Why don't we have an arts festival?

[KCMax]

I thought this was a pretty good column by E. Thomas McClanahan. I don't know that I'd put this on the "Five Big Things" for KC, but its a good question to ask - with so much enthusiasm for arts in our community, why don't we have an arts festival?

The timing is right for our own arts festival

He envisioned a two-week period encompassing three weekends, featuring contributions from every arts and theater group in the city and perhaps several participating movie houses.

The best time of year: mid-September, when the hot weather is finally moderating.

Chamber chair Greg Graves of Burns & McDonnell said that initially a KC arts fest might draw a few people from Iowa, but as it grew and organizers gained experience, word would spread ? and a wide variety of local businesses, especially hotels and restaurants, would experience an earnings surge every year in the early fall.

[ignatius]

Misleading title.. there are many art festivals obviously... art fairs that is - Plaza, Westport, Brookside, P&L. Xroads has a monthly street party and over 60 art galleries that other cities would love to have. 

This sounds more like an arts and entertainment crawl between venues.

[chrizow]

don't forget the annual Fringe Festival, which features art, music, dance, theatre, etc. in dozens of venues all over town for two weeks.

[KCMax]

Misleading title.. there are many art festivals obviously... art fairs that is - Plaza, Westport, Brookside, P&L. Xroads has a monthly street party and over 60 art galleries that other cities would love to have.  

This sounds more like an arts and entertainment crawl between venues.

And those are just weekend events, or for First Friday, only a night. I think he is talking about something more like Fringe Festival, which is a whole week, except more mainstream, that could become a big name event and attract people from outside of KC. He talks about how ski and resort towns have events like this.

It would be something geared more towards the Tommy Bahama wearing Baby Boomer crowd than the younger cool crowd, which means it probably won't appeal to most of you, but it could be something to bring a spotlight to KC, and more importantly, lots of needed economic activity downtown.

[mlind]

My daughter, who lives in the UK, went to the Edinburgh (Scotland) festival one year.  She said it was great.  It's a huge draw

[mean]

And those are just weekend events, or for First Friday, only a night. I think he is talking about something more like Fringe Festival, which is a whole week, except more mainstream, that could become a big name event and attract people from outside of KC. He talks about how ski and resort towns have events like this.

It would be something geared more towards the Tommy Bahama wearing Baby Boomer crowd than the younger cool crowd, which means it probably won't appeal to most of you, but it could be something to bring a spotlight to KC, and more importantly, lots of needed economic activity downtown.

I'm liking this idea. It might be cool to maybe take it further, where it's not necessarily just about art (specifically, gallery type art), but a sort of harvest celebration of locally grown food, beer, and wine; local art and artists; local chefs; local film and music and theater... like two straight weeks of First Friday. Sort of a South by Midwest, but without the pretension.

And by "local" we could easily go as far as Omaha, Lincoln, Wichita, Des Moines, etc., really try to bring everything cool and interesting and delicious within about a ~3 hour drive to Kansas City for an insane two week festival every year. Just adding up the metro populations of the largish cities I could think of within a 3-hour radius nets 4 million people. I don't know if that's enough of a base to get such a thing kicked off (with the idea that it would eventually become nationally known / popular) but I like the idea.

I would like it a lot more if we had a much better transit system, though.

[ignatius]

I would like it a lot more if we had a much better transit system, though.

Not sure where you are going but for events like this, a tourist trolley (like KC Strip) would work more effectively than expecting tourists to use public transit... even if we had some form of rail, which would only serve events along the line and likely would not run as often as MAX.  Even if we had MAX down every main corridor, a tourist trolley would likely serve such an event more effectively that caters specifically to the event.

But yes, I would like to see more effective transit in KC for those who live in the city - and that's not LRT.  It's more MAX lines on every main drag that run every 5-10 minutes all day long.

[mean]

Not sure where you are going but for events like this, a tourist trolley (like KC Strip) would work more effectively than expecting tourists to use public transit...

