ArtsNow

Ten years of moving ideas, artists, and dance forward!🕺

This year, The National Center for Choreography - Akron is celebrating its 10th anniversary! As one of only two choreography centers in the country, NCCAkron has spent the last decade connecting artists, sparking new creative work, and putting Akron on the national dance map.

To celebrate, they're throwing a Dance Party Through the Decades on June 20, a night of music, dancing, community, and plenty of reasons to hit the dance floor. 🪩

Read more from Christy Bolingbroke and John E. Jenkins here: artsnow.org/a-startup-for-dance-reflections-on-nccakrons-first-decade/

*Photo by Dale D**g; NCCAkron’s Dancing Lab: Screendance filming in Akron

We’re grateful to The EXL Center for Community Engaged Learning for the important work they do to advance community engagement and creative placemaking throughout our region!

Congrats to our very own Nicole Mullet and Patrick Bravo on being recognized as EX[L] Award Winners for Creative Placemaking. Through their collaboration and leadership, they continue to demonstrate how arts, culture, and community-centered work can create meaningful impact and bring people together.

Well deserved! 🎉

Community Engagement Champions are those who uphold the values expressed in EX[L]’s mission and support community engagement at UA. They can be community partners, staff, faculty, or students. Each year, it is so hard for us to just pick a few.

Check out the EX[L] Awards program from May 1st to learn more about our 2025-2026 Champions: https://canva.link/ohernls9981c5ix

We were proud to join arts leaders from across the country at AFTACON 2026, the annual conference hosted by Americans for the Arts.

From inspiring conversations and innovative ideas to strategies for strengthening communities through the arts, we left energized and reminded of the important role arts and culture play in creating vibrant places to live, work, and thrive!

A few takeaways that stuck with us:

✅ The National Endowment for the Arts shared research comparing public investment in arts and culture across 50 countries. The United States ranked among the lowest, reinforcing an important idea shared during the conference: access to the arts should not depend on geography or proximity to philanthropy.

✅ Storytelling matters. During Why Our Stories Matter, The Knight Foundation Vice President for Arts, Kristina Newman-Scott, joined actor, author, translator, and musician Molly Ringwald for a conversation about storytelling and the essential role the arts play in civic life.

We're excited to bring what we learned back to Summit County... more to come!

The Fresh Cut & Style Poetry & Essay Contest offers youth ages 5-17 the opportunity to earn a fresh haircut or style by writing an original poem, an essay, or both on the given topics.

Topic 1: The Importance of Being Kind
Topic 2: If I Could Tell The World One Thing, It Would Be...

You can write a poem about Topic 1 and an essay about Topic 2, or an essay about Topic 1 and a poem about Topic 2; or you can decide to write a poem or an essay about just one topic.

For more information, visit: https://summitlive365.com/classified/a-fresh-cut-style-poetry-essay-contest/

For decades, Pollock-Krasner Foundation grants have enabled visual artists to create new work, purchase needed materials, cover studio rent, and more.

Grants for artists are unrestricted and can be used in any way that allows an artist to meaningfully pursue their practice.

The Foundation welcomes, throughout the year, applications from professional visual artists who are painters, sculptors, and/or artists who work on paper, including printmakers.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis: there are no deadlines! For more information, visit: https://bit.ly/43B1iHS

See you on June 17! https://bit.ly/492OpcZ

Big things happen when cities see arts and culture as part of the foundation, not an afterthought.

Huge congratulations to Mayor John Pribonic, Drew C. Reilly, and Leila Griffiths on an incredible presentation at Arts Impact Ohio this week.

The City of Stow’s session, Using Public Projects as Catalysts for Public Art, highlighted how one amphitheater project became a spark for deeper community investment, stronger partnerships, and a broader vision for public art across the city.

(And, we heard from attendees that it was one of the standout sessions of the conference! 👏)

We're honored to share the ArtsNow 2025 Impact Report, which highlights the momentum, incredible partnerships, and measurable impact shaping arts and culture across Summit County, showcasing how collective investment continues to strengthen community connection!

View the 2025 report here: artsnow.org/impact-report/