ArtsWave

What ArtsWave does

ArtsWave is a Cincinnati-based nonprofit arts funding organization founded in 1927 as the Cincinnati Institute of Fine Arts (later the Fine Arts Fund, rebranded ArtsWave in 2010) that functions as the Greater Cincinnati region's primary community arts campaign. It distributes over $10 million annually in grant funding to more than 150 arts organizations, individual artists, and projects across the region, and was designated the official local arts agency for the City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County in 2021. The organization operates a structured portfolio of grant programs including Sustaining Impact Grants (multi-year operating support in three-year cycles), Catalyzing Impact Grants (project-based), Circle Grants (Black-led organizations), ArtsWave Pride Grants (LGBTQIA+), Young Professionals Grants, Inspire Artist Grants (under-represented artists), and the Northern Kentucky Creative Placemaking Grant.

ArtsWave's core products are its grantmaking programs and supporting community infrastructure. Consumer-facing technology includes the ArtsWave App (iOS and Google Play) providing event discovery, itinerary sharing, and ArtsWave Pass donor discounts (a $100 value providing hundreds of 50% off deals), the Cincy A&E event calendar (the region's largest arts and entertainment listing), and the Submittable-based grantee portal for applications and reporting. The organization also produces signature content including the Better Know Cincy's Arts video series and the Weekly Arts Countdown newsletter, and runs flagship events such as the BLINK light and art festival. ArtsWave does not develop proprietary AI/ML technology; its technology footprint is limited to these operational platforms and standard digital engagement channels.

The revenue model is philanthropic and three-streams: Community Campaign donations from 20,000+ individual donors, corporate gifts and workplace giving campaigns from 160+ companies (employee campaigns represent roughly 50% of the campaign total), and foundation/government grants (Greater Cincinnati Foundation, City of Cincinnati, National Endowment for the Arts, Duke Energy). Donor incentives are tied to the ArtsWave Pass benefit rather than traditional pricing. Geographic reach is regional — Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky — with no disclosed global footprint.

Name

ArtsWave

Legal name

ArtsWave

Website

https://artswave.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1927

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

ArtsWave is a Cincinnati-based nonprofit arts agency founded in 1927 that distributes over $10 million annually in grants to 150+ arts organizations and artists across the Greater Cincinnati region. Revenue comes from individual donations, corporate workplace giving campaigns, and foundation grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Arts Funding and Nonprofit Arts Agency Services

NAICS

Other Grantmaking and Giving Services (813219), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (71)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Public Art, Arts Councils & Grantmaking Programs (BPAGAHAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Arts & Culture Service/Support Organizations (Networks, Advocacy, Capacity Building) (BPAGAHAL), Arts, Culture & Humanities Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAJ)

Keywords

• Community arts funding
• Arts grantmaking
• Nonprofit arts agency
• Workplace giving campaigns
• Donor engagement

Headquarters

HQ city

Cincinnati

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Community Campaign Donations: ArtsWave raises funds annually from tens of thousands of individuals, businesses, and foundations through its Community Campaign. Individual donors number over 20,000, while 160+ companies participate through workplace giving campaigns. This constitutes the primary revenue stream for distributing grants to arts organizations.
2. Corporate Gifts and Matching: Corporate partners provide direct gifts to ArtsWave campaigns, often with employee matching programs. Companies like Cintas participate through matching gift challenges (e.g., 'More Arts, More Kids Challenge' with 3x matching).
3. Foundation and Government Grants: ArtsWave receives grants from foundations including Greater Cincinnati Foundation and operates programs funded by government entities such as the City of Cincinnati and National Endowment for the Arts. These funds are used to support specific grant programs like the Inspire Artist Grant.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

ArtsWave is a community-funded nonprofit arts agency that raises donations from individuals, corporations, and foundations through annual workplace giving campaigns, then redistributes more than $10 million annually through structured grant programs to 150+ arts organizations, individual artists, and arts education initiatives in the Cincinnati region. It complements grantmaking with donor engagement programs (ArtsWave Pass), a free mobile event-discovery app (ArtsWave App), regional arts calendar (Cincy A&E), and signature events such as the BLINK festival and More Arts, More Kids student field trips.

