Grant Recipients

Puppets A Glow VI, Sept. 12 & 13 at The National WW I Museum and Memorial 6 – 10 p.m. daily. An immersive glowing experience of giant puppets, art, food and music ending in an illuminated giant puppet play.

The Visiting Writer Series & Creative Writing Anthology brings talented local writers into Literacy KC's classrooms to introduce students to creative writing and guide them in their writing. Student work is published in a print & digital anthology.

Flew the Coop Sessions is a live music video series based out of Kansas City featuring artists of all kinds from all over.

The Black Ancestors Awareness Campaign (BAAC) of Weston, Missouri will commission a mural to celebrate Weston's Black Heritage: From Slavery to Freedom. Artist José Faus will lead a team to create the mural on a prominent downtown Weston building.

The 18th & Vine Arts Festival Foundation celebrates Black artists through the Arts Honors Awards and the 18th & Vine Arts Festival, fostering inclusion, supporting local talent, and enriching the community with accessible arts experiences.

The Youth Chorus of Kansas City offers singers in grades 3-12 the opportunity to pursue excellence through performance, build skills and experience, become leaders in their communities — and have fun in an activity that will bring life-long joy.

The DynamitExperience aims to funnel its collective energy back into the community that created us. Exploring "The Declaration Series" together with its participants, TDE will offer 2 days of FREE workshops and a FREE performance of TDE repertoire.

The Social Symphony is a KC-based, community-driven orchestra founded in 2018. We play various events and concerts year-round. We welcome all walks of life into our symphony, helping people reconnect with music and community.

Reel Image Film & Video Gorup is an organization that provides support for African American filmmakers, film projects, and film screenings that positively depict African American culture.

plug is a curatorial collaboration with the mission of bringing fresh perspectives and conversation to the local cultural community. Our goal is to exhibit challenging new work, initiate critical dialogue, and expand connections of artists.

Owen/Cox Dance Group creates new music and dance collaborations, presents high-quality contemporary dance performances with live music, and engages as wide an audience as possible through affordable live performances and outreach programs.

No Divide KC partners with Kansas City-based artists and organizations to create artistic events that are focused on the stories of underserved and misrepresented communities in Kansas City.

The KCYA mission is to engage all youth in the arts, promote creativity, and inspire success in education. KCYA works in collaboration with schools and community partners, KCYA provides workshops, performances, and residencies for kids.

Kansas City Public Theatre provides access to the arts through year-round professional theatre entertainment free of charge to the public at locations throughout Kansas City. Be Radical.

KANSAS CITY AREA YOUTH JAZZ is an enrichment program for high school and college students interested in jazz and professional recording practice. This tuition-free experience culminates with a professionally released album on the ARC label.

Heartland Men’s Chorus Kansas City’s mission is to build community, celebrate pride, and empower authenticity. The members of HMCKC have joined together for the purpose of making music as a not-for-profit, volunteer chorus of  LBGTQ+ and allies who are making a positive cultural contribution through musical excellence.

Creative Emajinations mission is to offer arts education and mentorship, ensuring that every child in our community has access to the transformative power of the arts, fostering creativity, self-expression, and personal growth for all.

Base Academy of Music provides sliding-cost private music lessons to urban youth in Kansas City, MO. We make high-quality private lessons with professional musicians geographically and economically accessible to underserved families.

To better the lives of underserved urban youth through artistic, technical, health, and educational skills. Young entrepreneurial artists produce visual, ceramic, music, poetry, fiber arts, dance, and other fine art mediums for the community.

The Arts Asylum has been a safe place to create and a staple within the artistic community of Kansas City for over a decade.

Art as Mentorship’s (AM) mission is to empower young people, through music, to write their own success stories. Our programs provide underserved young artists access to world-class mentorship, real-world skill development, and mental health support.

Allegro connects young singers to music, to each other, and to the world.  Allegro is dedicated to enriching, inspiring, and transforming the lives of young singers through excellence in leadership, confidence-building, and team work braided with extraordinary instruction and performance opportunities.

A Flat Music Studio is an art organization that provides instrumental music lessons to the youth of the urban core of Kansas City, Missouri, and surrounding areas. Conducts formal music instruction for students who want to learn the fundamentals and foundations that pertain to good music performance. They offer hope and encouragement to the students who come to our classes.

Composer Yunfei Li, creator of the Lullabies & Little Ears project, is leading an immersive chamber music concert designed to foster early musical engagement and introduce contemporary music to babies and caregivers. In collaboration with Kansas City-based performers and composers, this initiative aims to create enriching and immersive musical experiences for young families. Grant funds will be used to support performance and venue costs, as well as marketing efforts.

Taylar Sanders is a visual artist and muralist. She is dedicated to creating work that evokes emotion within the viewer, translates the emotion of the subject and leaves a lasting impact. Much of her work consists of powerful and moving figurative paintings that depict the complexity of Black existence and emotion. She paints her culture through joyful, peaceful an empowering images. Her intention is to uplift and connect people through her work. The grant funds will be used for Taylar’s first solo show,”Deconstructed,”‘in the summer of 2025.

Brass & Boujee, a hip hop big band featuring the Marcus Lewis Big Band and emcees Kemet Coleman and Kadesh Flow, are set to release "Brass & Boujee 2", the follow-up to their Billboard Charting, self-titled debut. This album again will highlight both emcees rapping and singing in tandem with a traditional big band, all while addressing socio-economic and personal topics that will be both engaging and highly relatable to listeners. Brass & Boujee simultaneously embodies the past, present, and future of the sacred art that is Kansas City Jazz, and "Brass & Boujee 2" will continue to celebrate this great heritage while also honoring the richness of Kansas City hip hop.

Nasir Anthony Montalvo (b.1999) is an award-winning transdisciplinary journalist and memory worker based in Kansas City, MO. Montalvo uses archival praxis, digital media, popular education and the written word to move Black diasporic audiences towards life and a true dream beyond social platitudes. Montalvo currently holds a two-year writing residency at Charlotte Street; and is supported by local, national and international organizations including Stories For All, Diaspora Solidarities Lab, and the Solutions Journalism Network. Montalvo and their work has been published in The Advocate, NPR, Teen Vogue, HelloGiggles, and KC Studio. Montalvo is most recently founder of {B/qKC}: an archive of Black queer midwestern history. Montalvo is queer, Afro-Borincane, and from Kissimmee, Florida.

I am Melinda Hedgecorth, Flamenco Dancer, Choreographer and Founder of 45° Flamenco. We will perform at Rosehill elementary school and InterUrban ArtHouse. Our group includes Spanish native Antonio Rojas from Sevilla and Mexican native Fedra Cooper from Veracruz, two port cities, with Cuba between them, that were filled with music constantly in flux. With Guitarist Beau Bledsoe, Percussionist Joh Currey and Bassist Forest Stewart we will share the links between Spanish song forms of Flamenco and “borrowed” melodies from Mexico and Cuba that became part of the fabric of Flamenco without giving due recognition to the populations that first created, developed and enjoyed this beautiful music. Grant funds will be used so that our performances are free to the public.

My name is Hugo Juarez-Avalos and I am a graphic designer, archivist, and illustrator based in Kansas City. I plan to create a zine that highlights, recognizes, and celebrates the histories and stories of Drag in Kansas City. The grant funds will be used to pay the folks involved/featured in the work and for printing and distribution costs to create a cultural piece that honors the drag and queer community in Kansas City.

Hadiza is a musician who hopes you are inspired to look more deeply within. Grant funds in part will go toward airfare for x, who will be traveling to Ghana to use their skills to help create infrastructure for accessible music education in Kumasi as part of the perfocraZe International Artist Residency (pIAR). Upon return, x will use funds from the Arts KC grant 2024-2025 to support the physical release of their second full length album, Diaspora Gothic and outdoor community activation event in Kansas City, intended for spring 2025.

Elaine Elizabeth Clifford combines a passion for literature, history, and theatre by exploring creative storytelling methods to bring new life to classic and antiquated works. Her latest project, “Mother of Monsters”, is an original play centered around the infamous author, Mary Shelley. On the night that the idea for her most well known novel, “Frankenstein”, is conceived, Mary's personal nightmares manifest and she must confront her own monsters. This Inspiration Grant will be used to provide artist stipends for a fully realized production of this new work, which will premiere at The Arts Asylum in November 2024.

My name is Kaley Wajcman and I am a fine artist and art therapist. I have developed a program call Art 4 All: Art Making for All Abilities - a studio-inspired inclusive initiative for individuals with intellectual and developmental delays and disabilities (often referred to as IDD for short). Art 4 All will incorporate studio art time for program participants to hone their art skills, utilize new media, and explore adaptive art tools to individualize their art making experience. The program will offer art making through the lens of Art Therapy to support the artists growing their self-awareness & shaping their artist voice through art making. Funding will allow Art 4 All to take place across 10 sessions, include artist talks and culminate in a public-exhibition by the Art 4 All cohort.

ColorTones is an innovative live performance piece that merges visual art and jazz music through Coloratura, a unique instrument that transforms paintbrushes into musical tools. Co-created by audiovisual artist Camry Ivory and musician Owen Scott, ColorTones explores the intersections of art, music, and cultural identity, blending paint and sound to create a dynamic sensory experience. This project celebrates the diverse expressions of diasporic heritage while inviting audiences to engage with art in a new, interactive way.

