Written by Mackenzie Manley, Content Specialist, Downtown Main Library
Every last Sunday of the month at 2 p.m., the Downtown Main Library’s South Building atrium transforms into a performance space. Stroll in and take a seat as musicians arrange themselves on the Social Stairs, instruments in hand.
Look up: Sun filters through the skylight, casting warm rays on the white-brick walls and the staircase’s yellow-orange-green-blue panels. Now look forward: an artist, or a band, plays — anything from indie rock to hip-hop to bluegrass. You might notice stacks of books on the upper levels, catch a glimpse of the panorama of Cincinnati, or spy wandering customers.
This is Sunday on the Stairs (SotS), a live, genre-spanning performance series that will mark its one-year anniversary this month.
“We want the full diverse range of musicianship in the city to be represented equally, as much as we can,” said Fritz Pape, library customer specialist and SotS programmer.
To celebrate the milestone, Fritz — also an experimental musician who has performed locally for over a decade — will take the stage on Aug. 31 at 2 p.m. with the 30-person Guitar Buddies Ensemble. And this anniversary is a double-header: The performance will also mark ten years of Guitar Buddies.
Sunday on the Stairs: Origins & Aspirations
Before working at the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library, Fritz said he attended regular performances at the Downtown Main Library. That programming is something he wanted to revive.
Brian Powers, community content coordinator, was also key in making SotS to reality. Part of that work began with the Social Stairs, which climbs nearly five stories in the Downtown Main Library’s South Building. Featuring artists ranging from 1945 to 2023 — or from the founding of King Records to present day — the installation shifts colors based on genre, creating a sweeping visual mosaic of sound. (The stairs were part of the Downtown Main Library’s renovations after reopening in 2024.)
“It manifested itself as: We have all these people that are still playing [who are featured on the Social Stairs],” said Fritz. “Why don’t we just bring them in?”
Along with the live performances, SotS incorporates video and oral history components. If you miss a performance, you could watch it on the Library’s YouTube channel, as well as oral histories recorded by the Catherine C. and Thomas E. Huenefeld Story Center team: Brian, Clarity Amrein, community content coordinator, and Zach Gerberick, library customer specialist.
One of Brian’s favorite aspects of SotS is in the way it captures Greater Cincinnati through shared oral histories, as a place with an expansive musical history that is still being crafted today. “Out here in the city, there’s [music] being created,” he said. “There’s a song being written somewhere.”
Since launching in August 2024 with Siri Imani, SotS alum include: MADQUEEN, The Farmer and the Crow, The Chris Comer Trio, Kate Wakefield, Ricky Nye, Inc., Roberto, Freedom Nicole Moore, Spoils, Cincinnati Pops Poptet, and Nick Maurer. (Three SotS alums — Nick Maurer, Nina Payiatis of Spoils, and Freedom Nicole Moore — will return for the Aug. 31 Guitar Buddies performance.)
“I’ve always loved that the Library has been able to engage with local musicians,” said Fritz. “[Sunday on the Stairs] feels like such a big, public, visible way not only to provide a stage for these folks that have been honored and put on these stairs, but to be part of the scene in a way that we weren’t as directly in the past.”
Story Center: Archiving the Now
Zach added to the sentiment, citing that many of the younger musicians they’ve interviewed have collaborated with the older musicians, too.
“They all know each other. They’ve all played with each other,” said Zach. “And they all mention each other in their oral histories, which is really neat.”
Through the Story Center, the team captures local music history as it's happening — a point Clarity drives home. Often, she says, we look backward in time. With SotS, the Story Center is creating a living archive of local music. In their interview with Spoils, Clarity noted that she loved how the members discussed their parents also being in bands.
“Not only do these artists comment on their unique contributions to the scene, but they can also talk about things that have come before them: their parents’ bands, things they listen to, who they grew up on, how and who they learned from,” said Clarity. “That paints a much more comprehensive picture of the whole music landscape.”
The Library as a 'Connective Tissue'
Many of the oral histories also capture musicians’ relationships to the Library. Brian noted that many mention their use of the MakerSpace to do things like make buttons, create flyers, and even record music.
“There’s a connective tissue that the Library [is] an institution that has creative works of art that is their inspiration to make music in the first place,” said Caleb Kennedy, a programs assistant who runs sound for SotS. Fritz, too, spoke to this connection, citing the MakerSpace as an open secret for being the best place to make band merch.
While some of the musicians captured through the project may be ephemeral; others recorded have been in the scene for decades. Either way, SotS allows a moment in time to be seen for years to come.
Upcoming Sunday on the Stairs Events
Mark your calendar for upcoming SotS events, including the Aug. 31 Guitar Buddies performance. On Sept. 28, see genre-bending songwriter Abiyah. And on Oct. 26, unwind to folk singer-songwriter Daniel Martin Moore.
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