Discussion with Sue Spaid on her new book, "Making Values Explicit: On How We Are Moved to Do, Act, Care and Change.” This book explores a wide range of topics to demonstrate how relevant values motivate people to act in ways that structure their identities, inspiring others to treat them as they see themselves (or want others to see them). We’ll discuss chapters 3 and 4.

To receive a free copy of the book in pdf form, please email us at swellartcafe@gmail.com

Join us for the opening of our first FAB Artist! We’ll be showing art by SLiNK love and debuting her new custom menu items, only available during the month of January at SWELL!

Learn more about the FAB program here.

SLiNK love is an artist based in Cincinnati, OH. She received their MFA from UC DAAP and has curated, directed and shown in dozens of local, international and underground installations and activations. For SLiNK love’s FAB month, SWELL will be featuring the artist’s family recipe vegan chili and a bourbon hot toddy that comes with a free zine by SLiNK love! Multiple community reading nights are scheduled along with installations both inside and on the exterior windows of the cafe. More info about the artist at www.slink.love

Don’t want to write, but want to have written? CWG makes the sometimes solitary practice of writing communal and joyful. You will come away from a CWG session having written for at least 75 minutes.

Writers of any kind are welcome!

We don’t know about you, but one of our New Year’s resolutions is to dance more in 2026. To get started on the right foot, we’re reopening on January 3rd with our first ever First Saturday Dance Party!

Come get your groove on while jiving to DJ Color Scientist’s sweet mixing. And don’t worry - we’ll be hosting these once a month if things go well. So get out your dancing shoes and come on by!

$5 suggested donation at the door. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Join us for a show-and-tell session with local artists, designers and creative professionals! Each presenter will share a 15-minute presentation of their creative expertise in a range of disciplines, including fine arts, graphic design, photography, web design, and fashion. This is an event of celebration and is open to the public, so please feel free to sit in and engage with us!

Join us for GLAZEMAGEDDON, where community meets clay.
Our potters have thrown the plates, and now it’s your turn to glaze them!

Every decorated plate will be fired and used in the café—made by many hands, for many meals.

Join The Heartwood Circle for a pop-up exhibition and art sale along with a free collage salon.

All sales benefit Latinx womxn survivors of domestic violence directly.

Donations benefit ongoing free programming.

Don’t want to write, but want to have written? CWG makes the sometimes solitary practice of writing communal and joyful. You will come away from a CWG session having written for at least 75 minutes.

Writers of any kind are welcome!

Attention all writers and aspiring writers: Come on in with something you’re working on and get advice from a guest writer. Meet kindred spirits, enjoy dedicated writing time, and get stellar advice to boot.

Think: open mic for photographers. Members sign up for 10-minute slots and show their works-in-progress and portfolio pieces. Participants share and receive constructive feedback. Facilitated by local photographer Casey LeClair.

Join us for a reading group on the everyday, locating knowledge through the things, temporalities, practices and relations of this existing periodicity, in an environment of breakdown and perpetual logistics. What is the location of theorization? How does the everyday offer ways through which we can imagine and conspire methods for a livable world? These discussions invite us to think of theory not as distant abstractions but as something embedded and embodied in the everyday processes, materialities and experiences that we attend to, and are influenced by. Hosted at Swell (2936 Colerain Ave) in collaboration with the Taft Research Center. 

November 12, 7pm 
Book: Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe (2023)

Come grab some art-ful gifts and get in the holiday spirit.

Wave Pool is joining team SWELL for a day full of art, music, and libations.

Wave Pool will be selling a variety of artist-made goods (zines, t-shirts, prints, etc.) and of course we’ll have our usual books and merch at SWELL also for sale.

Boris Oicherman will be spinning a vinyl DJ set on stage from 4–11p.

Drink specials, make your own holiday cards and zine craft station, and as always, grilled cheese sandwiches will be made to order!

Don’t want to write, but want to have written? CWG makes the sometimes solitary practice of writing communal and joyful. You will come away from a CWG session having written for at least 75 minutes.

Writers of any kind are welcome!

Join Executive Director of Wave Pool, Boris Oicherman for an informal conversation every Wednesday anytime from 4–6pm at Swell.

Come share ideas, learn more about our programs, or just enjoy a cup of coffee (or other beverage) and good company. This is a public event — everyone is welcome!

¡Hola!– Monthly Spanish Meetup / Encuentro Mensual de Español

Practice, learn, or just chat in Spanish with friends old and new! Join us the first Thursday of every month, 5:00–6:30 PM, for a casual, friendly meetup. All levels welcome—beginners, learners, and fluent speakers. Enjoy a safe, fun, and relaxed environment where conversation, laughter, and connection come first. No pressure, no formal lessons—just language, friendship, and community. Bring your curiosity and leave with new phrases and new friends!

