The City of Cincinnati has offered grant programs for Cincinnati-based artists and arts and cultural organizations of all sizes since 1989. The City’s arts policy (adopted 1983, amended 1989) designates 0.14 percent of City General Fund revenues for support of three arts grant programs.

The arts grant programs include competitive grant programs for  artists and  small arts and cultural organizations,  capital arts projects, and a grant program for twelve  major arts and cultural organizations that are designated recipients of support. The City’s organizational grant programs provide both operating and project support grants. The artist grant program provides project grants with an optional artist stipend. All three programs have a public presentation requirement that helps make the arts more accessible to Cincinnati residents.

The arts grant programs are administered by the Department of Community Development. Arts administration responsibilities include

• staffing the  Cincinnati Arts Allocation Committee, a standing City arts advisory body
• managing the grant allocation, agreement, and grant monitoring processes for the grant programs
• providing technical assistance and information and referral services to artists and arts organizations

 
Greater Cincinnati Blues Society: Blues Fest

Funding Philosophy

The City of Cincinnati’s arts grant programs are an investment in the creative economy that helps make Cincinnati a unique and vital city with a rich cultural environment and quality of life that rival that of larger cities. A 2006 study by University of Cincinnati’s Economics Center for Education and Research reported that over $239 million in economic impact is generated by a subset of the cultural community – the 18 member organizations of the Fine Arts Fund, Greater Cincinnati’s united arts fund. The total impact of arts and cultural organizations and artists on the local economy is, therefore, much higher.

As a local government funder, the City of Cincinnati provides an approach to grantmaking in the arts that is complementary to the efforts of local private sector arts funders and includes commitment to a public allocation process, the involvement of citizens in grant making decisions, a broad definition of art, and an interest in helping to support the endeavors of all sectors of Cincinnati’s arts and cultural community. The nature of the City’s grant programs, the range of arts sectors funded, and the types of support provided reflect an awareness of both the needs of the arts community and the impact the arts community makes on Cincinnati, its residents, and its neighborhoods. The only local government in the Greater Cincinnati area that operates arts grant programs, the City is also one of only two local funders of Cincinnati artists.

Goal

The goal of the arts grant programs is to provide support for Cincinnati’s emerging and established artists and arts and cultural organizations that

• demonstrate excellence and professionalism in the arts
• develop and present innovative arts projects or programs that benefit the city of Cincinnati and its residents, increase access to arts experiences for Cincinnati residents, and respond to diverse community needs

History

The City of Cincinnati’s long history of involvement in the arts includes operating, project, and capital support for artists and arts organizations; a public art collection; arts programming at recreation centers facilities and at outdoor venues on Park Board and Cincinnati Recreation Commission properties; and low-fee leases on City-owned buildings that are occupied by arts and cultural organizations. Cultural facilities owned by the City include Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Music Hall, Union Terminal, College Hill Town Hall, and Showboat Majestic.

In 1977, the City Manager established the nonprofit Cincinnati Commission on the Arts (CCA) as an advocacy and service organization for arts organizations and individual artists. CAA served as a pass-through for City arts grants. CAA operated Memorial Hall, an art gallery, and a theatre festival. CAA provided informational programs and shared office space and equipment for artists and arts organizations.

The City began to operate its own arts grant programs in 1989 following the demise of the Cincinnati Commission on the Arts. The arts grant programs were established by Cincinnati City Council with advice from the  Cincinnati Arts Allocation Committee (CAAC), a City advisory body that was charged to develop the grant programs. Key individuals involved in the establishment of the grant programs were former City Council members David Mann and Bobbie Sterne and the founding members of the CAAC (David Joseph, Jr. (chair), Lawrence Horwitz (vice chair), Mary Ann Roach Butkovich, Tony Davis, Susan Friedlander, Gene Gaines, Irma Lazarus, Harriett Marsh Page, and Jeffrey Seibert).

The City’s arts grant programs were established at a time when there was also public sector arts funding on the county level. Hamilton County provided annual grants to twelve local arts and cultural organizations until 1990.