Arts Archives

Watching the teenage experience

In 2008, High School Confidential, a documentary-type show that followed 12 high school girls at Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park through their four years of high school, aired on WE tv. Sharon Liese is the filmmaker who created this show, and conceived the idea to create a documentary about the high school experience when her own daughter was going through high school.

The Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture is slated to open in Washington DC in 2015. And although the ground has yet to be broken, the museum's staff is already collecting historical objects and running education programs around the county.

By Sylvia Maria Gross

"Partisan Pieces: Quilts of Political and Patriotic Persuasion" at the National Archives show the politics of their 19th century creators. But can quilts really tell us the political leanings of their makers?

By Anthonia Akitunde

Kansas City, MO – Some people wear their politics on their sleeves. Or on their bumper stickers. But on quilts?

The Mariel boatlift provided Kansas City musicians with a rhythmic maestro.

By Alex Smith

Kansas City, MO – Thirty years ago this summer, Cuban president Fidel Castro took the unusual step of allowing people to leave. Over the course of a few months, 125,000 Cubans came to the United States, in what became known as the Mariel boat lift. And that migration decades ago ended up providing Kansas City with a rhythmic maestro.

As the shell-like concrete curves take shape on the $413 million Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, the building is about 75 percent complete. The most noticeable change last week - installation started on the first pieces of exterior glass for the grand lobby.

By Laura Spencer

The stamps honor the all-black baseball leagues once based in Kansas City.

By Dan Verbeck and Sylvia Maria Gross

When the KC Fringe Festival unfolds next week, it will mark the sixth summer that performers of all stripes have exhibited their talents at venues all over the metro. Broken up into such categories as visual art, dance, and fashion, the festival has always had theater at its core, and this year debuts over 40 new plays and musicals. Among the latter are two musicals written by Kansas City natives that, as KCUR's Steve Walker discovered, delved into such tough subjects as murder and mental illness.

By Steve Walker

What do you do when you want to get out of the house, but don't have the time or the money for a full-fledged vacation? Never fear, the Walt Bodine Show is here.

An exhibition at the Belger Arts Center called "Beneath the Surface - Excavating the Belger Collection" focuses on works by 10 of the artists in the collection, including Terry Allen. Allen was born in Wichita, Kansas and raised in the West Texas town of Lubbock. He's been described as a Renaissance man, working in a variety of media, including sculpture, painting, drawing, video, and installations.

By Laura Spencer

Americans for the Arts recently announced its 2010 Public Art Year in Review, recognizing 40 of the best public artworks in the United States and Canada. On the list: only one Midwest artist, based in Lawrence, who highlights global water issues sculpting with plastic water bottles. KCUR's Laura Spencer reports.

By Laura Spencer

Since 1993, the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival has presented a free outdoor performance of the works of William Shakespeare, from the first year's production of "The Tempest" to this year's "King Richard III."

By Laura Spencer