Laura Spencer
Arts ReporterLaura Spencer caught the radio bug more than a decade ago when she was asked to read a newscast on the air on her first day volunteering for KOOP, the community radio station in Austin, Texas.
After moving home to Kansas City, she learned the fine art of editing reel-to-reel tape as an intern and graduate assistant with the nationally syndicated literary program New Letters on the Air. Since 2001, she's focused her efforts on writing and producing feature stories as KCUR's Arts Reporter.
In 2011, Laura was one of 21 journalists selected for USC Annenberg’s seventh National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Arts Journalism Institute in Theater and Musical Theater. She's received awards from the Associated Press, Kansas City Art Institute (Excellence in Visual Art and Education), Kansas City Association of Black Journalists, Missouri Broadcasters Association, Radio-Television News Directors Association (regional Edward R. Murrow Award) and Society for Professional Journalists.
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Heidi Pitre’s series merges literature, nostalgia, and history, featuring pen-and-ink drawings on about 160 vintage library checkout cards. Interest in the pieces has expanded, but her supply of old-school, ephemeral cards is dwindling. -
The country's first jet bombing crashed in rural Missouri. Those who came to help are still affectedEight crew members and 37 passengers — many from the Kansas City area — died in one of the deadliest air crashes in U.S. history. A book explores how, for some residents and families who responded to the disaster, the impacts can be lasting. -
Derrick Barnes felt there wasn't wide enough representation of Black people in the books he read as a kid. The Kansas City native's new picture book, “I Got You,” is his latest effort to write characters who can "just be human," he says. -
Soman Chainani’s best-selling “The School for Good and Evil” series was adapted into a Netflix movie in 2022. His debut graphic novel, “Coven,” marks the return of a trio of witches from the successful series. -
In 1940, Works Progress Administration workers took photos of every building in Kansas City — houses, restaurants, shops, gas stations and more. Kansas City Public Library maintains more than 50,000 of the images, and a new website is making them easier than ever to browse. -
Ebony Reed's “Fifteen Cents on the Dollar: How Americans Made the Black-White Wealth Gap,” co-written by Louise Story, follows the lives of seven Black Americans, tying in research about the wealth gap between Black and white Americans. -
Prepare for the next big snow with these recommendations for the best sledding hills around Kansas City. Don’t forget to bundle up properly, and have fun! -
What's the best place for summer adventures away from Kansas City? You might just find the perfect trip in Arkansas. From Bentonville to Fayetteville, from Eureka Springs to Devil's Den, there's a lot of nature, art and food to explore. -
Kansas City’s 5-time bluegrass ‘Guitarist of the Year,’ Greg Blake, is in demand around the country and abroad. In 2022, the International Bluegrass Music Association nominated him for ‘Male Vocalist of the Year.’ -
More than 500 artists submitted proposals for heart sculptures to be placed next year. On Thursday, the fundraiser selected 40 artists to take part.
