Kansas City has reopened its call for an artist to create a permanent public artwork for a future parking garage at 18th Street and Lydia Avenue, in the Historic 18th and Vine district.
Kansas City’s One Percent for Art Program first announced three semifinalists for the large project in January, but the news was met with public outcry because none of the selected artists were from the Kansas City area, and none were artists of color.
Local artists also criticized the city’s decision to open the original call to applicants nationwide. They said the move left many Kansas City creators feeling frozen out of a taxpayer-funded commission.
“As far as a person of color, I think 18th and Vine is our capital of Kansas City,” said 18th and Vine Arts Festival artistic director Deaunte Thomas, one of those upset artists.
That special connection to the historically-significant neighborhood, Thomas said, is something an artist from another part of the country wouldn’t understand.
“For a lot of us, it is our safe haven,” said Thomas, who remembers walking from home near Michigan Avenue and East 24th Street to football practice at the Gregg Klice Community Center.
The new call for art that was issued on Monday limits participation to artists based in the Kansas City metro region.
Thomas said he feels like his concerns have now been met.
“It gave us a second chance at correcting this,” he said. “And I know it takes a lot (for) the selection committee to say, ‘Hey, we might have went about this the wrong way.’”
Kansas City Public Art Administrator James Martin, who is also the nonvoting staff liaison to the city’s Municipal Art Commission, said he appreciates the public feedback, and he hopes the project is back on track.
“I think what was misapprehended here was the extent to which local artists really wanted this particular call for artists to be locally-focused,” Martin said. “That was just missed signals, on my part as well as the Municipal Art Commission.”
“Once the community really came out and made their wishes known, we looked at that as an opportunity to set things on the right course,” he said.
The final artwork will not be installed in time for the six FIFA World Cup 2026 matches in the summer, but Martin said the space will not remain blank.
Instead, local artist and educator Michael Toombs was chosen to install a temporary artwork in the form of a banner that will be displayed on the three-story building during the event, which is expected to draw an international audience to the district.
Toombs said the goal of his temporary artwork is to exhibit the richness and culture of the historic jazz district.
“When you have an opportunity to put something in a place like this, it should speak much louder than just something that's on the surface of a wall,” Tooms said. “It should speak in a way that, when people look at it, when they leave, they still think about it.”
The city’s reopened call for art has a maximum budget of $165,000. It is part of Kansas City’s One Percent for Art program, which dedicates a portion of eligible capital improvement project budgets to public art.
“I'm going to apply for sure,” said Thomas. “As much work as I've done to get the ball rolling, it's only right that they hear what can be my perspective for this project.”
Virtual question-and-answer sessions with the public art administrator will be held on March 11 and March 12. Between two and five semifinalists will move on to the request for proposals phase, when they will submit detailed design concepts.
“We have a lot of very talented artists around the Kansas City area,” Martin said. “I'm excited about having a regionally-based person — a person or a team — move forward with this commission.”
The parking garage project is part of a broader redevelopment effort known as Revive the Vine, a more than $400 million reinvestment initiative in the 18th and Vine district. The planned garage is intended to replace an existing surface parking lot.
