If you want a say on the future of the arts in Kansas City, the Mayor’s Task Force on the Arts wants to hear it.
A community outreach campaign called Envision Arts & Culture KC starts January 28. It begins with a meeting hosted by Mayor Sly James at Arts Tech, 1522 Holmes St., from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Then a series of 22 hour-long sessions take place city wide between January 29 and January. 30.
“These meetings will be held morning, noon and night and we hope our friends, neighbors and fellow citizens take advantage of this opportunity to help build Kansas City’s legacy and future as a cultural center,” Public Art Administrator Peter Arneill said
The arts have long played a major role in Kansas City, perhaps starting with Midtown’s Kansas City Art Institute in 1885. The Municipal Art Commission started in 1926, amid lavish architecture and jazz. Later the one percent for art program that began in 1994 funded the sky stations on top of Bartle Hall among other projects.
The task force marks the first major review of arts policy since 1997 and its results will go into an assessment and planning report that the city council will use to update art and cultural policy.
Former councilman Mike Burke, who is board chair of the mayor’s group, said the effort “is about what the arts can do for Kansas City and what Kansas City can do for the arts.”
The meetings scheduled in Midtown are: on Jan. 29 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at the Plaza branch of the library, 4801 Main St.; and on Jan. 30 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Bluford library branch, 3050 Prospect Ave,
People can also share thoughts and ideas online, at www.envisionackc.com.
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