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Building Diverse Audiences Advisory Committee (BDAAC)

The Building Diverse Audiences Advisory Committee, also known as BDAAC, is a committed team of multi-cultural volunteers who serve as advisors, ambassadors, and hosts.  They work to connect, welcome, engage, and inspire through connecting the Greater Cincinnati community to the Cincinnati Arts Association's world-class arts experiences.

In 1996, CAA and its Education and Community Relations Department formed BDAAC and together developed and implemented a strategic plan to attract a more diverse audience to its venues.  Several years later, the committee revised and updated the plan. BDAAC continued to grow and in concert with CAA is embarking on a new strategic plan based on the belief that world class multi-cultural arts programs inspire and engage diverse audiences by welcoming people and bringing communities together. BDAAC values the arts and the role that CAA plays in making the Greater Cincinnati Region a global and multi-cultural destination.

BDAAC values arts education and new and different arts experiences that connect people and communities. The arts inspire and engage diverse audiences in a natural, organic, and all-inclusive manner. BDAAC and CAA believe that ‘quality’ arts programming is the right of every citizen and is essential to a great city’s continued growth.

BDAAC members often help plan and participate in CAA events, volunteer at community-based and community arts events, and play a role in the success of programs through grassroots marketing. As an advisory committee, BDAAC continues to grow with CAA in its commitment to arts industry equity. BDAAC provides input, resources, and feedback to CAA that enables us to continue our growth and commitment to diversity, inclusion, access, and equity in the arts.  This commitment includes the art on the stages, in our galleries, the management of the facilities, the art taken into our communities, and our arts administration's practice and policies. 

Community Members

  • J. Stephen Dobbins (Chair) – Assisted Transition of Greater Cincinnati &  Northern Kentucky
  • David Choate Jr., – Producing Artistic Director Revolutions Dance Theatre
  • Marvel Gentry Harmon – Commercial Account Executive at WINT-Water Intelligence
  • Marvin Hawkins - Cincinnati USA Music Heritage Foundation
  • Robert Lomax – Hamilton County Justice Center
  • Dr. Sunny Lu – UC Health
  • Ketki Mody – Excel Tours and Travels, LLC
  • Toilynn O'Neal – New American Art Gallery II
  • Evelyn Sears – Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board
  • Davette Shorter – B.True.2.U Hair Institute, Chief Executive & Marketing Officer, Professor of Marketing Northern Kentucky University

Cincinnati Arts Association Staff

  • Steve Loftin – President
  • Van Ackerman – Vice President, Marketing & Communications
  • Joyce Bonomini – Vice President, Education & Community Engagement
  • Brenda Carter – Vice President, Human Resource
  • Emily Spooner – Education & Community Engagement Coordinator