Broadhope Collective celebrates one year, expands community partnerships

The Broadhope Art Collective recently celebrated their one-year anniversary by opening in their new space on the corner of Harrison Avenue and Montana Avenue in the Westwood Business District.
 
After opening last year in Cheviot as a collaborative group of artists looking to enrich the community through the use of visual art, Broadhope has grown as a group and has committed itself to making change in its new neighborhood of Westwood.
 
“We’re looking forward to furthering our community involvement and becoming a part of Westwood’s revitalization,” says Emily Miller, co-manager of Broadhope. With one year under their belt, Broadhope is looking for new opportunities to work with like-minded organizations and continue to integrate into the local arts scene.
 
“We’re planning on working with Madcap Puppets, who share the same vision of turning this corridor into an arts district,” says Miller. “We’re also looking at hosting workshops for kids and creating a scholarship program to include all of our neighbors.”
 
Broadhope began when a small handful of artists living on the West Side recognized the need for a local arts community. Since their inception, the collective has grown from 11 members and two commission artists to currently having more than 25 members and seven commission artists.
 
“In addition to seeing our numbers grow, we’ve seen the collective member involvement grow, which is the most gratifying change I’ve witnessed,” says Kate Dignan, co-founder and media manager. “We are run and staffed by our artists, and we are 100 percent local to Cincinnati, so we place a heavy emphasis on that.”
 
Running Broadhope has been a learning experience for the members since day one; none of them have any prior history running a small business. Despite this fact, they have created a model that works for them.
 
“The first year for any business is full of challenges, but luckily, our collective is full of really enthusiastic and energized people who have different strengths we can make use of,” Dignan says. “We’ve even been asked about whether we had thoughts about franchising, which is incredibly complimentary.”
 
In the near future, Broadhope is working on several events in tandem with a variety of organizations, including Westwood’s first annual Deck the Hall on December 1. To learn more about Broadhope, visit them online here. 

By Mike Sarason