Collaborations at the Borderland
A common memory project for Greater Cincinnati
Owning the tension that shapes
OUR REGION
Cincinnati has a national story it has not told.
We talk about our chili, our sports teams and the arts — not the fact that our existence has been indelibly shaped by our geography: We are a borderland.
The Ohio River is a literal border and a moral one. We were the most successful corridor of the Underground Railroad. We hosted the Lane Seminary debates that helped move a country toward abolition. We established the country's first paid municipal fire department. We built Ohio's oldest continuously operating public market and have kept it working for 175 years. We started the country's first united arts fund that is approaching its centennial. And 2002, we ratified the Collaborative Agreement, one of the most studied police-community settlements in the country.
Innovation happens at the edge, where pressures meet and tension flares, sparking both creativity and conflict.
This project is Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky owning and sharing that story.
COMMON MEMORY
OUR GOAL: REGIONAL COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE ROOTED IN COMMON MEMORY
“Where common memory is lacking, no real community can form. Where community is to be built, the first task is to create that common memory.”
— Georges Erasmus, Dene Elder, co-chair, Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (Canada)
Collaborations at the Borderland is an invitation to uncover and amplify foundational stories of our common memory, to wrestle with their complexity, and to use them to imagine what comes next.
THREE ANNIVERSARIES. ONE MOMENT.
2027 gives Cincinnati a reason to remember and an opportunity to move forward.
25 YEARS
The Collaborative Agreement
April 12, 2027 marks 25 years since Cincinnati's historic police-community agreement.
100 YEARS
ArtsWave
A century of building community through collective support for the arts.
175 YEARS
Findlay Market
Celebrating Ohio's oldest continuously operating public market.
These three anniversaries converge in the same year,
creating a unique moment to explore Cincinnati's long and complicated history of collaboration.
The stories are where we begin.
ONE YEAR.
many STORIES AND connections ACROSS THE BORDERLAND.
We're turning remembrance into participation.
Throughout 2027, Collaborations at the Borderland will bring together neighbors, scholars, students, artists, organizations and community leaders for conversations and experiences across Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.
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Four seasonal gatherings exploring where we came from, what we agreed to, what we built and what comes next.
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Community voices documenting the experiences and memories that have shaped our region.
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Four quarterly publications connecting history, scholarship and lived experience.
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A community-informed celebration of leadership, action and what it means to be a Drum Major today.
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Free, adaptable tools community members and organizations can use to explore public narrative, community assets and collective learning.
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Events, lectures and experiences unfolding across the city and on both sides of the river.
FOUR SEASONS of owning and action.
WINTER | JAN-MAR
Owning where
we came from
History, race, memory and the stories that shaped borderland conflicts and collaborations.
SPRING | APR-JUNE
Owning what
we promised
Twenty-five years after the Collaborative Agreement, what have we learned about working through conflict?
FALL | AUG-OCT
Owning what
we built
Learning from the institutions, relationships and community assets that collaboration made possible.
WINTER | NOV-DEC
Owning what
comes next
Turning memory toward possibility and asking a new generation what collaborations we need now.
NOT JUST REMEMBERING HISTORY.
DECIDING WHAT COMES NEXT.
Young people won't be invited into one isolated "youth event." They'll be leading the project throughout the year.
Students from across the region will help collect stories, interpret history, co-curate the Drum Major exhibit, invite who needs a seat at the table, and redefine what civic leadership means for their generation.
The project includes collaborations with the University of Cincinnati Taft Research Center, Robert O’Neal Multicultural Arts Center Artrepreneurs, Northern Kentucky University, Cincinnati Public Schools and more.
Get Involved
EVERYONE HAS A PLACE IN THE BORDERLAND.
Collaborations at the Borderland isn't only about revisiting Greater Cincinnati's history.
It's about bringing more people into a collaborative and inclusive conversation about our shared future.
Attend a conversation.
Share a story.
Bring a workshop to your community.
Participate with your students.
Become a community partner.
Follow the project throughout 2027.
BUILT THROUGH COLLABORATION. NATURALLY.
This initiative brings together organizations across storytelling, scholarship, media, civic life and community engagement.
Featured collaborators include the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library as convener, CityBeat / Link Media as publication partner, A Picture's Worth as methodology partner, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Coalition as a values anchor, alongside additional developing cross-river collaborators.
Interested in becoming a partner?