The ArtsWave Board of Trustees approved $8,971,278 in Sustaining Impact grants to 46 local arts organizations, launching a new three-year funding cycle for FY2027-2029.
The grants are funded by the recently concluded 2026 ArtsWave Community Campaign and mark the first Sustaining Impact Grant cycle heading into ArtsWave’s 100th anniversary in 2027.
Sustaining Impact grants are ArtsWave’s largest and most consistent form of support, providing multi-year operating funding that helps arts and cultural organizations maintain financial stability, leading to more consistent community impact. The program anchors ArtsWave’s grantmaking and represents the majority of its annual grant distributions.
“For 100 years, our region has come together to support its arts,” said Alecia Kintner, ArtsWave President & CEO. “What we raise through our campaign each year goes right back into the community. These 46 organizations, and the people they reach, are what that investment looks like in practice. Every gift becomes support that keeps our region vibrant and connected.”
ArtsWave invites organizations to apply for Sustaining Impact funding based on their meeting a set of criteria, including a primary mission dedicated to arts and cultural programming, nonprofit status of at least five or ten years depending on budget size, a history of ArtsWave funding and sound financial health, among other requirements.
A total of 58 volunteer community members, drawn from business, civic and arts leadership across the region, reviewed and scored applications. A formula that relates the score to percentages of operating budget, adjusted for available dollars, determines how much funding each organization receives, with proof of community impact weighted the highest.
“Our community volunteer review process is central to how ArtsWave operates,” said Debbie Hayes, ArtsWave Board Chair and President & CEO of The Christ Hospital Health Network. “Fifty-eight community members devoted a significant amount of time evaluating these applications based on the established criteria in a fully transparent process. Those thoughtful recommendations are what the Board acted on. That kind of community ownership and investment is what has carried us thus far and what will carry us successfully into our second century of impact.”
The FY2027-2029 cohort includes Q-Kidz Dance, a first-time recipient, and Wave Pool, which returns to the program after a two-year absence.
FY2027 Sustaining Impact Grant Awards (alphabetical)
• 1001 Colors (ArtWorks) — $185,000
• American Legacy Theatre — $15,000
• ArtsConnect — $18,000
• Behringer-Crawford Museum — $30,250
• Bi-Okoto Drum & Dance Theatre — $37,950
• Cincinnati Art Museum — $1,285,000
• Cincinnati Ballet — $810,000
• Cincinnati Boychoir — $45,000
• Cincinnati Landmark Productions — $104,600
• Cincinnati Opera — $683,850
• Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park — $1,060,000
• Cincinnati Shakespeare Company — $206,200
• Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra — $2,300,000
• Cincinnati Youth Choir — $44,500
• Cindependent Film Festival with LADD — $21,500
• Clifton Cultural Arts Center — $36,800
• Contemporary Arts Center — $285,600
• Elementz Hip Hop Cultural Art Center — $45,000
• Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati — $154,400
• Fitton Center for Creative Arts — $86,250
• Kennedy Heights Arts Center — $45,300
• Kentucky Symphony Orchestra — $40,050
• Know Theatre of Cincinnati — $41,000
• Learning Through Art, Inc. — $46,000
• Linton Chamber Music — $23,800
• May Festival — $230,228
• MUSE Cincinnati’s Women’s Choir — $7,500
• Mutual Dance Theatre and Arts Center — $41,000
• My Nose Turns Red Youth Circus — $14,000
• Oxford Community Arts Center — $25,500
• Pones — $11,000
• Price Hill Will — $70,000
• Professional Artistic Research Projects — $32,100
• Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park — $56,000
• Q-Kidz Dance — $10,000
• Queen City Opera — $10,000
• Queen City Performing Arts Organization — $10,000
• Summermusik (CCO) — $45,000
• Taft Museum of Art — $295,000
• The Carnegie — $84,000
• The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati — $250,000
• The Well/A Mindful Moment — $13,000
• Visionaries and Voices — $48,400
• Wave Pool — $20,000
• Wyoming Fine Arts Center — $37,500
• Young Professionals Choral Collective — $10,000
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