Caleb Taylor is a visual artist developing '...and their shadows,' a multi-channel video projection made using darkroom photogram processes exploring abstraction and site-specificity. The Inspiration Grant is supporting the acquisition of digital projectors and construction materials to design sculptural, modular screens and collaborative photogram workshops and opportunities for regional communities. This project includes photography and zine workshops exploring the connected themes of abstraction, site, and perception. The third iteration of '...and their shadows' will be presented at Studios Inc. in Kansas City as part of their 2025 residency and Open Studios series.

Allison Bowman, artist and arts advocate, presents Prairie In The Parks a sticker vending machine featuring local visual artist designs highlighting the prairie conservation efforts of the Johnson County Parks and Recreation Department. Visitors of the Johnson County Arts & Heritage Center, where the sticker vending machine is located, can collect all of the sticker designs while learning about what prairie conservation is, where to find natural prairie land in our own community, and what we can do to help keep it safe.

Project: "High Value" A lonely and clumsy man seeks the advice of a popular dating guru to woo love interests out of his league.

Project: "Cougar" In the presence of some disruptive male onlookers, an emerging Chinese-American filmmaker attempts filming the climax of her film where the actress, also her mother, has to be naked.

Eva Louise Hall is a professional, independent screenwriter and animator with over ten years of experience in commercial and fine art contexts. Her projects as a visual storyteller aim to create unique experiences that engage audiences, inspire participation, and build community. Her specialties are stop-motion animation, experimental media, and surrealist horror. Her current short, "Pluck", follows the story of a talented athlete at the height of her career as she struggles to hide a horrifying terminal diagnosis that grotesquely begins to mutate her body into that of a chicken. This stop motion horror short will explore themes of nature vs human control, bodily autonomy, and end of life agency.

Ryogoku Soccer Academy provides an all-encompassing educational experience that serves to enhance the community. Sustainability and community involvement guide our instructional methods.

“Visualizing Math: Art and Social Change” featured community and middle school art-making workshops that resulted in a temporary fine art exhibition. See our "Cards for Change" projects on view April 5-May 12, 2024 in the Greenlease Gallery atrium.

"Sustaining African American Heritage thru Music" offers free music lessons to youth in the Ivanhoe Community. We are dedicated to removing the financial barriers that prevent many families from accessing the opportunity to quality music education.

The project's mission is to share the history and legacy of the Dunbar neighborhood with residents and visitors. The mural will serve as a visual source of information and increase community engagement.

Harris Park’s arts programming will increase access to the arts for residents of the Ivanhoe neighborhood of Kansas City. The art events will inspire joy, creativity, inspiration and community in a formerly redlined Black neighborhood.

Somos el Futuro / We are the Future project mission is to provide an environment for youth to increase leadership skills and preserve the culture and history of this Hispanic community in KC's historic westside community.

Footprints Heroes Home Gate seeks to provide access to the Arts as a way to cope with PTSD and other forms of trauma to homeless Veterans in its care through an on-site Art studio, arts classes, and Arts experiences.

We provide a service to the urban core of Kansas City Missouri where so many public schools had diminished their instrumental music programs at the time that we started.

Youth Symphony of Kansas City’s mission is to challenge, educate and inspire students through meaningful and enriching musical experiences. Its vision is to be the premier program of choice while building a lifetime of passion for music and the arts.

Unicorn Theatre is a 49-year-old professional theatre in the heart of Mid-Town KC. They produce bold new plays that tackle tough issues and illuminate marginalized stories; plays that spark ideas and conversations on the ride home and days after.

As Theatre for Young America celebrates its 50th Anniversary Season we continue to be a beacon of inspiration for fun/educational theatre in Kansas City for all ages, while focusing on childhood reading readiness in its core mission.

Owen/Cox Dance Group creates new music and dance collaborations, presents high-quality contemporary dance performances with live music, and engages as wide an audience as possible through affordable live performances and outreach programs.

The nationally renowned Opus 76 String Quartet consists of four KC based musicians and offers a series of concerts centering on the Classical Masterworks of the string quartet repertoire, in addition to educational outreach and community service.

Mesner Puppet Theater DBA What if Puppets creates puppetry programs that support the social, emotional, and aesthetic development of young people ages 0-8 and their adults!

The Arts Engagement Foundation of Kansas City (AEFKC), a 501(c)(3) promotes engagement and increases participation in the arts in Kansas City by covering high-quality visual, performing, cinematic, and literary arts and publishes KC Studio.

KC Fringe Festival is a two week festival that provides a platform for visual and performing artists to share their work. It fosters an inclusive arts community, provides opportunities for artists to experiment, and celebrates artistic expression.

KC Clay Guild is a nonprofit ceramic arts center. KCCG offers classes for all skill levels, open pottery studios, and workshops. We are open to every member of the Kansas City community.

The KCYA mission is to engage all youth in the arts, promote creativity, and inspire success in education. KCYA works in collaboration with schools and community partners, KCYA provides workshops, performances, and residencies for kids.

Through performances and education programs, The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra preserves the rich heritage of jazz, nurtures its growth, and encourages its appreciation as an art form for all ages at Kauffman Center and other venues. ​

Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey presents the Ailey II Company in residency in 2024. KCFAA's arts education programs teach young people critical life skills through dance. Our work models interracial and multicultural community partnerships.

The Kansas City Artists Coalition (KCAC) is a charitable nonprofit organization that promotes visual arts awareness in Kansas City and the surrounding region, and supports the professional growth of artists.

Kansas City Actors Theatre (KCAT) presents thought-provoking plays that explore, celebrate, and share what it is to be human, with sensitivity, intelligence, and humor. Great Actors. Smart Plays.

InterUrban ArtHouse empowers under-resourced artists to thrive, enriching the lives and communities of the KC metro through the arts across media. We do this through our space, our programs, our social justice mission, and Creative Placemaking.

The Folly Theater enhances lives through the power of the arts. As Kansas City’s oldest theater, the Folly serves as an exceptional place of artistic expression, featuring diverse artists and performances representative of the community we serve.

Ensemble Ibérica showcases music from Iberia (Spain and Portugal) and its diaspora, enlightening the public about the rich tapestry of Iberian cultural influence.

Charlotte Street centers Kansas City’s forward-thinking visual artists, writers, and performers—acting as the primary incubator, provocateur, and connector for the region’s contemporary arts community, and its leading advocate on the national stage.

Band of Angels fosters the talent and participation of kids across the Kansas City area by creating equal opportunities for students to participate in band or orchestra, by providing instruments and summer music camp scholarships to kids in need.

The Arts Asylum has been a safe place to create and a staple within the artistic community of Kansas City for over a decade.

Art as Mentorship’s (AM) mission is to empower young people, through music, to write their own success stories. Our programs provide underserved young artists access to world-class mentorship, real-world skill development, and mental health support.

The American Jazz Museum (AJM) celebrates jazz as an American art form and its history in Kansas City. AJM welcomes students, musicians, and jazz enthusiasts to over 200 performances, educational programs, special exhibits, and events each year.

Set in 1925, The Monrovians Vs. The Klan depicts the true story of an actual baseball game played between the negro league Wichita Monrovians and Klan Chapter 6.

In "Yerham," a new-age Muslim filmmaker grapples with the complexities of grief, cultural expectations, and the stigma surrounding mental health after her brother's suicide, embarking on a poignant journey of healing and self-discovery that challenges societal norms.

From Me to You is a short film by Vy Nguyen with plans of being in production by April 2024. The film is about an American-born Vietnamese girl who finds herself in turmoil with her immigrant mother and begins to unravel the complexity of their cultural differences.

The Healing Part(s), developed by multidimensional artist Shym, is an Exploratory Solo Performance course tailored for individuals with minimal or no performing experience. Through its unique performance style and class structure, the course empowers students to delve into authentic autobiographical narratives while fostering a strong sense of ensemble with the group. The act of sharing one's personal story often results in healing experiences for both the performer and the audience.

Paris Williams is a young multifaceted and eclectic Musician, Producer, and Rapper. Originally moving to Kansas City, Missouri from Muskegon, Michigan in 2018 he quickly laid roots and became an active part of the creative scene. The Inspiration Grant will be put towards venturing outside of Kansas City for the first time to perform in Key Markets around the Mid West.

In Making Music, visual artist Olivia Michka combines her two greatest passions - music and art - by creating live-concert paintings. Collaborating with local venues and bands, Olivia arrives at a concert with a blank canvas and works to the energy of the music, the musicians, and the audience to produce a fully-completed oil painting by the end of the show. Making Music seeks to enhance the live music experience and make fine art more accessible to the general public, while creating a unique body of work that appeals to art-lovers, music-lovers, and everyone in between. Grant funds will be used for supplies, marketing, and for the documentation and post-production of the work and a short project documentary.

Nick May, saxophonist and composer, is the creator of the I Exist Project, which amplifies the richness and diversity of queer life, culture, and artistry by partnering with a broad spectrum of talented queer composers and performers. Their mission is to inspire the creation and promotion of innovative queer repertoire that celebrates the unique experiences and voices within our community, fostering greater understanding, connection, and visibility for all. Grant funds will be used for the recording, production, and release of the I Exist Project's inaugural album featuring compositions by queer composers Jennifer Higdon, Peter Dayton, Spencer Arias, Darius Edwards, Sebastian Zhang, Stuart Beatch, Aaryn S. Ricucci-Hill, and Xenia St. Charles Iris Llyllyth.

