Working together to create a single spot for parents and educators to find all the best resources for their children just made sense.”

Sean Kelley, a GCSC co-leader and Director of Greater Cincinnati’s Talent Pipeline Initiative, said, “Summer of STEM was born out of the urgency to connect more students to engaging and fun educational opportunities over the summer months. It is critical to integrate the arts into STEM programs to promote well-rounded education and foster more inventive thinking. We believe that CincyArtsandSTEM.org is a good first step in this collaboration between our organizations and that this blended strategy will lead the nation in how to think about the arts and STEM together.” 

CincyArtsandSTEM.org is built on the same platform that ArtsWave used to createCincyArtsGuide.com, a comprehensive, searchable, mobile-responsive online events calendar that launched in September and already has doubled its unique pageviews. On both sites, people are able to search by a variety of criteria, including date, program category, and, for CincyArtsandSTEM.org, educational resource type. 

As on CincyArtsGuide.com, organizations and program providers can create online profiles and upload their program information to CincyArtsandSTEM.org for free. At the time of launch, more than 30 organizations had uploaded nearly 100 events and programs.

“We really are just getting started,” said Rebecca Bromels, Senior Director, Engagement. “Now that the site is live, we are inviting more organizations and groups to create free profiles and add their content. Our goal is to include as many resources as possible for parents and educators to choose from.”  

Mary Adams, another GCSC co-leader and retired P&G executive, said, “The ‘Summer of STEM’ is an exciting new initiative started with financial support of the STEM Funder’s Network, which selected Greater Cincinnati to join the nation’s first STEM Learning Ecosystems Community of Practice in 2015. Summer of STEM is all about keeping students engaging in learning across the summer months. CincyArtsandSTEM.org is helping families and educators do just that!”

CincyArtsandSTEM.org is just one more digital tool created by ArtsWave to support its 10-year plan, the Blueprint for Collective Action for the Arts. Designed to advance ArtsWave’s vision of a more vibrant regional economy and more connected community for all, the Blueprint identifies five community goals that leverage the power of the arts. One of those goals is to fuel creativity and learning in all students. CincyArtsandSTEM.org is being funded by gifts to ArtsWave restricted for this purpose.

To view the website, visit www.CincyArtsandStem.org.  To add your organization, events or programs to the online resource, contact Leyla Shokoohe, ArtsWave Communications Coordinator, at leyla.shokoohe@theartswave.org.