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¡Practica, aprende o simplemente charla en español con amigos, antiguos y nuevos! Únete el primer jueves de cada mes, de 5:00 a 6:30 PM, para un encuentro casual y amigable. Todos los niveles son bienvenidos: principiantes, aprendices y hablantes fluidos. Disfruta de un ambiente seguro, divertido y relajado, donde la conversación, la risa y la conexión son lo más importante. Sin presión, sin lecciones formales—solo idioma, amistad y comunidad. ¡Trae tu curiosidad y llévate nuevas frases y nuevos amigos.

Maria Seda-Reeder is a Cincinnati-born arts professional with 25+ years of experience. A lifelong poet, Maria uses language to promote inclusive futures and support creative visions.

Join Executive Director of Wave Pool, Boris Oicherman for an informal conversation every Wednesday anytime from 4–6pm at Swell.

Come share ideas, learn more about our programs, or just enjoy a cup of coffee (or other beverage) and good company. This is a public event — everyone is welcome!

Join Executive Director of Wave Pool, Boris Oicherman for an informal conversation every Wednesday anytime from 4–6pm at Swell.

Come share ideas, learn more about our programs, or just enjoy a cup of coffee (or other beverage) and good company. This is a public event — everyone is welcome!

Please join us at SWELL as we create a protest of our own. Free yard signs will be available to paint and customize with your own messages for freedom and democracy.

Come for conversation, community, and inspiration.

Bring your ideas and slogans. Let’s make our voice heard!

Follow @FallOfFreedom to learn more.

Join us for a thought-provoking discussion on how we can upgrade our democracy to future-proof it against extremism. Matt Koesters, founder of Fortify Democracy, will explain how our country reached this point and what we need to do to reel it back from the brink. 

Our sophomore selection is Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind, in keeping with our theme Senses Working Overtime. Like XTC’s Andy Partridge sings, “All the world is football-shaped, it’s just for me to kick in space.

About Perfume: The Story of a Murderer: In 18th-century France, orphan Jean-Baptiste Grenouille became obsessed with crafting the perfect scent while studying under the well-known perfumer Giuseppe Baldini. Jean-Baptiste’s exceptional talent led him to success, murder, and tragedy.

The 1985 novel by German author Patrick Süskind tells a story of creative genius, evil behavior, and powerful scents.

Attention all writers and aspiring writers: Come on in with something you’re working on and get advice from a guest writer. Meet kindred spirits, enjoy dedicated writing time, and get stellar advice to boot.

Think: open mic for artists. Members sign up for 10-minute slots and show their works-in-progress and portfolio pieces. Participants share and receive constructive feedback. Facilitated by local photographer Casey LeClair.

Join us for a new reading/making group that centers everyday knowledge now. Inspired by The Swell Reader quarterly theme Repair, our monthly sessions will take up recent books that theorize from the everyday and imagine methods for a livable world. Taft Postdoctoral Fellow Harshavardhan Bhat will facilitate the sessions, sharing excerpts from the books and guiding discussion and reflection/making activities. 

Join Executive Director of Wave Pool, Boris Oicherman for an informal conversation every Wednesday anytime from 4–6pm at Swell.

Come share ideas, learn more about our programs, or just enjoy a cup of coffee (or other beverage) and good company. This is a public event — everyone is welcome!

Watercolor Wednesdays is at SWELL this month! Come and wet your palette with both tasty drinks and luscious pigments. BYOB (bring your own brush).

Join Executive Director of Wave Pool, Boris Oicherman for an informal conversation every Wednesday anytime from 4–6pm at Swell.

Come share ideas, learn more about our programs, or just enjoy a cup of coffee (or other beverage) and good company. This is a public event — everyone is welcome!

¡Hola!– Monthly Spanish Meetup / Encuentro Mensual de Español

Practice, learn, or just chat in Spanish with friends old and new! Join us the first Thursday of every month, 5:00–6:30 PM, for a casual, friendly meetup. All levels welcome—beginners, learners, and fluent speakers. Enjoy a safe, fun, and relaxed environment where conversation, laughter, and connection come first. No pressure, no formal lessons—just language, friendship, and community. Bring your curiosity and leave with new phrases and new friends!

*

¡Practica, aprende o simplemente charla en español con amigos, antiguos y nuevos! Únete el primer jueves de cada mes, de 5:00 a 6:30 PM, para un encuentro casual y amigable. Todos los niveles son bienvenidos: principiantes, aprendices y hablantes fluidos. Disfruta de un ambiente seguro, divertido y relajado, donde la conversación, la risa y la conexión son lo más importante. Sin presión, sin lecciones formales—solo idioma, amistad y comunidad. ¡Trae tu curiosidad y llévate nuevas frases y nuevos amigos.