DEEP DIVE
“CINCINNATI’S ARTS CREATE
A QUALITY OF LIFE AND A VI-
BRANT COMMUNITY, WHICH IS
WHY PEOPLE WANT TO MOVE
HERE,” SAYS RHONDA WHITA-
KER HURTT, DUKE ENERGY’S
VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNI-
TY RELATIONS AND ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT.
Thompson took the elective class,
and the spark was lit. Soon after, he
dropped his international business
major and triple majored in English,
Spanish, and Fine Arts.
His work was noticed quickly
thanks to his initial job with Art-
Works. In short order, he earned
residencies at the Cincinnati Art
Museum, Cincinnati Shakespeare
Company, Cincinnati Chamber Or-
chestra, and the Contemporary Arts
Center. He’s secured grants and spe-
cial commissions. He’s a good exam-
ple of an arts community supporting
a home-grown talent thanks, in large
part to the business community and
local foundations that provide funding.
“We support the arts because it
represents diversity and fosters an in-
clusive environment of different ex-
periences, personalities, and history,”
says Rhonda Whitaker Hurtt, Duke
Energy’s vice president of community
relations and economic development.
“It creates a quality of life and a vi-
brant community, which is why peo-
ple want to move here. We’ve seen in
our economic development efforts
that it absolutely matters.”
40 REALM WINTER 2023
Hurtt, who has worked local eco-
nomic development issues for nearly
30 years, says Cincinnati’s national-
ly-recognized commitment to the
arts tells a story of a community that
invites expression and creativity—at-
tributes that attract and excite young
professionals. The emphasis on Black
and Brown artists and the diverse
audience they attract, she maintains,
recognizes and celebrates our commu-
nity’s changing demographics, which
in turn helps companies recruit tal-
ented people of color to their rosters.
Hurtt also ties Duke’s commit-
ment to diversity in the arts to the
company’s efforts to diversify its own
employee base, which also reflects the
growing diversity of its customer base.
That commitment, she says, goes back
to its days as Cinergy, when the com-
pany sponsored an art collection that
won an award from Forbes.
Perhaps the biggest paint brush
Cincinnati has in its arsenal is Arts-
Wave, one of the nation’s largest and
most effective nonprofit supporters of
the arts. Over the past 96 years, the
consortium has partnered with the
community to help fund museums
exhibits, stage performances, dance
companies, music from opera to hip
hop, individual artists, and dozens of
special projects such as BLINK that
have enriched the region’s cultural life.
Its annual campaign is well-or-
ganized and has for decades enjoyed
the support of the region’s major
corporations, foundations, and in-
dividual donors. Last year, the cam-
paign raised $11.8 million, exceed-
ing its goal and reaching a return to
pre-pandemic contribution levels.
ArtsWave augments its budget by
leveraging the community’s contri-
butions, regularly securing compet-
itive state and federal grants.
Part of that funding has gone into
the Black & Brown Faces and African
Modernism exhibitions, two of the five
offerings that make up its 2023-24
Flow season. Now in its fourth year,
Flow is ArtsWave’s signature celebra-
tion of African American visual, mu-
sic, and dance. The Flow Pass entitles
purchasers to events and social oppor-
tunities that bring diverse audiences
together to experience both the talent
and the social messaging inherent in
the works of the artists.
P H O T O G R A P H C O U R T E SY TA F T M U S E U M O F A R T