Press releases and announcements from Ohio's arts organizations
The Akron Art Museum presents Kent Monkman: History Is Painted by the Victors, the only Midwest stop for a sweeping survey of the Cree artist’s work, running April 11 through Aug. 16.
Read moreThe Cleveland Museum of Art announced its ArtLens Gallery will reopen in July 2026 as a fully transformed space featuring AI, mixed reality, and four interactive zones designed to deepen engagement with the permanent collection.
Read moreGreat Lakes Theater’s 2026-27 season at the Hanna Theatre features Shakespeare, Sweeney Todd, Les Misérables, and A Christmas Carol, with subscriptions now on sale.
Read moreCincinnati Shakespeare Company, Cincinnati Ballet, Know Theatre, Children’s Theatre, and Playhouse in the Park all unveiled 2026-27 programming, including world premieres and a new CSO partnership series.
Read moreSix Central Ohio artists will be featured in the biennial Visual Arts Fellowship Exhibition at Columbus Museum of Art, opening April 15 in partnership with the Greater Columbus Arts Council.
Read morePlayhouse Square announced its seven-show 2026-27 KeyBank Broadway Series, opening Sept. 12 with the touring premiere of Death Becomes Her.
Read morePlayhouse Square announced a seven-show 2026-2027 KeyBank Broadway Series headlined by the national tour launch of Death Becomes Her. The season runs from September 2026 through September 2027 and also includes Mamma Mia!, BOOP!, Maybe Happy Ending, Buena Vista Social Club, and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Season tickets range from $185 to $810.
Read moreThe Toledo Museum of Art has opened ‘Cursed! The Power of Magic in the Ancient World,’ featuring artifacts from the Louvre, British Museum, and Met on loan through July 5.
Read moreThe Toledo Museum of Art opened ‘Cursed\! The Power of Magic in the Ancient World’ on March 21, featuring 75 objects from the Louvre, British Museum, and Metropolitan Museum.
Read moreBalletMet’s spring triple-bill production invites audiences to donate personal hygiene items for YWCA Columbus families in emergency housing.
Read moreBalletMet’s ‘For the Love of Dance!’ triple bill at Davidson Theatre included a world premiere by company member Leiland Charles alongside works by Ratmansky and Arqués.
Read moreThe Columbus Museum of Art will present a landmark 60-work survey of Asian American art from April 15 through August 16, 2026, organized by Stanford University’s Cantor Arts Center.
Read moreOhio University’s Global Arts Festival marked its 20th anniversary with three days of concerts, workshops, and performances featuring artists from five countries.
Read moreThe Cleveland Orchestra announced its 2026 summer seasons on March 13, with Brett Mitchell returning to Blossom and live Harry Potter film concerts among the highlights.
Read moreThe Cleveland Orchestra announced its 2026 Blossom Music Festival and Summers at Severance seasons, marking Music Director Franz Welser-Möst’s 25th and final summer with the ensemble.
Read moreThe Cleveland Orchestra announced 13 programs for its 2026 Blossom Music Festival and Summers at Severance series. Idina Menzel headlines on July 26. Music director Franz Welser-Möst leads his 25th and final summer season with programs at both Blossom and Severance. The festival opens with an America at 250 celebration and closes with three nights of John Williams over Labor Day weekend.
Read moreThe Cleveland Orchestra revealed its 2026 summer lineup featuring Idina Menzel, America at 250 celebrations, and music director Franz Welser-Möst’s farewell season.
Read moreThe Cleveland Orchestra announced its 2026 summer season with highlights including an America 250 tribute, Idina Menzel, a Harry Potter film concert, and conductor Franz Welser-Möst’s final season.
Read moreThe Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown has received a 1957 ‘Homage on the Square’ painting by Josef Albers, donated by the Roemer family of Pittsburgh.
