Contemporary Arts Center

Contemporary Arts Center Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) brings art and the creative process to all people. The CAC has a long and rich history. It was the first U.S.
(1680)

The Contemporary Arts Center's mission is rooted in the belief that there is an intimate link between art and life and that connections are made through contemporary art. Since 1939, the CAC—one of the nation's oldest and most celebrated contemporary art institutions—has been a steadfast facilitator for that connection, and a conduit for innovation. It remains today an open hub for creative inspir

ation, art celebration, and intellectual stimulation—a place to be inspired by new ideas and where art connects people to each other and to the world outside. At the cutting edge of contemporary art for decades, the CAC is known around the world for the creative freedom and support it gives to artists, the access and opportunities it provides to the public and the space it creates for cross-generational and cross-societal dialogue around contemporary issues. In 1940 it was one of the first venues in the United States to exhibit Picasso's Guernica, it presented one of the first museum exhibitions of Pop art—with works by future icons such as Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol; one of the first major exhibitions of the famed sculptor, Dale Chihuly; and the first museum survey to spotlight the underground, DIY, street art movement with Beautiful Losers. It has hosted lectures and performances by future luminaries such as Buckminster Fuller, Margaret Meade, Maya Angelou and David Byrne; commissioned valued public art installations; and furthered public discourse over contemporary art. It's current home, the Lois and Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art, opened in 2003. art museum designed by a woman, London-based Zaha Hadid. Called ""the most important American building to be completed since the end of the cold war” by the New York Times, the design won Hadid the prestigious Pritzker Prize. https://contemporaryartscenter.org

Mark your calendars for CAC's next Creative Café on Friday, Oct. 2, 7–10 p.m.!📣 This is a call to artists who would like...
09/02/2026

Mark your calendars for CAC's next Creative Café on Friday, Oct. 2, 7–10 p.m.!

📣 This is a call to artists who would like to vend. Tables and chairs will be provided, with a table fee of $25. If you would like to vend, please email [email protected] with a link to your work. Deadline to submit is Sept. 9!

New to Creative Café? Taking place at CAC, Creative Café is a vibrant community where artists, performers, and visionaries can come together to inspire and be inspired. From handmade jewelry and unique artwork to customized clothing and one-of-a-kind accessories, our vendors offer a curated selection of items that reflect the creativity and passion of our community – ensuring you'll find something special to take home.

Wondering what else you can expect? Alongside unique shopping opportunities supporting the local creative community, plan for networking with local creatives, social prompts to ignite conversations, drawing prompts to spark creativity, and a performance starting at 8:30 p.m.

Note: This program is 18+.

☕ Start your weekend the creative way!On Friday, Aug. 28, CAC welcomes artist Cedric Michael Cox for CreativeMorning sta...
08/27/2026

☕ Start your weekend the creative way!

On Friday, Aug. 28, CAC welcomes artist Cedric Michael Cox for CreativeMorning starting at 8:30 a.m.

CreativeMornings is a free global breakfast lecture series designed to build creative community through shared ideas and storytelling. Each month, CreativeMornings Cincinnati gathers designers, artists, makers, nonprofit leaders, and curious thinkers from across the region for a welcoming morning of reflection, inspiration, and connection.

Cox will be the spotlight lecturer, offering insight into his paintings that catapult color into rhythmic action with abstract and recognizable images, to create compositions inspired by themes in music and the natural world. Working with multiple influences, including architecture and art history, Cox’s work ranges from cubist-inspired geometric compositions to cityscapes, landscapes, and curvilinear, floral-like forms, all dancing within surrealistic environments.

In addition to his work in corporate collections, Cox has executed several large indoor and outdoor murals at public and private schools, libraries, businesses, and community centers in and around the Cincinnati region.

🎺 JAZZ AT CAC 🎺Join us for an unforgettable evening of live jazz featuring Michael “Maddog” Mavridioglou & Friends!A Cin...
08/25/2026

🎺 JAZZ AT CAC 🎺
Join us for an unforgettable evening of live jazz featuring Michael “Maddog” Mavridioglou & Friends!

