RiverSpan Sculpture Show Canceled for 2010

After supporting an international sculpture exhibition and sale for two summers, the Purple People Bridge will return to supporting just pedestrians this summer.

Organizers of the RiverSpan Sculpture Exhibition have decided to cancel this year's event because $120,000 in funding promised by corporations and foundations did not come through, said RiverSpan founder and local sculptor and art broker Bruce Olson. The fledgling not-for-profit that ran the event, the RiverSpan Regional Art Alliance, has an annual budget of $300,000.

This year's exhibition was slated to include 80 regional, national and international artists displaying their work from June 18-20 on the 2,670-foot-span that links Downtown Cincinnati and Newport. Olson hopes to bring back the event in 2011 by focusing fundraising efforts on small donations from individual art supporters rather than large donations from corporations and foundations.

"There's no other event like this east of the Mississippi in North America," he said. "It's not only a great event for sculptors, it's a great event for this region."

This exhibition had paid attendance of 3,000 people in 2008 and more than 2,000 people in 2009, some of whom came from as far away as Philadelphia, Olson said. His goal is 10,000-15,000 art lovers annually.

"I have not thrown in the towel," Olson says. "One year's hiatus does not spell defeat."

For more information on the exhibition, call 513-241-3769 or visit www.riverspansculpture.org.