Read moreThe Cleveland Orchestra unveiled its 2026 summer season featuring the Blossom Music Festival, Idina Menzel, Harry Potter film concerts, and Welser-Möst’s final summer with the ensemble.
Read moreThe Cincinnati Pops Orchestra released Harlem Renaissance on March 13, its eighth album under conductor John Morris Russell, featuring Marcus Roberts, Duke Ellington, and a debut recording of Carlos Simon’s Hellfighters’ Blues.
Read moreHong Kong-born conductor Elim Chan led the Cleveland Orchestra March 19-21, drawing attention as a potential candidate to succeed departing music director Franz Welser-Möst.
Read moreCincinnati Playhouse in the Park announced a 2026-27 season headlined by a world premiere commissioned from playwright Theresa Rebeck and the launch of the inaugural Made in Cincy: New Works Festival.
Read moreBallet Excel Ohio, the Cuyahoga Falls company founded in 1975, celebrates its 50th anniversary with a world premiere production of ‘Aladdin’ at Akron Civic Theatre on March 14-15, 2026, led by the company’s first Black male lead.
Read moreHershey Felder starred as Sergei Rachmaninoff in a new musical play at Cleveland Play House’s Allen Theatre, exploring a fictional encounter between the composer and Tsar Nicholas II.
Read moreThe 53rd Athens International Film + Video Festival runs April 13-19 in Athens, Ohio, with more than 200 films and visiting artists including Boots Riley and Amy Jenkins.
Read moreThe Cleveland Orchestra has appointed five new members to its violin and viola sections, including a new First Associate Concertmaster and Associate Concertmaster.
Read moreBeck Center’s 24th annual Razzle Dazzle production unites performers with disabilities and community volunteers at the Lakewood arts center April 24-26.
Read moreThe Toledo Museum of Art is reorganizing its entire collection chronologically for the first time in nearly 40 years, with a grand reopening expected in late 2027.
Read moreThe Cleveland Museum of Art opens a landmark exhibition on Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot on March 29, alongside a full calendar of Women’s History Month performances.
Read moreThe Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s 2026-27 season features Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with soloists Louise Alder and Nicholas Phan, and a season-opening Brahms program.
Read moreThe Toledo Museum of Art has been named the Best Art Museum in the United States by USA Today’s 10Best contest for the second year in a row.
Read moreThe Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops unveiled a 2026-27 season featuring Wynton Marsalis, world premieres, and an American-themed Pops lineup, with Conductor John Morris Russell’s contract extended through 2028.
Read moreBeck Center for the Arts is marking its 50th year of dance with a new production of “Little Red Riding Hood.” The original ballet features over 95 performers in a playful take on the classic tale, with guest appearances from Cinderella and Goldilocks. Performances will be held at the Senney Theater from April 10-12, 2026, including a sensory-friendly option and a family-friendly matinee. Tickets are available for purchase, with various age-appropriate pricing tiers.
Read moreArtsWave distributed more than 60,000 to 30 arts and cultural projects across Greater Cincinnati, from community murals to adaptive arts camps.
Read moreOpera Columbus announced a 2026-27 season themed ‘American Icons,’ featuring a New Orleans-set Pirates of Penzance, Puccini’s frontier opera, and Stephen King’s The Shining as an opera.
Read moreThe Toledo Museum of Art presents ‘Cursed\! The Power of Magic in the Ancient World,’ featuring approximately 75 objects from Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek, Roman, and Babylonian cultures, on view March 21 through July 5, 2026.
Read moreA statewide yearlong celebration of Lorain native Toni Morrison launched February 19, 2026, with events at libraries, universities, and cultural organizations across Ohio to mark what would have been the Nobel laureate’s 95th birthday.
Read moreThe Wexner Center for the Arts presents Ximena Garrido-Lecca: Seedings, a participatory installation and sound sculpture exploring Andean seed culture and ecological systems, through May 24, 2026.
