How do you make conditions just right for a boomerang or a transplant? That question has nothing to do with wind, woodworking, gardening or surgery. It's about young professionals. Some left the region only to return and put down roots, while others came here for a year or two only to find themselves calling it home. That's a sure sign of a thriving region, but how do we do it, and how can we keep it up?

ArtsWave's contribution to that answer will come as no surprise: use the power of the arts! In 2016, ArtsWave Young Professionals started bringing people between the ages of 21-40 together around the arts. One of its first initiatives was a special grant program supporting projects that rethink the traditional image of the arts, creating unique events that create a new generation of arts-lovers.

Those projects have included low-cost preview nights with discussion groups (and even free drinks!) at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company and Cincinnati Opera. Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra created fresh new takes on the concert-going experience. There have even been parties at major arts venues like the Taft Museum of Art.

Each project is made possible, in part, by members of ArtsWave YP, benefiting all the Cincinnati region's young professionals. That's not all. ArtsWave YP members are also invited to exclusive events like the Streetcar Pub Crawl, which brought music, dance and theatrical performances to bars along the streetcar route — and even to the streetcar itself!

"My favorite was when we partnered with ArtsWave Pride and the Cincinnati Art Museum for Art After Dark," says Mahmoud Said, ArtsWave's staff member for ArtsWave YP. "We had a DJ, folks got to do a fun scavenger hunt throughout the entire museum, and you got to go to one of their ongoing exhibits for free...It was a really fun time."

The Cincinnati region punches well above its weight where the arts are concerned. With all these opportunities to be part of a thriving cultural hub, it's no wonder so many young people choose to settle here.

Want to get involved with ArtsWave YP? All you have to do is check the box for ArtsWave YP when you give at any level to ArtsWave.