Kansas City is the country's only UNESCO-recognized music city. Is it doing enough for musicians?

By Steve Kraske,

Published August 27, 2025 at 4:00 AM CDT

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Eclipse Trio performs for travelers as they walk through the terminal with their luggage.

Kansas City is known worldwide for the jazz legends that called this city home. But local musicians say the city should do more to uplift its present-day musicians and the music industry.

Music is in Kansas City's DNA — as much as, or more than, burnt ends, fountains, and the Chiefs.

But as rapper and Vine St. Brewing owner Kemet Coleman wrote at the beginning of this year, Kansas City itself doesn’t embrace its musical legacy like it should.

“Kansas City, we need to stop admiring our legacy from afar and start investing in it. Music is more than entertainment. It’s an economic engine. It’s a magnet for talent. It’s the soul of our city. And it’s the key to elevating our identity on the global stage,” he wrote in a blog post in January.

Coleman and other music advocates are calling for the city to establish an Office of Music, and to create a citywide “music strategy” to better organize and support the local industry.

“There's a great music community here and a great collection of musicians. And we also have a great city that supports music, but we don't necessarily have a music industry, per se, a place that can attract and retain talent,” he told KCUR’s Up To Date.

Some work to support the music industry in Kansas City and represent it on a world stage already exists through Creative City KC. That organization stewards the city’s recognition in 2017 as a UNESCO City of Music — the first and so far only such city in the United States.

UNESCO, which is a cultural arm of the United Nations, noted Kansas City's legacy as a "transformational chapter in the history of American jazz and swing music," and cited institutions like the American Jazz Museum, the UMKC Conservatory and the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.

Street scene showing a colorful, jazz-themed mural at right and a theater called the Gem in background. On other side of the street is a line of brick buildings. Some people can be seen walking on the sidewalk. — The American Jazz Museum and Gem Theater are centerpieces of the 18th & Vine historic jazz district.

But there’s more that can be done, says Kansas City Council member Melissa Robinson, whose district includes the historic 18th and Vine jazz district.

“We need to make sure that there's not just a handful of places where you can go in Kansas City to listen to live music daily," Robinson said.

Kansas City’s One Percent for Art program, for example, is designed with visual arts in mind, not music.

“It's making sure that we have that advocacy and that public will, because a lot of the One Percent for Art is for capital improvement projects, which our musical industry isn't necessarily included in that discussion, but that's something that we need to look at,” Robinson added.

Robinson said some efforts, including live music performances at the Kansas City International Airport, are already underway.

Kemet Coleman, rapper and owner, Vine Street Brewing Co.
Jacob Wagner, co-founder, Creative City KC
Kansas City Councilmember Melissa Robinson