Read moreToledo Opera has announced its 2026-2027 season, featuring two major productions: Giuseppe Verdi’s “Aida” and Gilbert & Sullivan’s “H.M.S. Pinafore.” The season, beginning in October 2026, will present “Aida” for the first time in over a decade, alongside the company’s first Gilbert & Sullivan operetta in more than twenty years. “Aida” will explore themes of love, duty, and sacrifice in ancient Egypt, while “H.M.S. Pinafore” promises nautical fun and comic hijinks. Subscriptions and single tickets will go on sale March 2, 2026, offering audiences a chance to experience both grand opera and comic operetta.
Read moreArtsWave launched its 2026 community fundraising campaign with the theme ‘Discover More,’ raising more than .3 million in early pledges as the Cincinnati-based organization marks 99 years supporting regional arts.
Read moreThe Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland opened its 2026 season January 30 with four exhibitions on view through August 2, exploring themes of nature, memory, survival, and responsibility across photography, installation, and film.
Read more‘Longing: Painting from the Pahari Kingdoms of the Northwest Himalayas’ at the Cincinnati Art Museum presents 40-plus Himalayan court paintings from the 17th-19th centuries, on view through June 7.
Read moreCincinnati Opera launched Underscore, a new three-event spring series running March through May 2026. Events include an original play about Oscar Wilde, an interactive Carmen murder mystery on April 21, and an Afrofuturist salon on May 7. Tickets are $25 per event or $60 for all three.
Read moreThe Allen Memorial Art Museum is set to host “June Leaf: Shooting from the Heart,” a major retrospective of artist June Leaf, from January 27 to May 24, 2026. This exhibition is the first comprehensive look at Leaf’s work in over three decades, showcasing nearly 100 pieces from a career spanning seven decades. The show includes paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and collages, highlighting Leaf’s unique artistic vision. Curated by Allison Kemmerer, Gordon Wilkins, and Sam Adams, the retrospective aims to re-examine the significant contributions of the Chicago-born artist. The exhibition will conclude its national tour at the Allen, celebrating Leaf’s return to the Midwest.
Read moreThe Wexner Center for the Arts launched its spring 2026 exhibitions February 14, featuring Peruvian artist Ximena Garrido-Lecca and Brazilian animator Vitória Cribb alongside three other artists.
Read moreThe Akron Art Museum has launched two new exhibitions, “Transfiguration: Rachel Libeskind and the Tiffany Window” and “Jess T. Dugan: I want you to know my story.” The “Transfiguration” exhibition features a restored Tiffany stained-glass window, originally designed by Frederick Wilson for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Akron, alongside contemporary works by Rachel Libeskind. The window, a significant piece of Tiffany Studios’ history, has been conserved to be accessible to a wider audience. The “Jess T. Dugan” exhibition showcases photographic portraits that explore the power of relationships and authentic self-expression. Dugan was recognized with the Akron Art Museum’s 2024 Knight Foundation Purchase Award for Photographic Media. Both exhibitions will be on view through July 2026.
Read moreGreat Lakes Theater’s 65th anniversary season features six productions including Sweeney Todd, Les Misérables, and two modern Shakespeare translations at Playhouse Square.
Read moreThe Taft Museum of Art celebrates four decades of its Duncanson Artist-in-Residence Program with 2026 resident Ayana Ross and a forthcoming 2027 retrospective.
Read moreThe Cleveland Museum of Art has announced its February 2026 event calendar, featuring Valentine’s Day-themed activities, the opening of new exhibitions, and ongoing popular programming. Highlights include a “Make and Sip” event, “Date Night Performances” with jazz, and “Valentine’s Day Tours.” New exhibitions opening in February are “still/emerging: Native American Works on Paper” and “Hidden Insights: Looking at the Backs of Portrait Miniatures.” Visitors can also experience events celebrating Black History Month and music series.
Read moreWeekly arts news from across Ohio. Free, no spam.
Subscribe to The Brief