Kirk Decker is a photographer who is taking a step back from the algorithms and so-called enhancements of his high-tech digital camera. Opting, instead, for a simple film camera without electronics or even a battery. A camera that simply renders what is in front of it without embellishment, without censorship. By limiting the role of technology in making images, he plans to portray a more genuine and unfiltered connection with the people he meets during this project. Grant funds will be used to purchase, expose, process print and exhibit images from the 100 feet of film that he has exposed while traversing the city.

Khyneesha Edwards is a graphic designer, born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. In partnership with yoga instructor Joshua Davis, she will host Black Boy Joy Yoga + Black Boy Joy Art Exhibition. The yoga component of the project will span summer 2024, with a yoga event happening once in June, July and August onsite at a local Black-owned business or within a historically Black neighborhood. The art exhibition will take place in August 2024 and display various creative interpretations of "Black boy joy" from 25 Black male-identifying artists ages 7+. This project aims to create a safe space for Black men and boys to unapologetically claim joy and express themselves in ways that promote their happiness. The grant funds will be used to cover all project operations.

Jill Downen, visual artist, will participate in the Art Omi Artist’s Residency in upstate New York as the Charlotte Street Fellow. While in residence, they will generate new work and expand their professional development. Downen will be one of four Americans in a cohort of 25 international artists, 2 Critics-in-Residence, and 25 visiting arts professionals. Grant funds will be used to create a new immersive installation and for professional development. Jill Downen plans to transform their Art Omi studio space into an architectural installation and publicly present for the first time, plaster drawings incorporated into the site as meditative focal points. Jill Downen is the Chair of Sculpture at Kansas City Art Institute and is represented by the Bruno David Gallery in St. Louis.

Jenny Molberg’s Elaine: Writing against Silence is a book project, written in poetic and hybrid forms, that explores the work of visual artists excluded from a hegemonic canon in art history. Utilizing personal, historical, and cultural lenses, this collection addresses gatekeeping in creative environments, fostering gender-inclusivity and safe spaces within artistic communities. This project will include a community workshop entitled “Margins and Memory: The Craft of Trauma and Truth,” as well as a public reading where participants are invited to share work generated in the workshop. Grant funds will be used for travel to engage in immersive research, submission to literary awards, and providing a free workshop to community members interested in addressing trauma through writing.

My name is Ian Chung and I am a composer. Kansas City’s Artistic Landmarks Through Musical Composition is a music recording project that expands our collective imagination as a society by connecting contemporary music with Kansas City’s landmarks. Inspired by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, and the 18th and Vine Jazz District, new music will be written for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, and piano. This project would allow audiences to engage with contemporary music with greater ease by connecting it to celebrated, well-known places in our community. The fund will be used for paying musicians, recording processes, venue rental, and promotion. The project will conclude with a live performance and recording, which will be available online.

Gary Enrique Bradley-Lopez is a playwright and director based in Kansas City, Kansas. He intends to produce his play, "A Father's Poder: A Play Inspired by Saturnino Alvarado," in Wyandotte County to increase access to theater in The Dotte. Additionally, he aims to share the inspiring story of a hero who played a crucial role in integrating schools for Mexican children in Kansas City, Kansas, during the 1920s. The inspiration grant will fund most of the play's production, including actors' pay, costumes, sets, and marketing.

Danielle Ate the Sandwich is the stage name of Danielle Anderson, a folk-pop singer/songwriter and performer who will record and release a new album of original songs based on her experiences moving to and finding a home in Kansas City. The project will bring together a community of Kansas City musicians and artists to support and promote their talents, and develop connections for future collaborations in the KC music community.

Sonic Portraits of Kansas City is a series of new music pieces based on iconic Kansas City locations. Led by the And2 Percussion Duo, the project uses field recordings of the ambient soundscapes of the Kansas City Public Library, 18th and Vine, and Swope Park as the basis for musical compositions. Grant funds will be used to compensate three young Kansas City composers for their work, to record and compile the music into an EP, and to promote a free concert in August co-hosted by the Kansas City Public Library.

Sascha Groschang is a cellist, composer and a champion for new music. Shapeshifter is a new recording project featuring all midwest composers for violin, viola and cello. This recording will serve to put Kansas City on the map as a leading advocate for new music. Works will include Breathing Sunlight (viola/cello) by Akshaya Tucker, Shapeshifter (cello solo) by AJ Harbison, Waiting for the River to Freeze (string trio) by Laura Whitney-Johnson, Spurred Awakening by Cole Reyes, Fides Spes by Ingrid Stozel and Happy Tune by Chen Yi. Works will be performed by new music veterans Zsolt Eder, Boris Vayner and Sascha Groschang.

My name is Vesta Flowers, and I am a visual artist. I plan to design, produce, and sell eight fully dressed, unique ball jointed dolls by employing Computer Aided Design and 3D resin printing technology. The sales of these eight dolls will serve as the launch of my doll line. I have been designing and producing ¼ scale fashion doll clothing for several years, and I hope to produce a doll line as an expansion my existing business. I intend to manage all aspects of this project myself. The project will take place in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. The grant funds from ArtsKC will be used to partially fund the launch of my ball jointed doll line.

Spiral Editions is a queer-run nanopress of experimental poetry, fiction, and ephemera based in so-called "Lawrence, Kansas." We print small, limited-run chapbooks of poetry and experimental fiction using a combination of digital printing, Risograph printing, and letterpress printing. Spiral Editions aims to facilitate, in the words of Bernadette Mayer, "a momentary and urgent dissemination of poetry, which is also full of pleasure, [outside of] the marketplace." Grant funds will be used to print larger runs of books, purchase necessary press materials and tools, and publish our first full-length book of poetry.

Rosie O’Brien, Sousaphonist and leader of KC street parade band Sass-a-Brass, along with members of Cap Gun Studios, will host a second year of open practices for brass musicians of all ages and experience levels to learn traditional songs in preparation for the 2024 Mardi Gras season. Players are invited to participate in multiple, themed parades taking place throughout the city and concluding with the dawn and evening parades on Tuesday, February 13th. Practice is held every Sunday in January from 4-6pm in the studios above The Ship on Union Avenue. Grant funds will be used for promotional materials, instrument repair, and rehearsal supplies such as charts and music stands; they will also support Rosie as a musical director and rehearsal leader and pay musicians for public performances.

The Kansas City Poetry Jam is a one-day micro festival. It's for all those on the poetic spectrum: readers, writers, teachers, students, performers, editors, and publishers of poetry. The Kansas City Poetry Jam aims to increase poetry education and opportunities in the region. It will take place on September 30th from 11 am to 5 pm with additional sponsored grassroots open mics around town.

Nia Danielle Lovemore, a fantasy artist from Lawrence, KS, she is inspired by haunting beauty and the melancholic essence of the Gothic Romantic aesthetic. She seeks to personify emotions and the impact various experiences have had on her soul. For Lovemore, her art is a spiritual practice—an act of divination that unveils the intangible aspects of the human condition. Infused with mystery and magic, her work beckons viewers into a reverie of dark beauty to explore themes of love, death, and human suffering. Through her art, Nia seeks to create a sacred space for viewers to connect with their emotions, contemplate life's beautiful tragedy, confront their egos, and embark on hellish journeys through the depths of their imagination.

Mixed Media artist, Marissa Shell will be participating in Tangle Roots, an annual exhibition at InterUrban ArtHouse in Overland Park. Her 3D installation addresses climate change in context of her American and Filipino heritage and alludes to the affects a warming climate will have in the Asia-Pacific region and other emerging countries. In her work she encourages her students and audiences in the greater Kansas City area to develop a greater appreciation for the natural world, and focuses our attention on the changing landscape. Funding through an Inspiration Grant will provide support to purchase various supplies used to complete the project, and for professional documentation of the finished work.

Kansas City saxophonist, improviser, and arts administrator, Kyle Jones, is partnering with KC-based composer, Paul Berlinsky, to present a two-fold commissioning initiative and public concert performance, entitled "Seasons and Cycles," that will take place in February of 2024 at the Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium. The new work from Paul for baritone saxophone and electronics engages with our relationship to nature as human beings, as well as the importance of cyclical change. In addition to Paul's new work, the program will feature pieces by other composers that maintain the through-line association with nature and change, including Alexandra Gardner, Anthony R. Green, and Nathan Nokes

Isaac Villaroya is a Kansas City based composer. His music seeks to express the totality of a given idea through contrast and cycles. Through his project OMNITONALIS, his goal is to find the missing link between tonality and atonality through alternative performance spaces unbound by the limitations of the traditional concert stage. Grant funds will be used for the construction of the sound installation which will serve as the vessel for the musical composition. Isaac has worked with various ensembles small and large including Latitude 49, SOLI Chamber Ensemble, and The Austin Symphony.