A Cincinnati-based trumpet player, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, vocalist, and educator, Michael has toured nationally with the Jazz Mandolin Project and performed alongside some of the biggest names in jazz, jam, and progressive music. His diverse musical voice and dynamic performances make this a night you won’t want to miss.

📅 Thursday, September 10
🕠 5:30-7:30PM
🎶 Featuring Via Carota cocktails
🎟️ $15 includes admission + one cocktail or mocktail

Tickets are available through the link in our bio or at the door the day of the show.

Bring a friend, grab a drink, and enjoy an evening of jazz at CAC. ❤️‍🔥

Meet our new fall Co-LAB artist Lenny Harmon!Leonard “Lenny” Harmon comes from a long line of artists and craftsmen, mar...
08/25/2026

Meet our new fall Co-LAB artist Lenny Harmon!

Leonard “Lenny” Harmon comes from a long line of artists and craftsmen, marshaling inspiration from his ancestors and Tribe, but is self-taught. He has always been involved in creative endeavors celebrating his culture through traditional crafts such as quill work and native dance.

Born in 1983 in Philadelphia, he grew up in Delaware and Washington, D.C. Leonard was influenced by his Uncle Leonard A. Harmon, an artist in his own right with paintings in private collections and the Heard Museum. Lenny’s creativity is diverse, expressed in pow-wow as a Men’s Traditional Woodlands style pow-wow dancer and teaches traditional native craft around the country. Lenny's first workshop will be a DIY screen-printing workshop in September!

We will further explore the spiritual cosmologies that permeate and inform “Chapter 4: In Another Lifetime,“ by Gee Hort...
08/24/2026

We will further explore the spiritual cosmologies that permeate and inform “Chapter 4: In Another Lifetime,“ by Gee Horton during a Co-LAB session with Phyllis Jeffers-Coly on Wednesday, Aug. 26 at 7 p.m.

Phyllis Jeffers-Coly is a dynamic and engaging writer and teacher from North Carolina whose voice is “authentic, nurturing, accessible and soulful, revealing and reflecting her own capacity for the healing she is sharing with others.” Described as “the real deal” by Dr. Gail Parker, Phyllis’ voice, on the page and off, “hits on so many levels” — emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually.

As one half of the husband-and-wife team who run Diasporic Soul, Phyllis is the creative force, juicy crone, and wise elder woman behind the heritage and healing experiences they offer Black folks that are rooted in SOUL both as culture and contemplative practice. Diasporic Soul serves as a platform for Phyllis to contribute to the expanding discourse on Black healing, well-being and leadership by centering Black embodied knowledge, creativity and spiritual traditions. In lieu of long-standing conventions and rigid paradigms.

This workshop is free and open to the public. Upon registration, entry into Gee Horton's, “Chapter 4: In Another Lifetime“ will be free but if you would like to see the exhibit before the session please arrive at least an hour before the start of the program.

This program will be presented as a hybrid session for those who wish to participate in person or from their current locations.

Ghosts have been a part of Michael Stillion’s artistic practice for over 15 years. A number of small ghost sculptures ca...
08/21/2026

Ghosts have been a part of Michael Stillion’s artistic practice for over 15 years. A number of small ghost sculptures can be found throughout the 4th floor gallery space in his exhibition, “And then it was flowers,” at the CAC.

Stillion is drawn to the simplicity of ghosts. He finds it fascinating how recognizable they can be, even when reduced to three circles inside an organic shape. He views these ghostly forms as a point of connection between people, suggesting that we can relate to them regardless of our backgrounds.

These figures also influence Stillion’s use of greyscale, which he employs to suggest shadow- something he associates closely with the presence of ghosts.

See Stillion’s ghosts at CAC through Aug. 30!

