The Over-the-Rhine Museum is delighted to announce the next installment in our lecture series, “Three Acts in Over-the-Rhine” on Thursday, June 13, at Art Beyond Boundaries Gallery, 1410 Main Street in Over-the-Rhine. Doors will open at 6 pm and the program will begin at 6:30 pm.

We are looking back at how Over-the-Rhine has celebrated the arts, culture, and sports in the past and the present. Each of our three speakers will use their own lens to explore how residents have experienced these different facets of the neighborhood’s dynamic environment. We hope you will join us for this deeper dive into the history of the ever-changing Over-the-Rhine neighborhood.

Jymi Bolden, John Erardi, Larry Phillips, Katy Heins and Pat Clifford will speak at this June 13 program.

Jymi Bolden

Artist and photographer Jymi Bolden is a graduate of the Art Academy of Cincinnati. He was photo editor of CityBeat from 1994 to 2004 and now serves as Director of Art Beyond Boundaries galley. Art Beyond Boundaries began in 2005 as a one-time exhibition sponsored by the Center for Independent Living Options. One show followed another until in late 2006 a permanent galley was established with Bolden at the helm. The mission of the gallery is “to promote awareness and understanding of artists with disabilities,” and “to demonstrate to both the artists and the community that art transcends the limits of disabilities."

Bolden will talk about the history of the gallery, his work with artists in Over-the-Rhine and the change he has seen in thirteen years on Main Street.

John Erardi and Larry Phillips

John Erardi is the author of eight books about the Cincinnati Reds; most recently, he co-authored "Baseball Revolutionaries: How the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings Rocked the Country and Made Baseball Famous." He and Larry Phillips are  co-creator of the book's accompanying map, "1869: The City That Made Baseball Famous." For 30 years, he was a Cincinnati Enquirer sports writer, and was twice-named Ohio Sports Writer of the Year by the Ohio Associated Press. Larry Phillips has been doing research and writing on the history of baseball for over thirty-five years with a particular interest in the 1869 Cincinnati Reds. Though he spent his career with GE Aircraft Engines, baseball history is his true love. He is a member of the Cincinnati Vintage Base Ball Club, National Baseball Hall of Fame President's Club, the Civil War Roundtable, and numerous other historical societies and genealogical organizations.

John's talk will focus on a map of baseball sites he compiled for his most recent book. Erardi will cover sites in baseball history within Over-the-Rhine but will also look at baseball-centric spots throughout Cincinnati's urban basin. For example, when police raided an April 1867 game at the cricket/baseball field at the foot of Ninth Street at the Mill Creek, they arrested two dozen boys for violating the Sabbath. Two of those boys were of German descent, and one was from the western edge of Over-the-Rhine.

Katy Heins and Pat Clifford

Katy Heins is a Senior Organizer at Community Change working on housing justice. Before working at Community Change, Katy was the Executive Director at the Contact Center in Over-the-Rhine for fourteen years. At the Contact Center Katy directed organizing campaigns around Over-the-Rhine including recreation, education and housing. Pat Clifford is a social worker, consultant and evaluator working with non-profit and community-based organizations. Through his work with Clifford Consulting, he has worked with a wide variety of organizations including MIT CoLab, Housing California, OTRCH, MORTAR, and Joseph House. Pat teaches a macro social work practice course at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University. He was the Executive Director of the Drop Inn Center where he worked for twenty years. Katy and Pat are married and live in Clifton Heights.

Heins and Clifford will give a joint talk sharing two perspectives on Washington Park. Pat will talk about a six year collaboration with Tyrone Williams as Washington Park was renovated and converted. Looking at perspectives and interpretations of the far past to the most recent renovations from the eyes of history to contemporary users of the Park. Katy will talk about the Over-the-Rhine Festival at Washington Park, an important and long-standing neighborhood cultural event which took place long before 3CDC and the renovation of the park. Though Over-the-Rhine remained a low-income neighborhood during the years of the festival, the foundation of demographic change was already being laid, making the Festival was both a celebration of the neighborhood and an act of defiance.

Doors will open at 6:00 PM for appetizers before the event, with speakers starting at 6:30  PM. The Museum suggests a $5 donation for this evening of provocative stories.

Three Acts in Over-the-Rhine is an innovative series designed to expose attendees to stories of the Over- the-Rhine neighborhood. Each event features three fifteen-minute talks on the history of Over-the-Rhine. All three presenters answer questions together about their presentations. For advance tickets please visit:

Eventbrite link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/three-acts-in-over-the-rhine-tickets-62959248808

Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1269787526522289

The Over-the-Rhine Museum inspires understanding and respect for the people who have created and lived in Cincinnati’s historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood by working with visitors and community members to uncover, present, and preserve their stories in an immersive experience.