OboeKC is seeking to provide private instruction and reeds to students who would be financially unable to afford these resources, give students the tools and information to develop good fundamentals and awareness on the instrument so that the oboe can become a vehicle to help them pursue whatever they want to in life, and Ms. Geer will serve as a mentor and support system for students who need that support outside of their home environments.

Little Miss Dynamite is a newly-formed Kansas City band headed by Beth Watts Nelson, life-long student of music and choral music educator. After twenty years teaching choir in public schools, Beth is setting out to bring her own original music to light with a focus on acoustic instruments and vocal harmony. Grant funds will be used to create a six-song album which promotes the power of music to heal lives, express humanity, illuminate beauty, delight, entertain, enrich and enlighten audiences in KC and beyond.

The Youth Ambassadors Arts Empowerment project is a vital component of our work to uplift Kansas City’s youth and supports our mission to empower youth to become future community leaders willing and able to work for positive change.

Join the 2024 stART the conversation exhibition by Wyandot Behavioral Health. Experience art as a therapeutic medium for recovery and expression. Celebrate resilience and artistic healing in a communal experience.

WCA’s mission is to uncover hidden beauty & meaning in KC through music, theatre, art exhibits & The Dancing Word – a unique art form that emerged in the pandemic & merges poetry & dance. Our art imagines worlds that do not currently exist.

The Weavers Guild of Kansas City is presenting an exciting exhibit of handmade textiles and conducting live demonstrations hand weaving, spinning, felting, and other fiber arts. Saturday, June 15, 2024 at the Johnson County Arts & Heritage Center.

"Rhythms of Resilience" by TWOCC celebrates Black queer artistry in Kansas City with performances, art, and advocacy. It fosters community, dialogue, and empowerment, showcasing diverse talents and narratives.

The DynamitExperience aims to funnel its collective energy back into the community that created us. Exploring "The Declaration Series" together with its participants, TDE will offer 2 days of FREE workshops and a FREE performance of TDE repertoire.

Synergy strengthens individuals and families via crisis intervention, shelter, counseling, advocacy & education. Free multiple-disciplinary art programming provided by staff & teaching artists for traumatized youth at the Blitt Creative Arts Center.

Creature Creation—This master class will teach artists how to build the giant illuminated puppets StoneLion is known for. It is open to artists interested in learning our secrets! 

Providence School of Arts’ mission is to empower youth to pursue their purpose in life by providing holistic education, including immersive art disciplines and culminating art projects, to children of all backgrounds.

Harmony Project KC harnesses the transformative power of music to increase access to higher education for underserved students by removing systemic barriers to achievement through academic and social support.

Mattie Rhodes Center's after-school arts program provides access to high-quality arts education to low-income, underserved children in a safe, creative space where children of all ages learn and experience many different forms of visual arts.

The Martin City Melodrama presents WIZARD OF PAWS @ the Grandview Amphitheater. Summer 2024. Featuring children of all ages, the uniquely abled artists & their peers, also senior rescue dogs from area shelters. Classic family entertainment!

LAF brings forth the fiercely authentic voice of underrepresented and under resourced Latino communities through art, culture, cultural identity and diverse stories creating space OF our communities FOR our communities. 

KC Contemporary Dance is a professional non-profit dance company presenting high-quality performances across the Midwest region that is committed to the continued experimentation of movement through innovative programs and artistic collaboration.

Funds will go to support our self-produced Annual International Jazz Day Event on April 30th 2024. Since 2017 we have participated in International Jazz Day. This year the event will take place in Kansas City, KS with a community partner. This event is always one of our most celebrated events.

EarlystART promotes its mission of "Building bridges. Inspiring minds. Impacting Futures" through the arts. Arts@EarlystART supports daily arts instruction, performances, and family engagement activities for children ages six weeks to five years.

CHWC’s arts programming engages community members in visual and performing arts activities, increases public art, and contributes to excellent quality of life for the residents of Wyandotte County, Kansas.

The 2024 Art in the Loop Project: Convivência, a curated outdoor art exhibition, & multi-genre/media performance series, takes place this summer in Downtown KC. Artwork will be displayed along the KC Streetcar line and wrap one streetcar vehicle.

Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company is a Kansas City multi-cultural repertory company that performs and presents dance works by diverse emerging and established choreographers. Works are thought provoking and speak to the human spirit.

Whispering Prairie Press is an all-volunteer publisher of two annual magazines that feature visual art, poetry, and prose: Kansas City Voices and KC Voices Youth.

Queer Theater. Whimsical Edge.

Westwood Ensemble is a community orchestra committed to bringing symphonic music to diverse audiences. Shorter programs with educational presentations are perfect for those new to classical music. We welcome all ages and levels of musical knowledge!

Summit Art encourages, promotes, educates and recognizes local artists. We inspire and engage our community by advancing an appreciation for the visual arts. Visit our two annual festivals and local exhibitions to explore creative expression.

Stray Cat Film Center is an artist-run, non-profit microcinema and community space. Curated and run by volunteers, Stray Cat screens a diverse roster of fun and challenging films that span the entire range of moving image expressions.

Spire Chamber Ensemble inspires, educates, and enriches the Kansas City metropolitan community through the transformational power of great choral music performed at the highest artistic level.

Spinning Tree connects young artists with and without disabilities to professional artists to collaborate on and create theatre. We believe that people of all abilities have a right to experience and participate in the arts.

The Social Symphony is a KC-based, community-driven orchestra founded in 2018. We play various events and concerts year-round. We welcome all walks of life into our symphony, helping people reconnect with music and community.

Our mission is to provide access to performing arts through free community concerts, educational opportunities for area young musicians, and performing opportunities for community musicians.

No Divide KC partners with Kansas City-based artists and organizations to create artistic events that are focused on the stories of underserved and misrepresented communities in Kansas City.

newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble is a professional music ensemble performing the work of living composers. We strive to bring Kansas City and the surrounding region the most eclectic, diverse and cutting-edge creative music of the 21st century.

The Midwest Music Foundation unites and empowers the Kansas City area music community by providing health care assistance, education and career development, events and resources.

KC VITAs (Kansas City Vibrating Internal Thyroarytenoids,) is a group of professional singers with the mission to promote the continued creation and performance of “contemporary-classical” vocal music and the Greater Kansas City Metropolitan area.

The Kansas City Women's Chorus is the only regional women's chorus inspiring through performance, embracing diversity and advocating social justice.

KCVLAA provides low to no cost legal and accounting services in the KC area to artists and arts organizations from all creative disciplines, who financially qualify. These services include educational programming, and pro bono referral services.

Kansas City Public Theatre provides access to the arts through year-round professional theatre entertainment free of charge to the public at locations throughout Kansas City. Be Radical.

KANSAS CITY AREA YOUTH JAZZ is an enrichment program for high school and college students interested in jazz and professional recording practice. This tuition-free experience culminates with a professionally released album on the ARC label.

ICE STUDIOS SCHOOL OF DANCE offers professional dance classes to students of different ages and physical abilities with an emphasis on living a healthy lifestyle through exercise and proper nutrition.

Creative Emajinations mission is to offer arts education and mentorship, ensuring that every child in our community has access to the transformative power of the arts, fostering creativity, self-expression, and personal growth for all.

City in Motion Dance Theater, Inc. has been a part of Kansas City for 38 years. Our mission is to foster the development of high-quality dance programming and expand the dance audience in the KCMO metro area.

Arts in prison uses the arts to motivate and inspire the incarcerated. Visual Art, Textiles, Performance, Writing - Bringing them home with hope in their heart instead of hate on their eyes.

Dora Agbas, a multidisciplinary artist, presents Plain Visions at the Campanella Gallery on the Park University campus in Parkville. The exhibit, in which the artist shows her affinity to her subject through different mediums, is an ode to the Great Plains. 

Cydney Ross and Alix Daniel are artists and naturalists who are advocating for prairies with their ephemeral art installation at Kill Creek Park. This is in conjunction with their 2023 Art and Natural Resource Residency with Johnson County Parks and Recreation Department. 

SWAG is a community-based mini gallery designed for the exchange of artwork, known across the globe as Free Little Art Galleries (FLAGs). Kansas City based visual artist Cheryl Gail envisions SWAG to be the first of many FLAGs in the Kansas City region. 

 Project: Cup is a series of interdisciplinary, public-facing events and projects that explore the unique potential for handmade cups to be tools for connection and nourishment on an individual and community level. 

"Poetry/Pottery: Sidewalk Art Box" is a multi-disciplinary, community-centered exploration of functional art. For seven months, I will study the technical & conceptual connection between poetry and pottery, teach a series of related workshops for youth in Wyandotte County, and construct, install, and stock a small sidewalk box of free pottery for the community. 

This innovative album of new contemporary music, in collaboration with musicians and artists of Kansas City and beyond, is the starting point for a new record label that will promote a hybrid music format to bridge the gap between the concert stage and the commercial venue. 

Musical Theatre Mentorship will provide an opportunity for a local aspiring costume designer to gain valuable experience and break into the Kansas City theatre community while earning an equitable wage. 

Anthony Procopio Ross, a writer and photographer based in Kansas City, presents "Literary Lens," a project showcasing the city's literary arts scene through a curated zine. 

Anita Easterwood is a portrait artist and illustrator. Her work highlights the "everyday person" and centers around culture, fashion, and social justice. The grant funds will be used for Anita's solo show, "The Secret Life of Black People," in the fall of 2023.

