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UMKC Will Ask State Of Missouri For $48 Million For Downtown Arts Campus

Helix Architecture + Design

The University of Missouri System Board of Curators met on Thursday and Friday in Columbia, Missouri, to review and vote on a $200 million appropriations requestfor the Missouri Legislature.

On Friday, the Curators approved including a request for $48 million in matching funds for the downtown campus for the arts, a new home for the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance

In Missouri, capital projects at public colleges and universities are eligible for a 50-50 matching program for public-private partnerships. 

Fundraising for the downtown campus kicked off in 2013 with a $20 million challenge grant from the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation. To approach the state of Missouri for matching funds, UMKC was required to raise $48 million in private funds. According to a news release, "the private fundraising effort has reached a successful conclusion." 

Classrooms, practice rooms, and performance spaces for UMKC's Conservatory are currently scattered across the Volker campus in Midtown. The first phase of the proposed project, estimated at $96 million, includes a new downtown facility just south of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. 

Laura Spencer is an arts reporter at KCUR 89.3. You can reach her on Twitter at @lauraspencer.

Kansas City is known for its style of jazz, influenced by the blues, as the home of Walt Disney’s first animation studio and the headquarters of Hallmark Cards. As one of KCUR’s arts reporters, I want people here to know a wide range of arts and culture stories from across the metropolitan area. I take listeners behind the scenes and introduce them to emerging artists and organizations, as well as keep up with established institutions. Send me an email at lauras@kcur.org or follow me on Twitter @lauraspencer.
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