As part of our year-end issue, we are revisiting some of our favorite Cincinnati People from 2022.

We checked in with the Director of Marketing and PR for the Cincinnati Music Festival, Fran Santangelo.

What’s been the biggest surprise to you in 2022?

I think the competition was the biggest surprise for us in 2022...After the pandemic there are concerts being announced right and left! People are ready to go out and promoters are taking big risks to give people a lot of choices.

What’s changed since we last spoke?

We ended up having our BEST ATTENDED Saturday night since being at Paul Brown Stadium. Janet Jackson put on an amazing show and people came out in HUGE numbers to see her. Being together in that Stadium, with live music was enough to give anyone goosebumps after what we all had been through!

What have you learned about our community this year?

At the end of the day, people feel good being together. All the isolation made us realize how important gathering is and I think everyone in that Stadium left feeling a little more normal than before!

What are you most looking forward to in 2023?

A FRESH new lineup! We're really trying to keep it fresh and new with our headliners - looking forward to bringing people that we've never had before or who haven't performed on our stages in a long while.

We see our best attendance when we offer new and different, so we're rolling with it!

More from Fran and our chat before CMF ‘22 below.