Contemporary Arts Center
44 East Sixth Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Youth Education Programming
Grant Application:
The CAC requests support for our Youth Education Programming. The Dater Foundation’s increased assistance would be especially impactful as we cautiously work to safely increase in-person programming and find a balance with continuing online/virtual content. We pride ourselves on producing innovative education offerings inspired by current exhibitions and artists that are responsive to our audience/community. Programs for students and teachers feature content aligning with national academic standards, and promoting critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The CAC has programs for children as young as preschool-age and strives to create programming that accommodates all visitors, helping deepen their understanding of contemporary art and culture while bringing art into their everyday life despite the inability or hesitance to travel to our downtown facility. Many programs are offered for free or a minimal materials fee. Together they introduce all visitors to contemporary art by reaching beyond gallery guides and traditional museum learning stations.
Grant Evaluation Report:
The CAC is pleased to report on the success of our CAC Youth Education Programming. Thankfully, the CAC has largely returned to normal operations relative to the restrictions and protective measures necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Programming is largely in-person and indoors, though significant digital outreach has been maintained and program variations now exist that intentionally occur outdoors independent of any need for social distancing. The CAC is immensely grateful to the Charles H. Dater Foundation for your generous and consistent support which has to a significant degree facilitated our ability to provide education programming to young people across Greater Cincinnati during and moving beyond the pandemic. As an institution, our reach and the depth of our engagement has also been recently bolstered and expanded by the completion of a major capital project to our downtown Cincinnati facility’s entire sixth-floor education space. This new CAC Creativity Center will be a key support as we strive to return to pre-pandemic attendance levels and strengthen the positive impact with have on students and young people in our community.
In October 2022, the CAC added an immensely valuable resource by opening our sixth-floor Creativity Center. This level of our facility has always been dedicated to education activities and interactive artwork; however, its design was lacking. The space’s renovation/reimagining added functional square footage for programming/activities, improved the design, made it fully ADA compliant and in keeping with ADA best practices, and added new equipment and amenities. On a basic level, the new space has opened programming options immensely. For instance, it is now possible to have two different, unrelated programs occurring on the sixth-floor concurrently when previously they would have intruded on each other to a detrimental degree. The transition to the CAC Creativity Center has turned our education space into an immersive area inviting engagement from all who visit it and has made it into a true laboratory for creativity and creative expression. It has also given us the opportunity to present several art installations featuring work from nine regional/local, diverse artists and a Community Gallery to showcase visitor artwork and other local exhibition opportunities. These installations as well as the programs and hands-on artmaking that occur within the Creativity Center showcase and relate to diverse themes and ideas that are applicable to society today. The CAC has consistently received praise from parents, children, and visitors of all ages for the quality and engaging nature of our education offerings. With a space to match and support them, we anticipate significant attendance growth, increased visibility, and deepened positive impact.
Since the opening of the CAC Creativity Center, we have already begun to see positive impacts to our education programming from the improvements to its amenities as well as added resources and equipment. Below is information on the component parts of CAC Youth Education Programming that have benefited from the Dater Foundation’s support and we anticipate only seeing additional positive developments from the use of the Creativity Center.
Website:
http://www.contemporaryartscenter.org Amount: $30,000
Date: June 2022
