Know's Jackson Street Market creates community arts connector

To kick off it's thirteenth season, Know Theatre, which gained its permanent performance space in 2006 in Over-the-Rhine, is launching a series of programs geared toward building and retaining Cincinnati's local artist community by simply sharing their space, expertise and resources.

According to Producing Artistic Director Eric Vosmeier, Know hopes to provide a series of programs that can help up and coming individual artists and fledgling arts groups in Cincinnati that don't have their own permanent space. The goal of the initiative - dubbed the Jackson Street Market - is to "provide opportunities to local artistic entrepreneurs, to leverage Know Theatre's resources on their behalf, and to build upon the strengths of our artistic community by creating a space where they can experiment and play with new ideas." 

"All too often," Vosmeier says, "artists leave the Cincinnati area because of the perception that there isn't enough opportunity to keep them here. I don't believe that's true and we're hoping through the implementation of these programs to provide an opportunity for those up and coming individual artists, and emerging arts groups, to be able to stay here and make it on their own." The community space sharing initiative also puts new groups in the heart of Cincinnati's burgeoning 12th Street Art's corridor where the Know is located - an area already bolstered by the presence of Ensemble Theatre, the Art Academy, Artworks, ArtsWave, and the galleries of Main Street.

To kick off the Market, Know will launch a resource sharing website during their 2010-2011 season that will list all available physical resources that the Theatre can share. In addition, the bARTer lab will be an ongoing program led by local dance troupe, Pones Inc., and Know, that seeks to create a forum for multiple artistic disciplines to merge and jointly explore creative change in Cincinnati.

Vosmeier also noted that local artists, including Artemis Exchange founders Chris Wesselman and Paul Lieber, have already agreed to present regular workshops, performances, readings, and events in the Know Theatre's first floor space, the Underground. The Know will also make both of its performance spaces available to newer groups during the weekends that it's not hosting its own performances.

Ultimately, Vosmeier envisions a self-sustaining cooperative theater community which mirrors Cincinnati's self-sustaining music community - a community where people don't feel they have to leave to succeed. Vosmeier adds, "The two communities may not look the same, but the intent is the same."

Writer: Michael Kearns
Photography by Scott Beseler.