Product overview

ArtsWave is the primary arts funding organization for the Cincinnati region, operating since 1927. The organization offers a suite of products centered on its free ArtsWave App (one-stop calendar for arts, entertainment, sports, and discounts), complemented by ArtsWave Pass donor benefits. Its core work involves distributing over $10 million annually in grant funding through multiple programs including Sustaining Impact Grants, Catalyzing Impact Grants, Circle Grants, ArtsWave Pride Grants, Young Professionals Grants, Inspire Artist Grants, and Northern Kentucky Creative Placemaking Grants. Supporting over 150 organizations, artists, and projects each year, ArtsWave also runs signature programs like More Arts, More Kids (free arts field trips for students) and events such as BLINK. The Cincy A&E calendar serves as the region's largest arts and entertainment listing.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ArtsWave App Free mobile application providing a one-stop calendar for arts, entertainment, sports, and events in the Cincinnati region, with ticket discounts, itinerary sharing, and ArtsWave Pass donor benefit access.
• ArtsWave Pass
• More Arts, More Kids
• Sustaining Impact Grants
• Catalyzing Impact Grants
• Circle Grants
• ArtsWave Pride Grants
• Young Professionals Grants
• Inspire Artist Grants
• Northern Kentucky Creative Placemaking Grant
• Cincy A&E
• BLINK Festival Major public art and light festival operated by ArtsWave that brings millions together across Cincinnati neighborhoods, generating $249.3 million in economic impact in a recent iteration.

Quantifiable outcome

• $1.6 billion in economic impact from 2019-2022
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers20 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• meetNKY (Northern Kentucky CVB)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerArtsWave and meetNKY collaborate on the Northern Kentucky Creative Placemaking Grant program, leveraging the arts to drive economic vitality, social vibrancy, and connected community in Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties. Grant awards up to $10,000 with 1:1 match requirement.
• Cincinnati Regional Chamber (Center for Research & Data)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Center for Research & Data at the Cincinnati Regional Chamber produced the 2024 Economic Impact of Arts & Culture report for ArtsWave, revealing $1.6 billion in total economic impact from 2019-2022.
• Women's Leadership RoundtablecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Women's Leadership Roundtable is a giving circle of women who power the Catalyzing Impact Grant, ArtsWave's largest grants pool for project support. Members contribute to creating lasting impact in the community.
• Circle of African American Leaders for the ArtscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThis affinity group supports the Circle Grant program for Black-led organizations through designated gifts to the ArtsWave Community Campaign.
• Ohio Arts CouncilminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOhio Arts Council's Big Yellow School Bus program helps schools defray transportation costs to professional arts activities, complementing ArtsWave's More Arts, More Kids program.
• Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public LibraryminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library for ProjectArt's free visual arts education program, launched in 2023 at Avondale and West End branches, expanding to Bond Hill.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Arts Council of Indianapolis: Indianapolis's local arts agency and grantmaking body supporting arts organizations and individual artists through community-raised funds — operates the same United Arts Fund campaign model with grants, affinity programs, and a designated local arts agency role.
• ArtsFund: Greater Seattle's United Arts Fund aggregating workplace giving and corporate contributions to distribute to arts and cultural organizations — directly analogous community-campaign, corporate-anchored funding model.
• Houston Arts Alliance: Houston's designated local arts agency that combines grantmaking, capacity building, and city-funded arts programming — comparable scale and government-designated role serving a major U.S. metro region.
• Greater Columbus Arts Council: Columbus, Ohio's local arts agency and combined fund/administrator that distributes grants to arts organizations and runs community campaigns — the closest analog in a neighboring Ohio city, with a similar United Arts Fund-style structure and city-designated agency status.
• United Arts Council of Greater Charlotte: Charlotte region's primary United Arts Fund, raising and distributing dollars to arts organizations via workplace-giving and community campaigns — directly comparable model, scale, and mission to ArtsWave.
• Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance: Philadelphia-area arts service and advocacy organization supporting 400+ member cultural institutions through research, marketing, and collective action — closely mirrors ArtsWave's community-coordination role.
• United Performing Arts Fund: Milwaukee's workplace-giving campaign that aggregates employee contributions to fund performing arts organizations — same workplace-campaign mechanism and multi-grantee distribution model ArtsWave pioneered.

Broad incumbents

• Americans for the Arts: National nonprofit advocacy and service organization for the arts sector, providing research, policy, and tools to local arts agencies including ArtsWave — broader scope and national reach, but supports the same local-agency ecosystem.
• National Endowment for the Arts: Federal grantmaking agency that provides direct funding to ArtsWave's Catalyzing Impact Grants and to many of ArtsWave's grantees — a funder-of-funders relationship and a key upstream funding source ArtsWave depends on.

Others

• United Way of Greater Cincinnati: The Cincinnati region's primary workplace-giving community campaign aggregator for human services — uses the same corporate-campaign infrastructure ArtsWave relies on and represents the largest direct competitor for donor payroll-deduction dollars in the region.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ArtsWave
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@TheArtsWave
• Facebookfacebook.com/ArtsWave
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/artswave
• Instagraminstagram.com/artswave_cincinnati

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ArtsWave