Alberto Racanati aka "Alber", is a local musician originally from Italy. In Born at Sea, he will host an immersive sound therapy session focused on the effects of living next to a large body of water. 

My name is Adee Dancy, and I am a performing artist going by the stage name Sisterbot. I am planning to do a music video to my unreleased single, "You Won't Play Me," which outlines the experience and aftermath of being groomed on the internet as a child and early adult. 

The mission of Wyandot BHN is to help persons with mental health issues thrive. stART the conversation will allow individuals with lived experience of mental illness to advocate for themselves through art and reduce stigma around mental health.

WCA’s mission is: Uncover hidden beauty & meaning in KC through music, theatre, art exhibits & The Dancing Word – a creative, unique art form that emerged in the pandemic & merges poetry & dance. Our art imagines worlds that do not currently exist.

Transformations is a trans women of color led Kansas City based nonprofit organization focused on capacity building and leadership development among trans communities of color in our Missouri, Kansas and Northwest Arkansas (Ozark) region.

Synergy strengthens individuals and families via crisis intervention, shelter, counseling, advocacy & education. Free multiple-disciplinary art programming provided by staff & teaching artists for traumatized youth at the Blitt Creative Arts Center.

From touring puppet shows to free giant puppet community events, StoneLion Puppet Theatre works locally and globally to open the minds of our audiences through the art of puppetry in an interdisciplinary community of ethnic and cultural diversity.

ScrapsKC is a creative reuse center, where upcycling and repurposing waste is a mindset. ScrapsKC seeks to improve our greater Kansas City community through three linked endeavors: environmental sustainability, education, and homeless outreach.

Providence School of Arts’ mission is to empower youth to pursue their purpose in life by providing holistic education, including immersive art disciplines and culminating art projects, to children of all backgrounds.

The Northeast Community Center serves the growth, development, & education of the diverse Northeast for 80+ years. Today, our mission continues through Harmony Project KC, providing free music education & wraparound services to our community.

Mattie Rhodes Center's after-school arts program provides access to high-quality arts education to low-income, underserved children in a safe, creative space where children of all ages learn and experience many different forms of visual arts.

LAF brings forth the fiercely authentic voice of underrepresented and under resourced Latino communities through art, culture, cultural identity and diverse stories creating space OF our communities FOR our communities.

KC Contemporary Dance is a professional non-profit dance company presenting high-quality performances across the Midwest region. KCCD is committed to the continued experimentation of movement through innovative programs and artistic collaboration.

KCAI is the premier art and design college serving Kansas City. Contemporary art and design, professional practice, and cutting-edge technology ensure KCAI graduates are the next generation of creative leaders in the Kansas City community.

Heartland Arts KC trains performing artists to become advocates for social justice. Their programming guides artists of different disciplines through collaboration with policy experts and community leaders to produce a final advocacy-based showcase.

EarlystART promotes its mission of "Building bridges. Inspiring minds. Impacting Futures" through the arts. Arts@EarlystART supports daily arts instruction, performances, and family engagement activities for children ages six weeks to five years.

CHWC’s arts programming engages community members in visual and performing arts activities, increases public art, and contributes to an excellent quality of life for Wyandotte County, Kansas residents.

Base Academy of Music provides sliding-cost private music lessons to urban youth in Kansas City, MO. We make high-quality private lessons with professional musicians geographically and economically accessible to underserved families.

To better the lives of underserved urban youth through artistic, technical, health, and educational skills. Young entrepreneurial artists produce visual, ceramic, music, poetry, fiber arts, dance, and other fine art mediums for the community.

The 2023 Art in the Loop Project: Celebrate, a curated outdoor art exhibition, & multi-genre/media performance series, takes place this summer in Downtown KC. Artwork will be displayed along the KC Streetcar line and wrap one streetcar vehicle.

AIGA KC, a professional organization of design, seeks to celebrate black design through showcasing black talent, celebrating artists on a national platform and educating the public on the experience of black creatives in design through Pick Posters.

Youth Symphony of Kansas City’s mission is to challenge, educate and inspire students through meaningful and enriching musical experiences. Its vision is to be the premier program of choice while building a lifetime of passion for music and the arts.

The William Baker Choral Foundation inspires, instructs, promotes excellence in performance, educates participants in healthy singing, enables modern choral works, and preserves historic choral music, empowering creators of new expressions in KC.

Unicorn Theatre is a 49-year-old professional theatre in the heart of Midtown KC. They produce bold new plays that tackle tough issues and illuminate marginalized stories, plays that spark ideas and conversations on the ride home and days after.

When young people attend a performance at Theatre for Young America they not only see live professional theater of the highest quality, they get a chance to meet professional actors, ask questions on topics in the play, and about the art of theater!

Our mission is to provide the KC Metro area with unique opportunities via live theatre, community events, and education. STG Studio provides opportunities in a non-competitive environment so artists of all ages can grow within desired disciplines.

Spinning Tree connects young artists with and without disabilities to professional artists to collaborate on and create theatre. We believe that people of all abilities have a right to experience and participate in the arts.

Owen/Cox Dance Group creates new music and dance collaborations, presents high-quality, contemporary dance performances with live music, and engages as wide an audience as possible through affordable live performances and outreach programs.

Music Theater Heritage is an innovative professional musical theater dedicated to the appreciation and historical understanding and cultural contributions of the American musical that provides top-quality, diverse productions in Crown Center.

Mesner Puppet Theater inspires play and cultivates connections through puppetry. Our programs are primarily for young people ages 2-8 and their educators and caregivers. We serve 15,000 people each year through our live and digital programs.

The KC Fringe Festival is the largest celebration of arts and culture in the KC metro area, empowering a diverse array of events to inspire creativity and provide a platform for artists to present and refine new works and introduce new genres.

KC Clay Guild is a nonprofit ceramic arts center. KCCG offers classes for all skill levels, open pottery studios, and workshops. We are open to every member of the Kansas City community.

The KCYA mission is to engage all youth in the arts, promote creativity, and inspire success in education. With philanthropic support and in collaboration with school partners KCYA provides classes, workshops, performances, and residencies for kids.

The Kansas City Symphony is one of the nation’s premier orchestras, presenting a full range of classical, pops, family, holiday, film, and special concerts throughout the year, along with extensive education programming.

Through performances and education programs, The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra preserves the rich heritage of jazz, nurtures its growth, and encourages its appreciation as an art form for all ages at Kauffman Center and other venues. ​

KCFAA makes dance accessible to all people, inspiring community engagement. Programs for students provide experiences in dance training (ballet, modern, jazz, and tap), social-emotional skill building, public performance, and advanced training.

The Kansas City Chamber Orchestra produces high-quality performances of classical and contemporary chamber music in traditional venues and outdoor public spaces and will include student education programs and concerts.

The mission of Kansas City Ballet is to inspire and engage through the beauty, power, and passion of dance. Since 1957, Kansas City Ballet has delivered exceptional performances, excellence in dance training and community education programs for all.

The Kansas City Artists Coalition (KCAC) is a charitable nonprofit organization that promotes visual arts awareness in Kansas City and the surrounding region, and supports the professional growth of artists.

Kansas City Actors Theatre (KCAT) presents thought-provoking plays that explore, celebrate, and share what it is to be human, with sensitivity, intelligence, and humor. Great Actors. Smart Plays.

InterUrban ArtHouse empowers under-resourced artists to thrive, enriching the lives and communities of the KC metro through the arts across media. We do this through our space, programs, social justice mission, and Creative Placemaking.

Our mission is to make the works of Shakespeare and Shakespeare-inspired works accessible to a diverse audience through a free, professional, outdoor festival, and additional free and paid performances and educational programs.

The Harriman-Jewell Series offers a variety of high-quality, inspirational performance experiences each year, ranging from the world’s leading classical performing artists to emerging superstars of tomorrow.

The Folly Theater enhances lives through the power of the arts. As Kansas City’s oldest theater, the Folly serves as an exceptional place of artistic expression, featuring diverse artists and performances representative of the community we serve.

Charlotte Street centers KC’s most forward-thinking visual artists, writers, and performers—acting as the primary incubator, provocateur, and connector for the region’s contemporary arts community, and its leading advocate on the national stage.

Many kids want to join their school’s band or orchestra but cannot afford their own instrument. Band of Angels collects music instruments and provides them to low-income and underserved kids who now can be a part of their school’s music programs.

The Arts Asylum has been a safe place to create and a staple within the artistic community of Kansas City for over a decade.

Art as Mentorship’s (AM) mission is to empower young people, through music, to write their own success stories. Our programs provide underserved young artists access to world-class mentorship, real-world skill development, and mental health support.

The Youth Chorus of Kansas City offers singers in grades 3-12 the opportunity to pursue excellence through performance, build skills and experience, become leaders in their communities — and have fun in an activity that will bring life-long joy.

For 30 years WHCDC has performed dance works by emerging and established choreographers, presenting the most powerful works from the rich archive of American modern dance, connecting with a broad spectrum of diverse patrons.

Whispering Prairie Press is an all-volunteer publisher of two annual magazines that feature visual art, poetry, and prose: Kansas City Voices and KC Voices Youth.

