Like many, I pause during the holiday season to consider all that I have to be grateful for. As I looked back on 2021, I realized that—despite a slow and uneven recovery from the pandemic—there is plenty to celebrate in the Columbus arts community. Today I’d like to take a…
Today, with a heavy heart, I have to announce that we are canceling the 2021 Columbus Arts Festival. I can’t believe that I have to write this again; however, there is simply too much uncertainty surrounding the pandemic to responsibly host an event that draws hundreds of thousands of people…
Her dream is to produce a full-length play based on Plato’s dialogues inspired by her studies. Her dream is to start a production company called Walter Lane, named after her beloved dog who recently passed. Her dream is fueled by her late husband, Chris, whose memory is a reminder for…
As a baby, Quianna, would lay on her back and click her feet to the beat of the music floating through the room. She was already connected to movement at a young age. But her mom was uncertain if she would ever dance. Quianna was born bow-legged. Without reconstructive surgery,…
The pandemic put so much on pause. We started 2020 with ambitious plans for new programs, but as our major funding sources dried up, we had to regroup. One of the initiatives that we were excited to launch last year was the Neighborhood Arts Connection Fellowship. Now, thanks to Crane…
We recently announced the 2022 Artists Elevated awards with investments of $20,000 in unrestricted funds going to Filmmaker Sterling Carter and Choreographer Mariah Layne French. Our hope, when we developed the Artists Elevated awards, was that this money would provide artists the financial boost they need to expand their career…
We came into 2020 full of hope, energy and vision. We had fought and won to get additional arts funding, and we developed a host of new programs that we were excited to roll out. Life is what happens while you are making other plans. Tom…
April 2, 2020 Dear Columbus Community The decision we share with you today is one of the single most difficult and heartbreaking we’ve ever had to make at the Greater Columbus Arts Council. Early this morning the Arts Council board of trustees voted to cancel the 2020 Columbus Arts Festival,…
It is not unusual for a year to be full of both endings and beginnings. This year, however, the feeling of transition—of wrapping up old projects and embarking on new directions—seemed particularly poignant. Tom Katzenmeyer, CEO, president of the Arts Council A few weeks ago we celebrated the book launch…
Next month we will announce the inaugural awardees of Artists Elevated. Two artists will receive $20,000 each. This is a passion project for the Greater Columbus Arts Council. It encompasses several goals that I think are important for the health of the Arts Council and the arts in Columbus—raising private…
It is time for the Greater Columbus Arts Council to deepen its private funding pool and build a robust, diverse revenue stream, and it is time for us to raise our level of investment in individual artists. Tom Katzenmeyer, CEO, president of the Arts Council I have…
The Art Unites Cbus project came about as a solution to an immediate challenge, how to turn broken windows into messages of support for Black Lives. Columbus businesses and organizations hired artists to paint the temporary plywood with messages that ranged from calls for justice, humanity and hope to expressions…
