ArtsWave and MeetNKY have awarded $60,000 through nine Northern Kentucky Creative Placemaking grants to support arts and cultural heritage projects across Northern Kentucky. The grants, part of an ongoing strategic partnership between the two organizations, fund community-driven initiatives that strengthen neighborhoods, celebrate cultural identity and drive economic vitality throughout the region.
“These nine projects reflect what creative placemaking does at its best, it roots the arts in the neighborhoods where people already live, work and gather,” said Alecia Kintner, president and CEO of ArtsWave. “From free concerts at a historic rail site in Ludlow to arts programming woven into a Covington Farmers Market, these initiatives are building vibrant, connected communities and making culture within reach for everyone. We’re grateful for MeetNKY’s partnership in making this work possible.”
The grant program supports nonprofit organizations proposing arts-driven initiatives are aligned with ArtsWave’s Blueprint for Collective Action.
Funded projects include a traveling African cultural festival and wellness initiative, a live music series activating Ludlow’s historic Railfan Tower, arts experiences aboard TANK bus routes, expanded free Shakespeare performances throughout Northern Kentucky and creative programming at the Covington Farmers Market. Projects also include hands-on African cultural heritage workshops, a print anthology highlighting Northern Kentucky’s LGBTQ+ arts community, continued transformation of Newport’s Orchard Street corridor through public art and events, and a collaborative project engaging young adults in exploring Appalachian heritage through visual art and storytelling.
The funded projects span Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties, bringing arts and cultural experiences to neighborhoods, parks, public gathering spaces, transit routes and community hubs throughout the region.
“Arts and culture are central to how people experience and connect with Northern Kentucky,” said Julie Kirkpatrick, president and CEO of MeetNKY. “These projects energize public spaces, reflect the character of our communities and make Northern Kentucky a more compelling place to live and visit. We’re proud to support this work alongside ArtsWave.”
2026 Northern Kentucky Creative Placemaking Grant Projects
African Women Alliance
Creatives Roots: A Heritage Skills Workshop
Grant:$5,000
The African Women Alliance (AWA) is dedicated to promoting African cultural heritage awareness and supporting immigrants in Northern Kentucky as they navigate the challenges of adaptation and integration. Creative Roots: A Heritage Skills Workshop is centered on African and African‑diaspora artistic traditions. The project will use hands‑on, place‑based creative experiences to reinforce a shared sense of identity, belonging, and pride among residents while expanding access to meaningful arts engagement in neighborhoods throughout Boone, Kenton, and Campbell counties. AWA will offer free, family-friendly African Braiding Workshops, Sewing & Textile Arts Workshops, African Cooking Classes, Painting & Visual Arts, and African instruments and dance classes. Creative Roots will integrate arts and culture into familiar neighborhood spaces—such as community centers and gathering locations—deepening roots where residents already live, meet, and build relationships.
Bi-Okoto Drum & Dance Theatre
Afrika On The Move: Expanding Cultural Connections & Community Wellbeing
Grant: $7,500
“Afrika On The Move” is a traveling cultural festival designed to enliven neighborhoods across Northern Kentucky by transforming public spaces into dynamic hubs of African arts, music, dance, and culinary experiences. This project model expands on last year’s two-day festival by emphasizing sustained engagement and participation ownership at the Boone County Public Library with more connections before the culminating event. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in hands-on learning and build familiarity with the cultural practices being presented. The project will also introduce a wellness component, integrating movement-based activities. Bi-Okoto, a leader in African cultural arts for over 30 years, will curate and lead the programming, ensuring authenticity, high-quality engagement, and broad accessibility.
Infinite Hills Productions, Inc.
The Rail Sessions
Grant: $8,500
The Rail Sessions is a community-centered live music series designed to activate the historic Ludlow Railfan Tower and the surrounding Heritage Museum campus as a vibrant cultural gathering place for Northern Kentucky. Ludlow has a rich rail and river heritage, this project will draw residents and visitors into a space that blends history, music, and local entrepreneurship—helping to reshape how people experience and move through Ludlow. The series will present six free, monthly performances from August through October and March through May. Each evening begins with an emerging Northern Kentucky acoustic artist performing on the elevated rail platform, followed by two larger regional acts on the ground level. The Rail Sessions is designed as a placemaking engine. The site itself becomes a storytelling platform: the caboose is open for tours, the platform invites visitors to learn about Ludlow’s rail history, and the surrounding space transforms into a lively public arts environment.
