July 16, 2024
Photo Recap: Future Stages Festival 2024
Read Post about Photo Recap: Future Stages Festival 2024
Enriching the Lives of All
in Kansas City
The wonder in a child’s eyes. The joy in a couple’s faces. The applause, laughter, tears, smiles, conversations and memories.
The Kauffman Center delivers not just live performances, but living moments. Removing barriers and making programming more accessible ensures these diverse arts experience are available to everyone in the Kansas City community.
On every stage, in every seat, around every corner, you’ll find excellence for everyone.
450,000+
students and chaperones have attended our student matinees since opening.
8,000+
free Community Tickets distributed since opening.
45,000+
attendees to our Future Stages Festival since 2014.
How the
Kauffman Center
Serves the Community
Young people are the future of the arts — our future artists, arts professionals, and audiences — and we care deeply about them. The Kauffman Center is dedicated to creating unprecedented access to arts experiences for the Kansas City metropolitan area.
The Kauffman Center’s community engagement programs provide many avenues that connect local youth and adults to high quality arts experiences. These programs are supported by the Open Doors Fund, which is underwritten by the Hearst Foundation.
Student Programs
Matinees for Schools
The Kauffman Center is passionate about providing youth in our community with opportunities to experience high-quality programming. Every year, we introduce 40,000 students to the world of performance art through more than 35 student matinees, including symphony performances, operas, concerts, dance programs and speaker series like Trailblazing Talks.
Bus Transportation Fund
Our Bus Transportation Fund helps educators provide arts experiences to their students by eliminating or defraying bus costs. Transportation assistance is available for school groups that attend any student matinee at the Kauffman Center.
Field Trips
Field trips are an essential part of every student’s educational journey, providing opportunities to learn and explore beyond the confines of the classroom. The Kauffman Center lowers ticket costs, provides transportation assistance and connects young people to our staff and building in a variety of ways allowing students to expand their education.
Internships
The Kauffman Center is dedicated to creating opportunities for young professionals and students to grow their career skills and make lasting connections in the thriving Kansas City arts community. Currently enrolled college students or recently graduated professionals are encouraged to apply for internships.
Educational Resources
The Kauffman Center has produced and compiled a collection of videos to provide teachers with educational resources perfect for sharing with their classrooms.
For the Community
Tours & Public Hours
The Kauffman Center offers private tours for local residents and those visiting the Kansas City area, as well as public access hours that are available on most Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Both opportunities provide a closer look at the Kauffman Center with a special focus on the venue’s history and key architectural elements.
Community Tickets
The Community Tickets program offers reduced or even free tickets to help local social service agencies, schools and non-profit organizations bring children, families and underserved communities to performances.
Future Stages Festival
Future Stages Festival is a free community event that showcases hundreds of young performers and family-friendly programming. This one-day festival invites everyone to explore diverse performances on multiple stages along with interactive arts activities provided by community arts organizations. Future Stages Festival provides fun for all ages!
Artists & Performers
Future Stages Festival
Future Stages Festival features dozens of performance groups made up of youth ages 5 – 18 throughout the day on multiple stages. The Kauffman Center seeks a diverse pool of performers for the event that represent many genres, skill levels and age ranges. Youth performance groups that are interested in being considered for the festival should submit an application via the Kauffman Center website. Applications open each year in January.
Venue Rentals
The Kauffman Center is one of the most technically and architecturally advanced performing arts centers in the nation. Performance groups and companies can rent the spaces to perform and/or hold a special event.
“Nurturing a love of the arts for present and future generations is at the core of our vision for the Kauffman Center. One of the ways we realize that vision is by bridging gaps between the arts and the needs of individuals, families, organizations and communities.”
Julia Irene Dennie-Kauffman
Be a Part of Our Impact on the Arts
Donate to the Kauffman Center and support our work to preserve access to the performing arts for current and future generations. Your donation helps us ensure excellence for everyone in the Kansas City community.
Community Engagement FAQs
Orders for Kauffman Center Presents student matinee performances will be processed as they are received and confirmation emails with order information will be sent to the teacher within 1-2 weeks. Teachers are then responsible for sending relevant details to administrators to begin the payment process.
If your approved group needs to cancel a student matinee reservation, please let the Kauffman Center know as early as possible by sending a notification to opendoors@kauffmancenter.org. Tickets must be paid for in full no later than one month prior to the performance date. Any school that cancels beyond that deadline will not receive a refund.
Transportation costs can be a major hurdle for schools, especially those with limited budgets. The Kauffman Center is committed to making performances accessible to as many students as possible by offering transportation assistance. To apply, complete the application form at least five business days prior to the scheduled performance. Our team will review your application and get back to you promptly.
Private tours, approximately 60 minutes in length, are available with advance reservations. Each tour is led by a trained guide and strives to give attendees a full experience. However, due to our active performance and rehearsal schedule, we cannot guarantee that every tour will visit both performance halls. For details and pricing information, visit the Tours & Hours page.
The Kauffman Center maintains public access hours on most Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. during which visitors may explore Brandmeyer Great Hall, Helzberg Hall and Muriel Kauffman Theatre with guidance from a volunteer greeter. Occasionally performances, concerts or event set-up does not allow us to offer this experience or visits may be limited to Brandmeyer Great Hall. Please be sure to check the Kauffman Center website or contact the Kauffman Center Ticket Office at 816.994.7222 before your visit.