Category: Opening Doors to Creativity

A Year of Opening Doors

The holidays are a time for looking back and looking forward together. As we approach the end of the year, I want to express our deepest gratitude for your unwavering support.

2023 was truly a transformative year! Together, we’ve opened doors to creativity and positively impacted the lives of 9,364 people of all ages through 683 free and sliding scale arts experiences. With your support, 100% of our programs continued to be accessible to everyone.

Unlocking Potential: This year, our Cincinnati Jazz Academy continued to empower young musicians, providing free instruments, transportation, and instruction to diverse students. Your support helped these students achieve outstanding success, winning accolades at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival and setting the stage for even greater achievements in the years to come.

Inspiring Innovation: Through partnerships with local schools, our innovative arts education programs reached over 1,200 underserved students. From the Cr8 Club after-school program to arts integration projects in classrooms, your contributions made it possible for students to engage with the arts to foster creativity, academic skills, and social-emotional well-being.

Creating Community: The Vibrancy Fellowship, our unique residency program for emerging BIPOC artists, created powerful connections within our community. As we invested in these artists, they, in turn, enriched our community, creating brave spaces and inspiring positive change.

Just as a key unlocks a door, your support unlocks a world of endless possibilities through the arts. Your generosity enables us to continue providing free, high-quality arts programs for diverse individuals in our community.

You Hold the Key: As we strive to reach our goal of $60,000 for the KHAC Annual Fund by December 31, we invite you to consider making a donation today. Your contribution ensures that 100 percent of our programs remain accessible to everyone.

GIVE TODAY

Thank you for being a vital part of our creative community. Together, we’ll continue opening doors to a brighter, more creative future.

Creating Community: BIPOC Emerging Artists Foster Connections

A group of women gathered monthly in the gallery to write. Under the guidance of local poet Jamie Lee Elizabeth, they explored Black womanhood, friendship, love, heartbreak, grief, and joy — and made connections — in ways they hadn’t before.

These meaningful creative experiences were as part of a unique six-month residency for early career Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) artists at Kennedy Heights Arts Center. The Vibrancy Fellowship aims to meet the needs of emerging artists in an environment that empowers them to take risks and explore new creative challenges while deepening their community practice.

Designed to facilitate collaboration and mutual mentoring, the fellowship enriches both the artist and the community.

“We find when we invest in artists, it benefits everyone as they pour their creative gifts right back into the community,” remarks Ellen Muse, KHAC’s Executive Director.

For Jamie-Lee, this experience was her first time leading a project as an independent artist.

“Engaging with the community impacted my creative practice by allowing me to see the possibilities and potential of my work,” remarked Jamie Lee. “It helped me feel confident in creating brave spaces – and to see that these spaces are necessary in our world.”

Just as a key unlocks a door, the arts unlock a world of endless possibilities.

We believe that everyone, regardless of their background or circumstances, should have the opportunity to experience the transformative influence of the arts. That’s why Kennedy Heights Arts Center supports and advances the work of underrepresented emerging artists to promote diverse participation in the arts.

You hold the key.

Please consider a donation to Kennedy Heights Arts Center to help unlock the doors to creativity for thousands of community members each year. With your support, 100 percent of our programs will remain accessible to everyone.

GIVE TODAY

Inspiring Innovation: Igniting Learning through the Arts

It’s a demonstrated fact: schools that infuse the arts see a profound impact on students and culture. A recent study by the Brookings Institute found that increases in arts educational experiences in schools led to remarkable improvement in students’ academic, social, and emotional outcomes.

Yet in the era of tight budgets, educators have tough decisions on what to prioritize–and the arts too often fall to the cutting room floor. But not at three local schools.

Through a partnership with Kennedy Heights Arts Center, more than 1,200 students at Cincinnati Public Schools’ Woodford Academy, John P. Parker School, and The Academy of World Languages benefit from enriching arts education. From our 5-day-a-week Cr8 Club after school program, to arts integration projects in core curriculum classrooms, to family cultural events, students engage the powerful and expressive force of the arts to ignite learning.

The first thing you notice in these innovative spaces is the palpable energy and joy. Students are actively engaged in the learning process, working with diverse professional creatives in music, dance, theatre, literary, and visual arts. This arts integration approach not only bolsters creativity, it improves students’ academic skills, strengthens social-emotional wellness, and builds confidence. As one student remarked at the conclusion of a project, “It is inspiring. I am inspiring!”

Just as a key unlocks a door, the arts unlock a world of endless possibilities.

We believe that everyone, regardless of their background or circumstances, should have the opportunity to experience the transformative influence of the arts. That’s why Kennedy Heights Arts Center made it our mission to provide free, high-quality arts programs for underserved students.

“Arts in education is an equity issue,” remarked Ellen Muse, KHAC executive director. “Kennedy Heights Arts Center is committed to ensuring that every student has access to the arts, not as a luxury for the privileged, but as an essential part of a well-rounded education.”

You hold the key.

Please consider a donation to Kennedy Heights Arts Center to help unlock the doors to creativity for thousands of students each year. With your support, 100 percent of our programs will remain accessible to everyone.

GIVE TODAY

Unlocking Potential: Empowering Young Musicians

It started with 26 kids from underserved elementary schools. They had not played music before, but once the door was opened, they soared to new heights. Over the next five years, their numbers swelled to 150 impressive young musicians performing on stages from New York City to Barcelona, Spain.

How did this happen, you may ask?

The Cincinnati Jazz Academy unleashed their potential. A partnership of Kennedy Heights Arts Center and Cincinnati Public Schools, the after-school program provides extraordinary music education and performance opportunities five days a week for diverse CPS students in grades 4-12. Students receive a free instrument, bus transportation, and meals; and participate in weekly music lessons, jazz orchestras, and combos led by professional jazz musicians and educators–all at no cost.

The results have exceeded all expectations. In 2023, competing with student bands across the country, our students took home first and second-place awards at the prestigious Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. Given the opportunity, these students learned that they can aspire to and achieve great things.

Just as a key unlocks a door, the arts unlock a world of endless possibilities.

We believe that everyone, regardless of their background or circumstances, should have the opportunity to experience the transformative influence of the arts. That’s why Kennedy Heights Arts Center made it our mission to provide free arts programs for underserved students, like these amazing young musicians.

You hold the key.

We cannot do this work without you. When you give to Kennedy Heights Arts Center, you help unlock the doors to creativity to more than 9,000 diverse youth and adults annually.

GIVE TODAY

Our goal is to raise $60,000 for the KHAC Annual Fund between now and December 31. Thank you for your support!