Pones
Ride with an Artist Day
Grant: $7,000
Ride with an Artist Day is a newly reimagined Creative Placemaking initiative that builds on Pones’ original TANK Ride with an Artist project from ten years ago. That early work revealed how powerful transit‑based arts engagement could be, sparking joy, curiosity, and connection among riders who may rarely encounter the arts in their daily routines. Ride with an Artist Day revives and expands this concept responding to today’s community needs, focusing on a single day with a wide reach across multiple TANK routes, neighborhoods, and rider demographics. Each selected route will feature a unique mix of artistic offerings that reflect the character of the communities it serves. Pones dancers and partnering musicians and visual artists will board buses offering performances that transform routine commutes into shared cultural experiences. By bringing the arts into a space riders already use, Ride with an Artist Day removes barriers related to cost, transportation, and unfamiliarity with arts venues, making creativity an everyday experience rather than a destination.
Queer Kentucky, Inc.
NKY Anthology Print Magazine
Grant: $7,000
Queer Kentucky (QKY) will create a printed anthology magazine featuring NKY-focused original stories published by QKY in 2026, shining a light on Northern Kentucky and its vibrant Arts and Culture community. The magazine will be realized in full print, creating a tangible celebration of the region and the LGBTQ+ artists that call NKY home. QKY hopes the anthology magazine will encouraging people to visit and engage with art and artists in NKY. The magazine will be distributed at no cost at partner locations throughout the region, such as Roebling Books, Transform Cincinnati, Leaping Lizards Art Gallery, Treehouse Cincy, Downbound Books in Northside, Creative House of Arts and Design, and the Old Kentucky Bourbon Bar.
ReNewport
The Orchard Project
Grant: $5,000
The Orchard Project is a continuation of a physical creative placemaking project funded by ArtsWave last year. The Orchard Street Corridor is a common artery that connects creative businesses and residents in Newport. ReNewport is committed to flooding this alleyway with light, art/murals, and people. The three completed murals bring history and color, allowing local businesses to benefit from the attention raised to their area and giving the community a destination point. Weekend events, farmer’s markets, flea markets, Friday-night local business crawls, creative showcases, art shows, and mural dedications/reveals can fill the calendar – and all will share this art-filled and programmed connector.
Southbank Shakespeare
Southbank Shakespeare Summer Season
Grant: $7,500
This summer, Southbank Shakespeare is expanding their season by adding new venues and pop-up performances to additional communities in Northern Kentucky while maintaining Bellevue and Crestview Hills as primary performance hubs. Southbank Shakespeare productions contribute to the artistic and cultural vibrancy of Northern Kentucky by making theatre more accessible and relevant to people from all walks of life through free, high-quality arts programming. The outdoor setting creates an inclusive environment where families, students, residents, and tourists can come together and experience the power of live performance. These productions encourage community connection, boost local pride, and stimulate public interest in the arts, ultimately enhancing the cultural landscape of the region.
The Center for Great Neighborhoods
Arts at the Market
Grant: $6,000
The Center for Great Neighborhoods (CGN), will make the Covington Farmers Market a welcoming hub where community members of all ages are welcome to come together to connect, create, and thrive. Arts at the Market is a placemaking project, rooted in the belief that vibrant communities grow from shared experiences. This project strives to grow the weekly outdoor market from a simple Saturday stop for many Covington residents into a creative community space to congregate, have fun, and connect with residents and visitors alike. CGN will offer an inclusive mix of creative art making such as instructional classes, musicians and performing arts, and opportunities designed to inspire participation and enliven our neighborhoods.
Urban Appalachian Community Coalition
UACC Place Keepers – Woven Branches Project
Grant: $10,000
Inspired by the irrepressible spirit of Appalachian people, the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition (UACC) will deepen roots in our region through Woven Branches. A social arts platform for young adults (19-40) to creatively explore our community’s diverse migration heritage and home place themes through visual art and writing collaborations with established arts educators. This collaborative arts initiative will extend branches of cultural curiosity and craft-based practice into Kenton and Campbell County neighborhoods, actively inspiring younger generations of Appalachians (as well as newly migrated and settled-in neighbors) to grow roots that will strengthen their sense of arts community belonging. Event themes include home and neighborhood places, nature/ecosystems, family tables, kinship and ancestry, migration history, oral narrative folklore, storytelling traditions, and more.
ArtsWave/meetNKY