Arts & Culture

What began as an annual celebration of Mexican immigrants and their cultural roots has grown into a weekend-long block party filled with music, food and the chance for longtime supporters to reconnect.

The hollow heart-shaped design for this year’s Parade of Hearts was the perfect template for an art piece doubling as a community space. Artist Abby Gust Hutter created the sculpture “Read it Forward,” which she turned into a little free library outside of Rainy Day Books in Fairway.

When a Kansas City opera held auditions of older dogs for a new production, canine owners around the metro answered the call. Meet the working dogs trying out for a critical role in “Of Mice and Men." Plus: We'll take a tour of the Kansas Statehouse and a new mural depicting 13 women’s civil rights advocates.

Events are planned throughout the tournament, featuring watch parties, live music, and cultural programs. Partnerships include the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and American Jazz Museum.

Rapper Jamel Thompson, better known as The Royal Chief, got his start in Atlanta learning about the industry and even ghostwriting for Kanye West. He came back home to Kansas City in 2017, and now works to advance the music industry here

An interactive exhibit in a Crossroads art gallery aims to astonish earthly and extraterrestrial visitors alike. Wichita, Kansas, artists and spouses Mike Miller and Meghan Miller have created inventive ways to make art from found and salvaged objects.

Glenn Robinson's formula is simple: show up, press record, and tell the truth. Now, the creator behind Hood Dude Food Reviews is one of the city’s most influential champions of Black-owned restaurants and small businesses.

The Kansas City Symphony said the new 4,600 seat venue will host live music events, expand the organization’s artistic reach and support long-term growth for the group. Administrators see the move as a way to secure the symphony’s financial future.

Captain Ahab’s preoccupation with a white whale is set to music in a new Kansas City world premiere. It’s Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick,” told in authentic, 19th-century sea shanties.

Screenland Armour Theatre in North Kansas City recently installed film projectors that allow it to show recent releases like "Sinners" and classics like "Vertigo" on 70 mm, making it the only theater in the region to specialize in that format. Owner Adam Roberts hopes the investment will give younger film fans the opportunity to see movies the way they were intended.

A dispute over a mural outside a hamburger restaurant in Salina, Kansas, could go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Plus: Three massive bronze bison sculpted by a Missouri artist are joining the collection at the largest natural history museum in the world.

A new exhibit at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art through August 9 highlights the global roots of artists with ties to Kansas City, and the worldwide connections that have shaped the city's artistic community and culture.