Bringing Artists, Signmakers, and Business Owners Together

Late last year, we began talking with community leaders about a possible grant that would fund bringing together local sign fabricators, artists, and businesses to help design and install signage in three Cincinnati area neighborhoods undergoing various stages of rebirth. Our proposal was one of 127 selected from among 2,200 applicants. We've submitted the full application and are now awaiting a decision, due later this year. This is what the American Sign Museum is all about! Below is the document prepared for a press release. Keep your fingers crossed!

The Creative Intersection of
Artist, Signmaker, and Neighborhood Business

The American Sign Museum is applying for a grant from ArtPlace (http://www.artplaceamerica.org/) to fund the CoSign initiative. CoSign will enhance economic activity in three artistic Greater Cincinnati neighborhood business districts by pairing artists, small businesses, and professional sign fabricators to design and install unique handcrafted signage for local retailers; and in the process, create an infrastructure to train the next generation of local signmakers.

Description of the Work

Over-the-Rhine revitalization at work

CoSign will design and install a critical mass of new business signage in three active business districts in communities experiencing significant redevelopment and reinvestment - Over-the-Rhine and Northside in Cincinnati, and Covington, KY.

The signage will be created by a unique partnership of a visual artist, a small business owner, and a professional sign fabricator, all coordinated through the leadership and expertise of the American Sign Museum.
The year-long project will commence with a two-day public workshop. Day 1 will educate business owners and artists on the economic value of signage and permitting requirements. Day 2 will feature presentations by noted sign designers and demonstrations of fabrication and installation techniques. Following the workshop, a screening process will match small businesses with visual artists and sign professionals. The artists will meet with the business owners to collaborate on designs that meets the business' needs. The artists will then partner with sign companies to fabricate and install the signage. In some cases an existing historic sign may be restored. The cost of each sign will be split between the business owner and the ArtPlace grant funds. In addition to providing program oversight, the American Sign Museum staff, exhibits, and library will serve as a resource for sign history research and design inspiration. The Museum will also provide a venue for seminars, meetings, and fabrication workspace as its location is less than three miles from the three business districts.

CoSign builds on three neighborhoods' embrace of arts-oriented development, local identities, and local businesses. Over-the-Rhine hosts storied and emerging arts institutions, 3CDC has renewed neighborhood commercial corridors, and the ArtPlace-funded SpringBoard artisan entrepreneurship program in is full operation. In 2010, the Northside Business Association voted to make chain stores a conditional use in their business district to retain its unique local character. The City of Covington, Kentucky, offers a robust package of arts district incentives and in 2007 opened their Artisan Enterprise Center. Lead organizations in each neighborhood will be full partners in this proposal.

Anticipated Impact
The impact of this program will be fourfold: (1) Three business districts will strengthen their respective identities and increase their economic activity with the immediate visual impact resulting from new signage for local businesses; (2) As the appreciation for high-quality handcrafted signage increases, local artists will be trained to become the next generation of local signmakers; (3) The American Sign Museum will leverage its history and expertise to benefit its community directly and economically; and (4) After a pilot phase, this program will be replicated in other neighborhoods and other regions.

Project Status
The CoSign proposal was selected as one of 127 finalists from among 2,200 applicants. A full application was submitted to ArtPlace on February 15, 2012. If the grant is awarded, the initial year-long project will take place between the fall of 2012 and fall of 2013.

The Devil, As They Say, Is in the Details



Tod talks with workers about painting the ceiling

It seemed simple enough. We had the money, we had the blueprints, we certainly had the motivation.

And so it began. Ceilings were knocked out, the floor was poured. Framing, painting, electrical, HVAC, all in their turn. And each needing more decisions than anyone should have to make in a day.  

And so it continued. Bathroom fixtures, IT needs, gift shop design. But oh, the joy in seeing it come together more each day!

Can you see it?

The building itself is on target for completion by the end of the year. And then the REAL fun begins! Fabricating displays, furnishing the lobby, developing programs for a great museum experience, moving EVERYTHING from EVERYWHERE and consolidating it all into THE NEW AMERICAN SIGN MUSEUM, complete with library/archives, event center, and, of course, signs, signs, signs! 

The Main Street storefronts are taking shape

Did I say we had the money? Well, yes, we DO have the money to rehab the building. Creating the complete package we can all be proud of and sustaining it is something else again. But we're on it, and confident 'investors' will come forward to sponsor areas of the museum, adopt a sign, participate in our purchase a paver / paint a panel program, or any of many other ways to be a part of the museum.

If YOU would like to join in, send me an email or give me a call at 513-258-4020 anytime. Together, we'll find the perfect project for you. The more, the merrier!

Our first storefront, brought panel by panel from the Over the Rhine
area of Cincinnati. Can you see the 'No Guns' sticker?

No detail too small for creating 'the Experience'!

See you at the Grand Opening!

What Beats Saving a Sign? Saving the Storefront It Occupied Too!

Rohs True Value Hardware opened it's doors in 1933 under the management of its proprietor, Albert G. Rohs, on Vine Street in the Over the Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati.

Rohs Hardware in 2008
Photo courtesy of www.buycincy.com



Al Rohs with just
some of his wares
Photo courtesy of
www.buycincy.com

I was first drawn to the neon-illuminated, porcelain enamel letters that fronted the building. So, last spring when I saw a 'Going Out of Business' sign in the window, I approached the current owner — Albert R. Rohs, Albert G's son — about the donating the letters to the American Sign Museum. 


Then I noticed the storefront had been retrofitted with porcelain enamel panels, and I thought to myself, “What a great addition the façade would make to our ‘Signs on Main Street’ exhibit area.

When Rohs closed, a local developer named Rick Kimbler of Northpointe Realty, Cincinnati acquired the building. I asked him about plans for the porcelain panels, and he said they would probably remove and discard them. I told him of my plans, and he thought it an appropriate re-use. He would talk with his general contractor, Bill Baum of Cincinnati-based Urban Sites, about the idea.

Baum followed up, giving us a basic go-ahead and suggesting we meet to discuss coordinating the removal of the porcelain letters and panels. But when I met Baum and architect Mark Gunther of Wichman Gunther Architects later that week, Gunther said, “There’s a good deal of Federal money financing the redevelopment,” said Gunther, “and we have to meet historic preservation criteria. Odds are removing the panels will jeopardize the federal money.” My heart sank. “Let me research it,” Gunther said. We would just have to wait for the verdict.

Then, the local daily—Cincinnati Enquirer—featured the museum’s new home in its Labor Day weekend Sunday edition. Mention of the possible reuse of the Rohs storefront prompted Albert’s daughter, Karen Rohs Laib, to e-mail the reporter about how great it would be if the Rohs storefront went to the museum. I sent copies off to all the parties involved.

A few weeks later, Bill Baum called. “Hey, they’re all yours,” he said. Sean Druley, who is building the displays and exhibits at our new home, friend Toby Costello, and I set out on a Tuesday afternoon, grateful that the rain of the day before and earlier that day had stopped. By 5:00 that afternoon, we had all the panels and letters down and strapped onto the trailer, far ahead of our schedule. Wednesday—our original completion day—it rained from dawn to dusk. It was just one of those meant-to-be projects.



Toby Costello (left) and Sean Druley (right) removing the letters and panels
that will be reassembled along Signs on Main Street at the American Sign Museum