Westwood Ensemble is a community orchestra committed to bringing symphonic music to diverse audiences. Shorter programs with educational presentations are perfect for those new to classical music. We welcome all ages and levels of musical knowledge!

Te Deum performs a diverse sacred choral repertoire in a uniquely relevant context to create a musically inspiring, spiritually stirring experience. Our 15th-anniversary season will feature choral works by Mozart, Monteverdi, and many others.

Summit Art encourages, promotes, educates and recognizes local artists. We inspire and engage our community by advancing an appreciation for the visual arts. Visit our two annual festivals and local exhibitions to explore creative expression.

Stray Cat Film Center is an artist-run, non-profit microcinema. Curated and run by volunteers, Stray Cat’s fifty-seat theater screens a diverse roster of fun and challenging films that span the entire range of moving image expressions.

Spire Chamber Ensemble inspires, educates, and enriches the Kansas City metropolitan community through the transformational power of great choral music performed at the highest artistic level.

plug is a curatorial collaboration with the mission of bringing fresh perspectives and conversation to the local cultural community. Our goal is to exhibit challenging new work, initiate critical dialogue, and expand connections of artists.

No Divide KC partners with Kansas City-based artists and organizations to create artistic events that are focused on the stories of underserved and misrepresented communities in Kansas City.

newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble is a professional music ensemble performing the work of living composers. We strive to bring Kansas City and the surrounding region the most eclectic, diverse, and cutting-edge creative trends of the 21st century.

The Midwest Music Foundation unites and empowers the Kansas City area music community by providing health care assistance, education and career development, events and resources.

KC VITAs (Kansas City Vibrating Internal Thyroarytenoids,) is a group of professional singers with the mission to promote the continued creation and performance of “contemporary-classical” vocal music and the Greater Kansas City Metropolitan area.

KC Jazz ALIVE! supports jazz music in alignment with the five pillars of its mission - Awareness, Listening, Ideas, Voice and Exposure- to make Kansas City the premier destination for quality jazz and live music for performers, attendees and venues.

The Kansas City Women's Chorus is the only regional women's chorus inspiring through performance, embracing diversity and advocating social justice.

Kansas City Public Theatre provides access to the arts through year-round professional theatre entertainment free of charge to the public at locations throughout Kansas City. Be Radical.

The Kansas City Kansas Community Orchestra are musicians of all ages who enjoy playing. We love it all – the classics, pop, marches, movie themes. We seek to enhance our musical talents while sharing our love of music and have fun in the process.

Kansas City A Cappella is dedicated to providing a unique educational and musical experience for high school students around the Kansas City metropolitan area. This organization houses the nationally ranked vocal a cappella group, SoundProof.

ICE STUDIOS SCHOOL OF DANCE offers professional dance classes to students of different ages and physical abilities, emphasizing living a healthy lifestyle through exercise and proper nutrition.

GUILDit provides artists of all disciplines with best business practices to increase their success. We do this with forums, special events, and workspaces that connect artists and community. Our vision is a growing Kansas City economy and culture.

We are Grupo Axé Capoeira of Kansas City. We invest Time, Energy, Belief, Passion, and Love into people, allowing Capoeira to grow in each of us, a strength that knows no limits. When the Axé (positivity) is high and alive, Kansas City is blessed.

Ensemble Ibérica performs music from Ibéria (Spain and Portugal) and other areas of the world connected to the Iberian diaspora while educating the public about Ibérian cultural influence.

Drugstore KC is an artist-run 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to connecting Kansas City Metro artists to sustainable, equitable, and accessible creative spaces and opportunities.

City in Motion Dance Theater, Inc. has been a part of Kansas City for 37 years. Our mission is to foster the development of high-quality dance programming and expand the dance audience in the KCMO metro area.

The Barn Players, Kansas City's oldest community theater, produces quality and affordable live entertainment while nurturing the theater artist in practicing their craft.

Arts in Prison is a comprehensive arts program for the incarcerated. We offer a broad range of programs so that there is something for anyone who in interested in making positive change.

5 Star Jazz Band is a nonprofit community music education and performance group open to musicians age 12-21, free of charge, dedicated to providing the unique opportunity to perform in and manage a full Big Band and jazz combo.

Brydie O’Connor is a Kansas-bred filmmaker. Her work focuses on queer stories, and has screened at festivals such as Outfest and Kansas City International Film Festival along with galleries and The Museum of Modern Art. She is inspired by archival histories, LGBTQ+ intergenerational dialogue, and her upbringing in the Midwest. 

Youth Symphony of Kansas City’s mission is to challenge, educate and inspire students through meaningful and enriching musical experiences. Its vision is to be the premier program of choice while building a lifetime of passion for music and the arts.

The William Baker Choral Foundation inspires, instructs, promotes excellence in performance, educates participants in healthy singing, enables modern choral works, and preserves historic choral music, empowering creators of new expressions in KC.

Unicorn Theatre is the only theatre in the Kansas City region committed to producing exclusively Regional and World Premieres of Bold New Plays.

Starlight Theatre is dedicated to producing, presenting and promoting an exceptional arts experience by delivering the highest-quality live entertainment for all audiences, superior theatre arts education, and impactful outreach programs.

The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures educates, inspires, and delights adults and children through the collection and preservation of toys and miniatures.

MTH is an innovative organization dedicated to the appreciation and understanding of the American musical theater and its contributions to our culture. MTH increases arts access, develops audiences, and employs over 300 arts professionals annually.

The Midwest Music Foundation unites and empowers the Kansas City area music community by providing health care assistance, education and career development, events and resources.

MPT was founded in 1987 to “inspire communities through innovative puppetry”. Today we are expanding that mission by creating puppetry programs that support the social, emotional, and aesthetic development of young people ages 4-8 and their adults!

Lyric Opera of Kansas City offers operatic performances to the Kansas City area. Our mission is to be indispensable to the public through transformational opera experiences and broad service which captures the hearts and minds of our communities.

The Museum strives to bring the best of contemporary art and artists to visitors of all ages and abilities free of admission and parking charges to stimulate dialogue about the issues and topics that concern people today.

KC Clay Guild is a nonprofit ceramic arts center. KCCG offers classes for all skill levels, open pottery studios, and workshops. We are open to every member of the Kansas City community.

The KCYA mission is to engage all youth in the arts, promote creativity, and inspire success in education. With philanthropic support and in collaboration with school partners KCYA provides classes, workshops, performances, and residencies for kids.

KCRep operates in service to its mission to inspire, entertain, and open minds by creating transformative theatre experiences for all. Each year we welcome more than 65,000 patrons to performances of new and classic plays and musicals.

Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey presents culturally relevant arts education programs and events. Youth of color, grades K – 12 from low-income households in underserved communities are the primary beneficiaries of our programs.

The mission of Kansas City Ballet is to inspire and engage through the beauty, power, and passion of dance. Since 1957, Kansas City Ballet has delivered exceptional performances, excellence in dance training and community education programs for all.

The Kansas City Artists Coalition (KCAC) is a charitable nonprofit organization that promotes visual arts awareness in Kansas City and the surrounding region, and supports the professional growth of artists.

Our mission is to produce thought-provoking plays that explore, celebrate, and share what it is to be human, with sensitivity, intelligence, and humor. We nurture our artistic community by employing the finest local talents diverse theatre community.

InterUrban ArtHouse empowers under-resourced artists to thrive, enriching the lives and communities of the KC metro through the arts across media. We do this through our space, our programs, our social justice mission, and Creative Placemaking.

Our mission is to make the works of Shakespeare and Shakespeare-inspired works accessible to a diverse audience through a free, professional, outdoor festival, and additional free and paid performances and educational programs.

The Harriman-Jewell Series’ offers a variety of high-quality, inspirational performance experiences each year ranging from the world’s leading classical performing artists to emerging superstars of tomorrow.

CSF's mission is to identify the needs and fuel the evolution of an ever-changing multidisciplinary arts ecosystem, acting as its primary provocateur. Charlotte Street provides artists with the freedom and resources to take risks and flourish.

Many kids want to join their school’s band or orchestra but cannot afford their own instrument. Band of Angels collects music instruments and provides them to low-income and underserved kids who now can be a part of their school’s music programs.

Ballet North strives to engage students and audiences of all ages and backgrounds throughout the Northland region of Kansas City in the learning, enjoyment and magic of ballet.

The Arts Asylum has been a safe place to create and a staple within the artistic community of Kansas City for over a decade.

Located in the Historic 18th & Vine Jazz District, the American Jazz Museum showcases the sights and sounds of jazz through interactive exhibits and films, the Changing Gallery exhibit space, The Blue Room, and Gem Theater.

Whispering Prairie Press is an all-volunteer publisher of two annual magazines that feature visual art, poetry, and prose: Kansas City Voices and KC Voices Youth. See our guidelines here: http://www.wppress.org/submissions/ http://www.wppress.org

WaterFire KC seeks to revitalize and draw the community together, provide community arts access, and inspire with large-scale visual arts installations and live performing arts.

TYA strives to nurture educational and emotional growth of young people through drama; and to nourish the spirits, of young people; and to make these rich benefits available to all socio-economic levels and underserved populations.

Our mission is to provide the KC Metro area with unique opportunities via live theatre, community events, and education. STG Studio provides opportunities in a non-competitive environment so artists of all ages can grow within desired disciplines.