I'd rather offer both, although my desire to have such a thing in place is admittedly more egocentric. If we're drawing in a ton of people from cities like Wichita, Des Moines, and Omaha for two weeks every year to have a big badass regional festival, I'd like to at least give the appearance of actually being the leading city in the region instead of (the unfortunate reality) that we just happened to be the regional city with the most people sprawled around it in suburbs.

[KCMax]

Yea, my worry if we had this is the venues would be Town Center Plaza, the OP Convention Center and Village West.

[taxi]

Here's what 1 really rich guy with a dream and lots of big friends can accomplish (coming May 5):
http://americanowandhere.org/

[shinatoo]

Yea, my worry if we had this is the venues would be Town Center Plaza, the OP Convention Center and Village West.

As opposed to say, Independence Square, Benjamin Stables and the empty lot behind the Raytown Plaza Shoppes.

[ComandanteCero]

I'm liking this idea. It might be cool to maybe take it further, where it's not necessarily just about art (specifically, gallery type art), but a sort of harvest celebration of locally grown food, beer, and wine; local art and artists; local chefs; local film and music and theater... like two straight weeks of First Friday. Sort of a South by Midwest, but without the pretension.

And by "local" we could easily go as far as Omaha, Lincoln, Wichita, Des Moines, etc., really try to bring everything cool and interesting and delicious within about a ~3 hour drive to Kansas City for an insane two week festival every year. Just adding up the metro populations of the largish cities I could think of within a 3-hour radius nets 4 million people. I don't know if that's enough of a base to get such a thing kicked off (with the idea that it would eventually become nationally known / popular) but I like the idea.

YESSSsss!!!  That would be awesome.  I would start it off as a 3 day event and gradually expand backwards (i.e start if off Fri/Sat/Sun, then next year start on Thurs, and so on and so on).

But yeah, a show case for local foods/beverages/music etc.  Do it in the Crossroads, get property owners to partner up and offer places for folks to set up shop, (maybe create a centralized committee that makes it easier to match property owners with folks looking for space, getting permits if needed, make it streamlined) etc. etc. etc.

Make that giant parking lot in front of the Abdiana building the center-piece (a kind of temporary KC bazaar)....

Start modestly and grow from there.... yeh, i'd be all for it.

[DaveKCMO]

first friday attracts more people annually than any single event ever would.

[KCMax]

first friday attracts more people annually than any single event ever would.

Sure. We're not talking about replacing First Friday, we're talking about adding a separate event that would bring even more people downtown.

[mean]

And, I think, be more regionally focused.

[rxlexi]

  I LOVE this idea and absoultely think it merits a "Big 5" rating.  It's something I have been pondering for a while - why don't we have a "big-time" festival or arts showcase that helps cement our reputation as a real arts hub nationally?

  I also think Mean's idea of a regionally based "MidCoast Fest" or whatever sounds awesome, though I believe the thinking behind this idea originally is somewhat more strictly based on the high-arts, like a KC Biennial. 

  How great would it be to play host to a city-wide celebration of top quality, mixed media arts?  Perhaps choose a theme each year and invite some of the top talents in the country and region to develop programming related to it. 

  Or instead create a consistent theme based on something we do well or want to be associated with -Western art, fashion, graphic design, whatever. 

  To add KC to the "top-tier" art festival circuit would be incredible, and likely impossible.  But still a cool dream. 

[bobbyhawks]

Would it be possible to collaborate with the Middle of the Map festival and just add multiple dimensions/components to it?  It already has a great and catchy name that does not limit itself to KC only.  It would be great to feature artists in the Crossroads, have a regional food and beverage center, be surrounded by great local/regional and international music, local and indie films, and also have events with the ballet, symphony, Rep.  It could attract a lot of different people for very different reasons.  Perhaps we could also attach something like a mini TED?... and golden fountains, and free wishes.  Perhaps I'm thinking too big.

[mean]

Would it be possible to collaborate with the Middle of the Map festival and just add multiple dimensions/components to it? 

Good idea. The KC Film Fest and Middle of the Map Fest actually overlapped, but as far as I know there wasn't really any collaboration / organization between the two.