I’m here in a Florida hotel with a friend from Cincinnati. She’s called Alecia, and she runs a non-profit called ArtsWave there. She is amazing. Nonprofit arts professionals hold a special place in my heart.
I love Ohio. My late mother grew up on Buckeye Lake. I had a client there and was able to spend some time in the lively, friendly city. When I first visited, they had just done a really nice downtown renovation. But there was one hitch. The late Larry Flynt, who had a longstanding beef with Cincinnati, secretly leased a storefront shop and turned it into a Hustler store with a very constant, explicit window.
It made me spit my beer when a local told me the story.
Back to the point. Cincinnati is and has been a hub for arts and culture forever. Not just porn. Or baseball (We love the Reds! Put Pete Rose in the damn Hall of Fame, will you?). Or beer. It is a wonderful, wholesome place where you will find nothing but fellowship.
And you will also find a top-ten national symphony orchestra. The second Opera company to be established in the US after my beloved Metropolitan in New York City. A full-time professional Ballet company. The Cincinnati Art Museum, oldest encyclopedic art museum west of the Alleghenies. The May Festival, which is the longest-running choral festival in the western hemisphere, was founded in 1873.
The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati, founded in 1919, just renovated an acoustically perfect venue in the Over-The-Rhine neighborhood, where they have created the most technologically advanced theatre in the nation. All for kids.
In addition, the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, designed by Zaha Hadid, is magnificent and iconic, and the first American museum designed by a woman. It is a treasure.
My friend here is a Cincinnati ambassador of sorts. She loves her home and her job, which is running the aforementioned ArtsWave. Every community should have an equivalent of ArtsWave.
What is it? A nonprofit that funds over 150 organizations, artists, and projects every year. I have seen firsthand how hard they work. And as an artist who doesn’t need help, I know many who do. Investing in people who make the world more interesting is always an excellent investment. They’ve been doing it since 1927 with community contributions from thousands of Cincinnatians every year: over $400 million since the founding by notable philanthropists Anna Sinton Taft and Charles Phelps Taft, half-brother of President William Howard Taft, and, among other things, then-owner of the Chicago Cubs. Amazing.
As a result, today Cincinnati ranks in the top 5 percent of 900 United States regions for arts vibrancy. With zero local taxpayer funding. How can we not respect that?
Cincinnati is a wonderful example of arts, culture, and shared American values. Let’s commit to making arts and music education a priority not just in Southeast Ohio but across the nation. Set a precedent for it! For example, in addition to being an entertainer and an advocate for arts and music education, I do media and political work. Vivek Ramaswamy, who by all accounts is a very decent guy who wants badly to be governor of Ohio, would be well served by attention to and maybe even support for organizations like ArtsWave.
Studies show that arts and entertainment bring us together. If we ever needed to be united, it is now. Thank you, Cincinnati, for your excellent and historic example. We love you.
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