Spire Chamber Ensemble inspires, educates, and enriches the Kansas City metropolitan community through the transformational power of great choral music performed at the highest artistic level.

Spinning Tree connects young artists – those with disabilities and those non-disabled – with professional artists to collaborate on and create theatre. We believe that people of all abilities have a right to experience and participate in the arts.

The mission of Quixotic Foundation (QF) is to enable people from all economic backgrounds to experience and learn about the performing arts. We provide unique free performances and educational programming for underserved constituencies.

plug is a curatorial collaboration with the mission of bringing fresh perspectives and conversation to the local cultural community. Our goal is to exhibit challenging new work, initiate critical dialogue, and expand connections of artists.

Our mission is to create and empower musicians of all ages and those interested in classical music with opportunities to perform or enjoy a high standard of music free of charge.

No Divide KC uses the arts as a vehicle for stimulating social awareness, participation and community building. They create artistic events focused on the stories of underserved and misrepresented communities with local artists and organizations.

newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble is a professional music ensemble performing the work of living composers. We strive to bring Kansas City and the surrounding region the most eclectic, diverse, and cutting-edge creative trends of the 21st century.

The mission of Landlocked Opera Inc is to serve the Kansas City community with quality productions and performers with meaningful artistic opportunities. We believe in Opera for All and seek to improve access to the art form.

KC VITAs (Kansas City Vibrating Internal Thyroarytenoids,) is a group of professional singers with the mission to promote the continued creation and performance of “contemporary-classical” vocal music and the Greater Kansas City Metropolitan area.

KC Jazz Alive strives to raise the tides that lift all jazz boats. Our vision is to make Kansas City the premier destination for jazz and live music, benefiting Kansas City musicians, audiences, and venues.

The KC Fringe Festival is the largest celebration of arts and culture in the KC metro area, empowering a diverse array of events to inspire creativity and provide a platform for artists to present and refine new works and introduce new genres.

The Kansas City Women's Chorus is the only regional women's chorus inspiring through performance, embracing diversity and advocating social justice.

Kansas City Public Theatre provides access to the arts through year-round professional theatre entertainment free of charge to the public at locations throughout Kansas City. Be Radical.

The Kansas City Chamber Orchestra produces high quality performances of classical and contemporary chamber music in traditional venues, outdoor public spaces and virtual concerts and will include three student education concerts.

ICE STUDIOS SCHOOL OF DANCE offers professional dance classes to students of different ages and physical abilities with an emphasis on living a healthy lifestyle through exercise and proper nutrition.

GUILDit provides artists of all disciplines with best business practices in order to increase their success. We do this with forums, special events and workspaces that connect artists with the community. Our vision is a growing Kansas City economy.

Ensemble Ibérica performs music from Ibéria (Spain and Portugal) and other areas of the world connected to the Iberian diaspora while educating the public about Ibérian cultural influence.

City in Motion Dance Theater believes that “Dance is for everyBODY.” From our facilities in Westport, we will operate a world class dance performing arts campus that honors Kansas City’s unique heritage and uplifts old and new lovers of dance.

The Barn Players, Kansas City's oldest community theater, produces quality and affordable live entertainment while nurturing the theater artist in practicing their craft.

Arts in Prison uses the arts to encourage the incarcerated to reconnect to the best of themselves and to reconnect to their community for betterment of both.

Art as Mentorship’s (AM) mission is to empower young people, through music, to write their own success stories. Our programs provide underserved young artists access to world-class mentorship, real-world skill development, and mental health support.

5 Star Jazz Band is a nonprofit community music education and performance group open to all motivated student musicians age 12-21, free of charge, dedicated to providing the unique opportunity to perform in and manage a full Big Band and jazz combo,

The Wires String Duo will be partnering with the Habitat Contemporary Gallery from June 2022-May 2023 to present a collaborative concert series that will connect music, art and audience. Musician-composers from the Wires String Duo will compose 12 original musical works, inspired by each of the artists showing at the Habitat Gallery. The music will be presented in concert as world premieres based on each artists’ work selected per six week exhibition cycle. The Wires String Duo will perform their compositions with dialogue between the audience, artists and musicians for a fully immersive marriage of visual art expressed in sound form. The performance will become a musical interpretation of the art itself, making a deeper connections to the art, artists and fellow humans.

Summer Brooks is a multimedia sculptor expressing the beauty of Black women. She will be creating an exhibition at KCAC centering around the importance of hair and beauty in the Black community. Beauty standards have been set by western ideals that value lighter skin and thinner noses. By creating Black figures basking in their love for themselves, Summer hopes to instill positivity where those harmful values has caused trauma. Funding will assist in material research for pieces creating for the exhibition and studio space rental.

For the theatre community and the larger community in the Kansas City region, "lost narratives" of the last 400 plus years come to life in "Only the Wounds and Weapons Have Changed". All who experience this stage play will find their own understanding of racism and white supremacy deepened, and they will gain personal power to become liberated themselves. The play makes a serious contribution to the un-erasing of Black History. The play helps to dismantle what author James Baldwin called "the white falsification of history", replacing it with the whole truth. Jacqueline Gafford and Scott Myers are writers. Through writing this play, and staging it, they hope to empower people of all races to transform their thinking and imagine a world of freedom, equity and mutual understanding.

Sam Wright, actor-playwright, producing and performing a new full-length musical comedy, Prejudice & Pride, written by himself and UK-based performer-director, Nicholas Collett, based Jane Austen's novel, but re-imagined as a modern, American, gender-swapped folk musical. The project intends to create a joyous theatre experience for examining social and cultural divides in current American culture and applying to them a radical exercise in empathy. The play has been awarded the Artist Residency at Music Theater Heritage for a fully-staged run July 8-24, 2022. It will also appear at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the world's largest international theatre marketplace, August 5-27, 2022. Grant funds will go toward paying the actors, musicians, and technicians.

Multi-disciplinary artists José Faus, Isaac Tapia, Rico Alvarez, and MG Salazar are bringing Faus' children's story "Possum Trot" to life in a fully - illustrated children's book. To be designed and published by La Resistencia Press, this will be the first children's book for all involved. Featuring characters and a story line unique to Kansas City, this book is a nostalgic love letter to the city we've grown up in, and to the generation that comes after us. We will premiere the book later 2022, and look forward for everyone to join us for our book releases. Grant funds will be used for producing the artistry needed, and publication.

Melinda Hedgecorth, flamenco dancer and choreographer, presents Orígenes, a music and dance timeline about the tangled roots of flamenco to be performed at Interurban Arthouse and 3 Title-1 schools in Johnson County, KS. After living 14 years in Sevilla, Spain, Melinda returned to her hometown and created 45° LLC whose mission is to bring the culture of Sevilla to sister city Kansas City. Musicians who perform as part of Orígenes are: Beau Bledsoe guitar/oud and musical direction, Antonio Rojas song and concept, Ezgi Karakus cello, Coleen Dieker violin and John Currey percussion. Grant funds will be used for artist fees, sound equipment and advertising to share the story of the development of Flamenco from medieval to modern times.

The world is changing and our young people need music that reflects the present moment and enables them to connect to each other and express themselves. By working with young people to choose music for the next generations to learn from, New Voices for the Young Flutist is revolutionizing the repertoire for flutists. Young people from Kansas City schools picked the winners and now flutist, Mary Holzhausen and Pianist, Charles Dickenson are touring to bring this new and innovative music to young audiences. Concerts will be performed at schools in Kansas City and surrounding Universities in Kansas and Missouri.

My name is Linda Jurkiewicz and I am a fiber artist. Historically, working with cloth is considered “Women’s Work” and I utilize this medium to explore and challenge past and current viewpoints of women’s roles in our society in my artistic practice. “Integration of Inner and Outer Life through Working with Textiles” will provide the opportunity for participants to learn the art of weaving, explore their creativity through textile arts, and connect with a new aspect of themselves through working with fiber arts. I will be reaching out to organizations within Kansas City to offer these workshops through a free one-hour introductory class. Grant funds will be used to advertise the workshops, purchase the looms and supplies, and to offer reduced costs to specific populations.

Lauren Phillips is a queer visual artist exploring romanticism, consent, and empowerment. Through the creation of large scale wood cutout paintings, a neon sign, and a mirrored piece, Lauren represents familiar romantic imagery coupled with eerie elements to show how beauty, power and fear are all tied together in the experience of femininity. Her work considers what women are encouraged to value and pairs it with the often overlooked, but frequently felt, dangers of these experiences. Lauren’s solo exhibition, Touch Me / Don’t Touch Me, will take place at Plug Gallery in June 2022 through August 2022. The grant funds will be used to complete the fabrication of the artwork and allow Lauren to use new mediums like neon and laser cut mirrors.

Queer Saxophonists Nathan Mertens (he/him) and Kyle Jones (he/him) are currently commissioning a new chamber work from Anthony Green (he/him) and a solo work by Olivia Shortt (they/them), specifically addressing narratives existing inside the LGBTQIA+ community. As classical saxophonists, we looked internally at our own community and our repertoire and began asking, “What music is currently being represented and what voices are missing?” In addition to the public performance of these works, Nathan and Kyle will be partnering with local LGBTQIA+ organizations to offer a mentorship/learning opportunity with area LGBTQIA+ youth.

