Arts & Culture

The founder of the Black Archives of Mid-America brought Juneteenth to Kansas City in 1980. This year's celebrations include parades, festivals and historical storytelling in Kansas and Missouri.

Melissa Ferrer Civil found community, and a path toward better mental health, through poetry. Now, she’s spreading the good word.

For years, tech companies have secretly used pirated e-book libraries to train their generative artificial intelligence models. "It horrifies me," says Kansas author Bryn Greenwood, whose books were among those stolen.

When President Trump made deep cuts to the National Endowment for the Humanities earlier this year, grants were cancelled and programs across the country were suspended. In Kansas City, one oral history project for Vietnam War veterans had to be scaled back.

Hundreds of people show up every Thursday to the American Legion Post 153 in Olathe, Kansas, hoping to get lucky at weekly bingo night. It's a chance to reconnect with friends, family and the local veteran community — but the competition is serious.

The UMKC Conservatory announced a planned expansion for its facilities that will aim to increase "performance, classroom and collaboration opportunities for students and the Kansas City community." The first phase is estimated to cost $35 million.

Buying a new band or orchestra instrument could get a lot more expensive. Kansas City business owners who import musical instruments have been hit hard by on-again, off-again tariffs with Europe and China, and the path forward remains unclear.

Arts organization in Kansas City are under financial pressure after the Trump administration rescinded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. Spinning Tree Theatre is one of hundreds of organizations who were notified by email last week that their grant had been withdrawn.

Kansas City Art Institute opens their campus every year for ARTPOP, an end-of-semester party with student installations, performances and music. Visitors can see the work of more than 100 artists and get first peek at a weekend-long exhibition and sale.

Die-hard "Star Wars" fans celebrate the fourth day of May this weekend, while the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures highlights action figures from the famous movies. For one super-fan, it's a chance to show off the 5,000-square-foot private museum of memorabilia next to his Northland home.

After Duncan Jenkins saw "Star Wars" for the first time, he embarked on a lifelong obsession. The Kansas City man has now amassed nearly 200,000 pieces of memorabilia — the second most complete collection in the world — stored in a museum next to his house.

On Wednesday, April 30, the Count Basie Orchestra will celebrate 90 years swinging at the Kansas City Music Hall. "Everybody in the orchestra will be featured. And we'll just be doing what Mr. Basie began in 1935," director Scotty Barnhart told Up To Date.