DEEP DIVE

TAKEAWAYS to the 1960s, when the civil rights day and in the trenches painting a
movement captured American head- mural the next.”
THE ARTS ATTRACT lines and riots broke out in dozens of Turner stands at the intersec-
TALENT cities, including Cincinnati. From the tion of arts and education, consult-
Cincinnati’s nation- ashes of those disturbances came the ing for several art museums locally
ally-recognized com-
mitment to the arts
anti-poverty Model Cities program, and around the country and, for 22
reflects a community which in Cincinnati led to the cre- years, leading St. Ursula Academy’s
that invites expres- ation of the Arts Consortium, based diversity efforts. She arranges Foun-
sion and creativity, in the West End and led by artist and tain Square entertainment nights for
attributes that political activist Robert O’Neal. Visit Cincy. As executive director of
attract and excite
young professionals,
“Arts is almost always activism,” the Queen City Foundation, she’s a
says Duke Energy’s says Toilynn O’Neal Turner, his fierce advocate for rebuilding hope in
Rhonda Whitaker daughter. “It’s a ‘see me, hear me’ mo- the West End one student at a time.
Hurtt. Recognizing ment from the artist when you look at And she founded and teaches visual
and celebrating the a piece of art. It’s especially true when arts to teenagers at the West End’s
region’s changing de-
mographics can help
it’s Black art, which has always talked Lincoln Recreation Center.
companies recruit about our story.” When I meet Turner at the Rusk
talented people of Turner, one of the city’s leading Kitchen & Bar in Walnut Hills, she’s
color to their rosters. advocates for art education, is presi- dealing with a crisis: Two of her stu-
dent of the Robert O’Neal Multicul- dents were among the six people shot
MORE ATTENTION tural Arts Center (ROMAC), which in a drive-by the night before on Jones
ArtsWave CEO Ale-
cia Kintner points out
she hopes—with the community’s Street in the West End. She’s coping SEE ME,
with pride that Cin- financial support—will refurbish and with the pain and the frustration of a HEAR ME
cinnati was ranked activate the old Regal Theater in the community that, she says, needs hope. Toilynn O’Neal
No. 11 this year by a Turner is rebuild-
West End to house a Black cultural Art, she believes, can help.
major index for arts ing hope in the
center. “I grew up around both the Turner speaks about art not just West End one
vibrancy among U.S.
cities. She draws a
arts and activism,” she says. “I could as a celebration of culture and beauty student and
straight line between be down at City Hall at a protest one but as a system. “Art provides a release family at a time.
our commitment to
diversity in the arts
and our potential as
a city on the rise.

ART HELPS BUILD

HOPE
Toilynn O’Neal
Turner is coping with
the pain and the frus-
tration of a West End
community that, she
says, needs hope.
Art, she believes, can
help. She’s leading
an effort to refurbish
and activate the
neighborhood’s old
Regal Theater as the
Robert O’Neal Multi-
cultural Arts Center.

P H O T O G R A P H C O U R T E SY R O M A C