Arts & Culture

Stories and videos about music, dance, visual and performing arts and film in the Kansas City metro.

A portion of a front page of theKansas City Star from 1966 featuring Joe Draegert

‘Invest Your Son’ — Catching Up With the KCAI Student Who Spoke Against the Vietnam War and Caused A National Furor

The year was 1966. The Vietnam War was escalating, but the public tide had not yet fully turned against the war. That didn’t stop Joe Draegert, then a 20-year-old student at Kansas City Art Institute, from deciding to make a statement. Even as a boy, growing up in the small town of Chariton, Iowa, Draegert…

Read More >
‘Darby O’Still,’ the focal point of North Kansas City's Restless Spirits distillery, is a 500-gallon, onion-shaped, copper pot still specifically designed to produce Irish whiskey. (Photo: Jonathan Bender | Flatland)

Kansas City’s Big Picnic & Other Weekend Possibilities

This is the time of year when you gather the whole city for a picnic. Kansas City’s Big Picnic is Sunday on the lawn of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (4525 Oak St.). The event will celebrate the Department of Parks and Recreation’s 125th anniversary and runs from 4 to 8 p.m. Enjoy live music, art…

Read More >

ARTerra Apartment Project Underway in Downtown Freight House District; Development First Proposed 10 Years Ago

By Kevin Collison The 12-story ARTerra apartment project in the heart of the Freight House District is officially underway, 10 years after it was first proposed. The 126-unit luxury project is being developed at 2100 Wyandotte St. by a partnership between Copaken Brooks of Kansas City and Altus Properties of St. Louis. It represents the…

Read More >
Burnt ends piled high.

Happy Hour in the Gardens & Other Weekend Possibilities

Sip beer from the KC Bier Co., munch on popcorn, and catch a flick on the rooftop terrace of the Central Library (14 W. 10th St.) tonight at 8 p.m. The Kansas City Public Library and The Pitch present the Off-the-Wall film series and tonight, “Wet Hot American Summer,” is on the big screen. The doors open…

Read More >
an iPod with headphones made into the money sign

Sympathetic Vibrations | State of the Stream with Apple Music

Eyebrows rose throughout the music industry late last month when it was widely reported that Apple was renegotiating its deals with major record labels for its subscription-based streaming service, “Apple Music”. Those renegotiations centered on Apple’s desire to reduce the per-stream revenue percentages it pays to the labels as compensation. When Apple first began its…

Read More >
Chocolate bars

Willy Wonka & Other Weekend Possibilities

Grab a chocolate bar and head over to Gladstone’s Theatre in the Park’s presentation of Willy Wonka. The free outdoor show is at the Gladstone Amphitheatre (NE 76th Street and N Troost, Gladstone, Missouri) this weekend and it runs through Sunday. The curtain goes up at 8:30 p.m. nightly. The only way to keep your…

Read More >
Drasko's food truck

Repeal 18th Bar & Bistro is Open & Other Weekend Possibilities

Summer is here and it’s time to dine al fresco. Shawnee is hosting Parked, a food truck festival with fireworks and live music at Stump Park (4751 Woodland Drive, Shawnee, Kansas) tonight from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Werner’s, Drasko’s BBQ, Pita for Good, and the Taste of Brazil market will be among the food trucks…

Read More >
A collage for Hello Atelier Episodes 15 and 16

Hello Atelier | From Students to Teachers

Episode 15 | Brandon Mably A chance meeting at a bus stop propelled textile artist Brandon Mably from a career in catering to his life as a designer. Known for his bold and graphic use of color, Mably isn’t content to create by himself; he also shares his colorful talent with his global students. As he puts…

Read More >
A man holds the instrument "baby charango"

Sympathetic Vibrations | Transplanted Roots

Fate came knocking in Bolivia in 2011 when artist Amado Espinoza was invited to compose music for a project by director Karen Lisondra, an American who had travelled to Bolivia from Kansas City. The two collaborated on the theater project and fell in in love during the process. Their show premiered in Bolivia in 2012,…

Read More >

Top Five Ways To Spend Your Weekend

Get Royal Oh, how the worm has turned. A few short weeks ago, Royals fans were talking about a fire sale. Now, somehow, despite the team’s two biggest offseason free agent acquisitions essentially being busts, the 2015 Royals are within striking distance of the AL Central lead. Heading into a four-game set against the Twins,…

Read More >

Local Storytelling. Fact-Based Reporting. Trustworthy Sources.

Help support the nonprofit media landscape in Kansas City and provide a platform for underrepresented voices across the region.