Enjoy KC Art {by David Oliver}

Oct. 27, 2010  |  By: David Oliver  |  Category: Economic Development, KC Arts and Culture, Marketing KC
Tags: Arts Incubator, Crossroads Arts District, First Friday, Hello Art, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, KC Creativity, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Lied Center, Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Yardley Hall

[David Oliver is a lawyer at Berkowitz Oliver Williams Shaw and Eisenbrandt LLP with offices in Prairie Village, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri. David's guest post is the first in a series KCADC will be running to highlight the region's arts and culture assets over the next year.]

I don’t know about you but when I travel, I always make time to visit the museums, theaters, art galleries, and other cultural offerings that the city has.  I’ve decided to regularly visit Kansas City the way I visit other cities.  I’d encourage you to do it, too.  It’s an incredible experience.

Did you know that Kansas City has gained national recognition as a great city to visit for arts and culture?  A recent article in the Sunday travel section of The New York Times confirmed that.  The other big news is it’s a great place for artists of all types to live and work.  I’ve been meeting a lot of them: performers, painters, sculptors, and print makers.  It gets me out of whatever rut I am in!

Last Saturday, I watched workers putting the windows in at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.  I can’t wait to look out those windows.  We live across the street from the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art and saw the Bloch Building rise out of the ground. It’s glow at night is amazing – what is going on inside it – even better.   Earlier in the month I went to Hello Art at the Arts Incubator and saw an incredible mix of artists and their work.  Once a month, I am out at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art near Johnson County Community College.  The current exhibition by the Gao Brothers at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art brings Chinese artists to Kansas City.  I am buying local art from local artists because of all this!

What impresses me most about the Crossroads Arts District’s First Friday events is the incredible mix of people from all over the area walking the street.  Families bring their kids; bands spontaneously performing on the street.  It’s safe. It’s free!  A creative mix is in the air.

It is incredibly easy to get around our area even though we are spread out.  In fact, arts and culture are a connector for our region.  We see obvious examples in the Bloch Building at the Nelson, the Kauffman Center being finished in the Crossroads, the Nerman Museum, the renovated Starlight, and the list goes on.  Arts and culture know no boundaries – there’s the Lied Center in Lawrence, the Independence Events Center, and Yardley Hall at Johnson County Community College. I live on the Plaza but can get to the Nerman in less than half an hour.  The Kauffman Center will be easily accessible from all parts of the metropolitan area.  The Crossroads is easy to get to and there is lots of parking.

Why should a trial lawyer like me care?  Because I want Kansas City to make it as a thriving metropolis of the 21^st century.  The arts in Kansas City make it a unique place to live and work.  The arts and cultural ecology that is growing by leaps and bounds is a major driver of our economy, whether we realize it or not.  Businesses want to locate in communities that have a vibrant arts and culture component.

I applaud the Kansas City Area Development Council for putting a flag in the ground in support of our regional arts and culture assets. This year’s annual luncheon, KC Creativity – Driving Innovation and the Arts, puts an important stamp of approval on why we should ALL care about fostering a vibrant cultural community.

So, join me in visiting our city the way we visit other cities.  Try some local cultural tourism.  You’ll really experience something great.