No Treble is a Kansas City based classical low string trio. The group is comprised of Katherine Hilger on viola, Daniel Yung on cello, and Krista Kopper on double bass. No Treble will use funds provided by Arts KC to commission three Kansas City based female composers to compose a 10 to 15 minute piece for the group. No Treble will premier these works at a live in-person concert along with two other already composed contemporary works. They will also record these pieces at a professional recording studio to release as their debut album.

Kevin Church Johnson (singer, multi-instrumentalist and music producer) and Natasha Ria El-Scari (spoken word artist and author) present, We Found Us, a conceptual collaboration of spoken word, R&B, Hip Hop and more. This purpose of this project is to give voice to the taboo around relationships that cross boundaries of status, age, education and more. We Found Us will be recorded for all media platforms and distribution as an independent project as well as recorded in a live performance with hopes to book travel for live appearances. Grant funds will be used to create the project in its entirety.

Julia Othmer – Performance Artist - SEVEN – Around the World in Seven Songs is a multimedia interdisciplinary project addressing climate change and our endangered natural and cultural world. Othmer focuses on seven locations around the globe - one on each continent. In collaboration with local artists, artisans, environmental non-profits and NGOs, she curates a unique arts experience celebrating this specific place. At the center of each location celebration is a musical interpretation, performed in a language indigenous to the place. SEVEN includes a film of these collaborations, a studio album of music, and a comprehensive website detailing the project and all of its global collaborators. Grant funds will be used to pay contributing artists’ fees, locally and internationally.

Eva Louise Hall is an independent filmmaker professionally specializing in stop motion animation and theatrical puppetry. She has recently completed her most ambitious film to date, a stop-motion surrealist horror film entitled 'Mira'. She is using the release of 'Mira' as a catalyst to partner with an ensemble of local artists and musicians in the creation of an immersive, theatrical exhibition event to transport the Kansas City arts community into the world of her film, in celebration of the collective artistry and talent that went into making a film like this possible. These grant funds will be used to cover costs associated with this exhibition, launching the film's initial promotion and festival campaign.

Eugenia Ortiz, visionary artist, designer, entrepreneur, who paints Intention Mural Portals in private homes and businesses to elevate the energy of the space and viewer. Grant funds will be used to document the entire process of Eugenia’ Intention Mural Portal process as well as highlighting her new removable wall mural technique.

Elise Gagliardi will be presenting her solo exhibition “Remnants” this spring. Remnants is a new, exploratory, photographic still-life series. It is what the artist calls “still-life portraiture.” It is an exploration of how people attach themselves, and personal meaning, to physical objects.Her photography presents a layered narrative of time and place in each image. By using her own collection and collaborating with others she uses these sentimental relics to create these “self-portraits.” The exhibition will run from 4/15/22 to 5/13/22. In the newest Curiouser and Curiouser Gallery space on Strawberry Hill. Curated by; Cesar Lopez, Sam Haan, Madaline Brice, and Rhiannon Caballero. All funds granted to Elise will be used towards the time, materials, and putting on of this exhibition.

Elaine Buss is a visual artist. The Inspiration Grant will support the largest iteration of her “Breathe Before” wall installation series. The piece will be in a solo exhibit at Lux Center for the Arts in Lincoln, Nebraska in 2023. The surface motifs on these pieces will come from rubbings she makes of details and textures pulled from family homesteads in Southern Illinois, the country church from her upbringing, and Kansas City’s architecture and history. Together these places represent what she observes many from her generation experiencing: a further shift from a religious, rural life to a secular, urban life. The different motifs will play off each other: some will be specific and others more anonymous. Just like a person, the piece will be a sum of different places and experiences.

Caley Rose, Empowering Pop Singer & Songwriter plans to record new motivational songs to further her "Music with a Message" Program. "Music with a Message" is a program Caley created in which she speaks about confidence and performs empowering music in schools for students ages 5 to 18. Grant Funds will be used to produce three new songs: "Stand Up," "Silence Speaks," and "Stop Chasing Boys," with producer, Matt Beilis, and to create marketing materials and take home flyers for students. Where and How: Caley will record the vocals at her home studio while working remotely on the instrumentation with producer, Matt Beilis, who lives in NY.

Caitlin Horsmon, filmmaker and artist, will create a new film work while in residence at Mirante Xique-Xique in Igantu in the state of Bahia, Brazil in August 2022. Grant funding will be used to support the production of the film.

Brian Hawkins is a visual artist and documentary filmmaker whose current project is an animated short of a French folktale from Missouri called Le Petit Bœuf aux cornes d'or. It will be featured at the tricentennial celebration of the French Creole community of Old Mines, Missouri, before being submitted to film festivals. Grant funds will be used to help finance the production of this independent animation.

Andrew Johnson is an author, essayist, and poet whose work has been published in The Sun, Crazyhorse, Image, Guernica, and elsewhere. This grant application is for the independent publishing of his latest book, The Thread, a collection of poetry and prose. He is working with a local design firm and a local printer so that his latest book will be entirely homegrown in Kansas City. If awarded the Inspiration Grant, the funds would immediately be put to work in support of the production costs prior to the book release in late summer 2022.

Adams Puryear is an interdisciplinary artist, curator and educator who will use funds from the Inspiration Grant to finance his curatorial project Lamplighters, an exhibit of ceramic based lighted objects at Vulpes Bastille in October 2022. The grant will be used to facilitate artist collaboration of over 20 artists and finance associated studio fees and materials, performer fees, gallery hardware and pedestals, as well as posters and postcards. This grant will help support a themed project exhibition at the intersection of art and design and strengthen the arts community by bringing together different groups of artists to create lighted ceramic based artworks.

Abby Bland, spoken word comic, is creating You Are Here, to premiere in the Kansas City Fringe Festival in July 2022. You Are Here is a one person poetry and comedy show that aims to uplift audiences as it highlights the ways we often inherit the stories we tell about ourselves and how we always have the power to change the narrative. Grant funds will be used for advertising, photography and video of the show.

WCA’s mission is to uncover the hidden beauty and meaning in KC through music, theatre, arts exhibits, and with this grant request, the Dancing Word – a creative art form that emerged from the pandemic combining spoken word, dance, and visual art.

EarlystART promotes its mission of "Building bridges. Inspiring minds. Impacting Futures" through the arts. Arts@EarlystART supports daily arts instruction, performances, and family engagement activities for children ages six weeks to five years.

Through touring puppet shows to free giant puppet community events, SPT works locally and globally to open the minds of the young and young at heart through the art of puppetry in an interdisciplinary community of ethnic and cultural diversity.

Owen/Cox Dance Group creates new music and dance collaborations, presents high-quality contemporary dance performances with live music, and engages as wide an audience as possible through affordable live performances and outreach programs.

In a Kansas City community with 25+ languages spoken, music is the universal language at Harmony Project KC! HPKC is a free after-school orchestral music program for children K-12.

MAFB is KC's LGBTQ+ and allied adult community band dedicated to performing diverse new works and providing a stage for all. Its motto is "Pride in Every Note".

Mattie Rhodes Center's After-School Arts Program provides access to high quality arts education to low-income, underserved children in a safe, creative space where children of all ages learn and experience many different forms of visual arts.

KC Contemporary Dance is a professional dance company that produces and performs new works around the Midwest region. KC Contemporary Dance strives to make dance accessible to all patrons, and offers many public events at low or no cost.

The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra preserves the rich heritage of jazz, collaborates to create new jazz works, and encourages its appreciation as a genre for all ages through performances and education programs.

KCAI is the premier art and design college serving Kansas City. Contemporary art and design, professional practice, and cutting-edge technology ensure KCAI graduates are the next generation of creative leaders in the Kansas City community.

KANSAS ACADEMY OF THEATRICAL ARTS: We teach, we inspire, we connect! Our leadership training in the performing arts launches young people into the world of work. We are creative assets to our community. We are educational theatre at it's BEST!

JCCC's Midwest Trust Center presents professional touring artists from all over the world PLUS Kansas City's best.

Heartland Chamber Music's mission is to connect, engage and inspire students of all ages through a lifetime of music education and performance. String Sprout KC provides music instruction and access to instruments in underserved areas.

The Folly Theater stands as Kansas City’s oldest operating theater whose mission is to enhance lives through the power of the arts. The Folly Kids’ Series provides engaging, educational, and accessible performing arts experiences for metro youth.

First Act Theatre Art's HEART Program is a full inclusion program that provides students with developmental disabilities the opportunity to participate in classes, shows, and camps. Our video amplifies HEART voices to inform and welcome others.

CHWC’s arts programming engages community members in visual and performing arts activities, increases public art, and contributes to excellent quality of life for the residents of Wyandotte County, KS.

To better the lives of underserved urban youth through artistic, technical, health, and educational skills. Young entrepreneurial artists produce visual, ceramic, music, poetry, fiber arts, dance and other fine art mediums for the community.

The 2022 Art in the Loop Project: Sustainable, a curated outdoor art exhibition, and multi-genre/media performance series, takes place this summer along in Downtown KC. Artwork will be displayed at streetcar shelters and wrap one streetcar vehicle.