ArtsWave Flow Pass facilitates deeper appreciation for Black art

Kareem A. Simpson | Tuesday, October 24, 2023

The Flow Pass includes a Flow Social Experience at a performance of August Wilson's "How I Learned What I Learned" memoir that charts one man’s journey of self-discovery and what it means to be a Black artist in America. @EnsembleTheatre Photo David Cooper

The uptick in local attention being paid to Black art has not only been going on here in Cincinnati. This has been based on the realization throughout the nation’s art scene that visitors want to see more than white, male, and often-deceased American and European artists. As ethnic and cultural diversity grows here, local art organizations are increasingly adding exhibitions to attract a wider audience by showing a broader array of artists and explaining why their work is worth appreciating.

ArtsWave FLOW: An African American Arts Experience shines light on a broad spectrum of Black artistic practice here in Cincinnati. The region has traditionally been one of the most politically, socially, and aesthetically delayed regions of the country. This is despite the fact that Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky has always cradled an exciting cadre of Black artists who have worked in communities, in collectives, and who have individually created a range of art responsive to the moment or a movement.

When you purchase a Flow pass, you get access to a series of five artist experiences featuring renowned local and nationally acclaimed Black artists and ensembles in various disciplines.

“This is a great way to connect experiences,” said Alecia Kintner, ArtsWave CEO and President. “This will be the first year that we are offering an all-inclusive pass this specific. In past years, our pass has been more sporadic. This year, we see the Flow pass as helping ArtsWave to cultivate a culturally curious audience which facilitates a deeper appreciation for Black art here in Cincinnati.”

When you purchase the Flow pass, it affords you five different experiences of contemporary Black artistry at five different venues. Each is accompanied by a special Flow Social gathering. More succinctly, each experience directly addresses, in some way, the unjust social conditions facing Black Americans, such as with the participating exhibit created by Charles Gaines, "The American Manifest", a massive outdoor art installation making its way to Cincinnati in spring 2024, also included in the Flow pass.

“This pass brings together, for the first time, the excitingly disparate practices of five Black art experiences,” said Kintner. “The experiences work across disciplines, Cincinnati venues as well as organizations, offering an unparalleled opportunity to see extraordinary works through one purchase point.”

The series kicked off on Friday, October 20 at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park with “Clyde’s” - a play about a truck stop operated by a group of people recently released from prison.

The Flow Pass also gets you into the upcoming 2024 experiences:

“African Modernism in America” at the Taft Museum of Art February 8 or February 10
“How I Learned What I Learned” at the Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati February 16, 17, or 22
“Mercurial Landscapes” presented by the Cincinnati Ballet at Aronoff Center on April 5

Reserve the Flow Pass here. Limited quantity available.

ArtsWave Flow Pass facilitates deeper appreciation for Black art

Read more articles by Kareem A. Simpson.

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