📷 Michael Stillion, “Ghosts,” 2026, Ceramic. Installation view, “Michael Stillion: And then it was flowers.” Photo: Wes Battoclette, 2026. Image courtesy of Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati.

This Saturday visit CAC for for an in-depth discussion on the collaboration between artist Gee Horton and internationall...
08/20/2026

This Saturday visit CAC for for an in-depth discussion on the collaboration between artist Gee Horton and internationally acclaimed choreographer Mthuthuzeli November* in the galleries at 1 p.m.

Learn about their process behind transforming “Chapter 4, In Another Lifetime” into an original ballet performance featured in the Cincinnati Ballet’s “The Kaplan New Works Series” from Sept. 8-26.

Moderated by Kathrine Nero, this conversation will take place in the gallery space and offer an inside look at how powerful visual storytelling became a movement on stage. Stick around afterward for a live Q&A!

Non-ticketed event; regular CAC admission will grant access to these conversations.Learn more at cincycac.org

📷 Headshot of Mthuthuzeli November. Image courtesy of Mthuthuzeli November.
Headshot of Gee Horton. Image courtesy of Gee Horton.

*Charlotte Ballet’s Resident Choreographer.

Join us Saturday at 1 p.m. for a special conversation with artist Michael Stillion and internationally acclaimed choreog...
08/19/2026

Join us Saturday at 1 p.m. for a special conversation with artist Michael Stillion and internationally acclaimed choreographer Melody Mennite.

Discover how the two collaborated to transform “And then it was flowers” into a new ballet performance, which will be featured in the Cincinnati Ballet’s “The Kaplan New Work Series,” running Sept. 18-26.

The conversation will take place inside the gallery and will be moderated by Kathrine Nero. There will be a Q&A session afterward.

This is a non-ticketed event; regular CAC admission will grant access to these conversations. Learn more about admission at
https://www.contemporaryartscenter.org/visit/hours-admission

📷 Headshot of Melody Mennite. Image courtesy of Melody Mennite.
Headshot of Michael Stillion. Image courtesy of Michael Stillion

Join us Saturday, Aug. 22 at 1 p.m. for a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process behind two exciting new ballet ...
08/16/2026

Join us Saturday, Aug. 22 at 1 p.m. for a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process behind two exciting new ballet performances featured in the Cincinnati Ballet’s “The Kaplan New Work Series,” running Sept. 18-26.

Hear from artists Michael Stillion and Gee Horton, alongside internationally acclaimed choreographers Melody Mennite and Mthuthuzeli November*, as they discuss how the exhibitions “And then it was flowers” and “Chapter 4, In Another Lifetime” were transformed into two original ballet performances.

This discussion will take place inside the galleries. Following the conversation, moderated by Kathrine Nero, stay for a live Q&A and learn more about this unique collaboration between visual art and dance.

This is a non-ticketed event; regular CAC admission will grant access to these conversations.

Learn more about admission and ticket pricing at
www.contemporaryartscenter.org/visit/hours-admission.

📷 Headshot of Melody Mennite. Image courtesy of Melody Mennite.
Headshot of Michael Stillion. Image courtesy of Michael Stillion.
Headshot of Mthuthuzeli November*. Image courtesy of Mthuthuzeli November*.
Headshot of Gee Horton. Image courtesy of Gee Horton.

Mthuthuzeli November is Charlotte Ballet’s Resident Choreographer.

08/16/2026

On Sunday, Aug. 16, from 1-3 p.m., Gee Horton (as Freeman Little) and Phyllis Jeffers-Coly – both proud natives of North Carolina with ties to New Bern and Greensboro, – will explore the ways that Freeman's photos in "Chapter IV: In Another Lifetime" are tied to themes of leaving and returning home, legacy and lineage.

Address

44 E 6th Street
Cincinnati, OH
45202

Opening Hours

Wednesday 12pm - 7pm
Thursday 12pm - 7pm
Friday 12pm - 7pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm
Sunday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

+15133458400

Website

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