“The weather was perfect, the light show amazing and the crowds beyond expectation. But somehow, this weekend’s LumenoCity event in Washington Park felt like more than a just a good time,” writes John Faherty in an editorial at Monday’s (8/6) Cinncinnati.com. “It felt like a tipping point.… A district commander for the Cincinnati Police Department said it happened in ‘the new Over-the-Rhine,’ ” a revitalized neighborhood in downtown Cincinnati. “A young man from Downtown could have never imagined that many people coming to Washington Park at night and not being terrified.… LumenoCity was planned as the art community welcoming Louis Langrée, incoming music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. It involved live orchestral music and a light show using Music Hall as a canvas.… City Council member P.G. Sittenfeld said the collective experience of the event was the only thing he liked better than the performances by the opera, ballet and orchestra.… ‘The single biggest role the arts can play is bringing people from different walks of life together,’ Sittenfeld said.… One of the organizers of the event was Timothy Maloney, president of the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation, which exists to enhance the quality of life in the region, including in the areas of the arts and community development. The foundation, along with Procter & Gamble and Landor Associates, sponsored the event, estimated to cost $500,000.”
Posted August 8, 2013
