CINCINNATI, Ohio — Since 1949, ArtsWave has helped support and promote Cincinnati-area arts organizations through grant money from its Community Arts Campaign. But over the years, they have found that not everyone has a fair chance of receiving this funding.
“We realized that in order to grow the capacity of our Black-led organizations, we had to make our funding pool less competitive,” said Alecia Kintner, the ArtsWave president and CEO.
So this year they created an African American arts grant to help Black art organizations expand their impact. On June 19, they announced they raised more than $255,000 for the grant which will help support close to 20 different Black artist organizations.
“(Black artists) are not funded as consistently as we need to them to be in order to help them grow,” said Kintner. “So we wanted it to be a dedicated resource pool.”
One this year’s recipients is Red Light Jazz Room, an event that helps college-age musicians gain more exposure and hone their skills as artists.
“I feel like sometimes schools drop the ball in creating these moments for students to just be themselves,” said Lex Nycole, the founder of Red Light Jazz Room. “So Red Light Jazz Room became this modern-day church. Like this sanctuary where people can just come and let loose and go crazy and try notes that they’ve never tried in school before.”
Nycole started the event three years ago, and it quickly blossomed.
“I honestly didn’t know what to expect when it started, but it turned into something so beautiful, something beyond me, something the title,” said Nycole. “And that was I think ultimately my goal. Like how can I do something that is going to leave a mark in the city.”
And leaving a mark in the city is something that Nycole hopes to make happen through this grant money.
“I want to be able to help not only myself expand my capacities, but help the artists expand their capacity,” she said. “So putting them on stages where they can grow. Giving them opportunities where they can grow. Providing them with more content and helping with their brand awareness.”
Not only will she have the opportunity to expand the horizons for these artists, but to do a whole lot more.
“With this grant we’ll be able to get set designers involved, technical directors, visual mapping projections—just different things that can enhance this experience now that we don’t have the opportunity to do it live,” she said.
The Red Light Jazz Room may have been at a stand-still because of the pandemic, but Nycole is excited about what’s in store for the future.
“It’s not a setback. It’s preparing us for a bigger come-up,” she said. “I think that had I been focused on other projects, I might have missed the window for this ArtsWave grant. So I think it’s beauty in it all. But we are very excited to be innovative about what we’re going to do to push the brand forward.”
