History
Muriel McBrien Kauffman | Photo courtesy of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Kauffman Center Presents Mrs. K’s Vision
Muriel McBrien Kauffman dreamt of one day having a world-class performing arts center in Kansas City.
With the perseverance of her daughter, Chairman of the Board Julia Irene Dennie-Kauffman, and the tremendous support of the community, including you – Mrs. K’s ambitious dream became a reality in 2011.
We want to thank you for believing in the vision of the Kauffman Center early on and for continuing to contribute to its success. Like Mrs. K, you recognize and value the remarkable unifying power the arts can have within our community.
Mrs. K’s Vision was a gift from Hallmark Cards Inc. to commemorate the Kauffman Center’s many achievements in its young 12-year history and to celebrate those who helped make it happen – people like you.
We want to share the short film with you so you can view it, send it to others or keep it as a reminder of how much we appreciate everything you have done to ensure the Kauffman Center will continue to shine well into the future. Enjoy!
Joan Israelite Receives Missouri Arts Council’s Leadership in the Arts Award for 2023
Joan Israelite
The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is thrilled to announce that Joan Israelite has received the 2023 Leadership in the Arts award from the Missouri Arts Council, the state’s highest honor in the arts.
Israelite has been a tireless force since the mid-’80s for creating policy, raising funds and growing arts organizations. She was the founding CEO of ArtsKC and a nine-year board member for the Missouri Arts Council and the National Council on the Arts, an organization that advises the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts on agency policies and programs.
For the Kauffman Center, Israelite has been involved since the beginning in 2008. When the dream of a new, state-of-the-art Kansas City performing arts center was born, she and the capital campaign committee worked strategically to raise $366 million to construct the building and create an endowment. As a key fundraiser, Israelite reached out to prospects at all levels and backgrounds. She gave countless hardhat tours and developed innovative fundraising programs, such as the seat plaque and Children’s Wall campaigns. She was a key architect of the Open Doors program, which reduces barriers to attending performances at the Kauffman Center.
Still a member of the Kauffman Center team, Israelite brings her high energy and inventiveness to the Kauffman Center as a development consultant, raising funds for annual operations and the endowment.
Kansas City’s — and the region’s — most prominent and influential arts administrators, advocates and elected officials routinely contact Israelite, seeking guidance regarding arts programming, education, fundraising and issues related to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility. In addition, she has met with more than 50 young women seeking career advice and has advocated for the inclusion of women in leadership positions in the arts and nonprofit organizations.
Joan Israelite’s ability to lead, build consensus and nurture relationships has earned her the unofficial title, Joan of Arts. She has left an indelible mark in the arts community.
Earlier this fall, Joan and Steve Israelite were also honored with the 2022 Heartland Humanitarians of the Year from the Truman Heartland Community Foundation.
Photo by Jillian Shoptaw
During a Prolonged Intermission, the Kauffman Center Remains Connected to the Community
Marking one year since the venue closed due to Covid-19, Kauffman Center continues to serve the community in a variety of ways.
In March of 2020, the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts closed its doors to the public due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This was on the heels of what was likely to be another record-setting year programmatically, operationally and financially for the organization. Although the pandemic set back the momentum of performing arts organizations nationally, the Kauffman Center has continued to serve the community in new ways. Through the Kauffman Center website and digital platforms, this past year has resulted in creation and sharing of more than 120 videos with audiences. These videos reached more than 270,000 users and garnered more than 127,000 video views. With 479,000 impressions on this digital content, the Kauffman Center remained engaged with the community through virtual programs.
While the Kauffman Center stages have been quiet during the past year, excitement is building for the day when performances can again be enjoyed by audiences.
“Our team has done an extraordinary job of creating new, unique and innovative ways for the Kauffman Center to stay closely connected with our community,” President and CEO Paul Schofer said. “Although we continue to face uncertainties as to when we can yet again be together in person for performances, when the time is right, we will be ready to welcome our community with open arms. I’m certain the best is yet to come.”
Over the past year, the Kauffman Center launched several programs and initiatives to connect with various segments of the community and continues to create new and inventive ways to keep the organization engaged with patrons, students, donors and artists.
EDUCATION OUTREACH
As schools moved to online learning classrooms, the Kauffman Center provided new FREE virtual resources to keep students and teachers connected to the performing arts. While more than 30,000 students normally visit the Kauffman Center annually for student matinee programs, student-centric virtual content garnered more than 24,000 views. Some of this content was sent directly to teachers to share with their classrooms. These students and teachers have had the opportunity to engage with additional virtual content from the Kauffman Center – making our programs remotely accessible to young audiences. Virtual content included:
Photo by Anand Varma.
- Strings duo and Kauffman Center Presents series artists Black Violin presented a virtual concert and Q&A session that reached an estimated 20,774 viewers in February of 2021.
- National Geographic Live photographers Anand Varma and Prasenjeet Yadav presented a virtual student matinee program that featured in-depth conversations about our natural world that was shared with nearly 5,000 educators.
- Kauffman Center launched a new virtual Backstage Intensive program that connects technical theater students to the many facets of behind the curtain operations. Complete with videos and classroom activities, students get hands-on education on theater lighting, sound and more. This program is made possible by a grant from Cerner Charitable Foundation.
- Our first ever virtual Future Stages Festival showcased hundreds of Kansas City’s talented young performing artists. Community partners and Kauffman Center staff provided an abundance of fun and educational family-friendly at-home activities. 79 videos and 39 activity pages created by 36 youth performance groups, 23 community partners and 14 Kauffman Center staff members reached over 6,680 views.
- A newly created Julia Irene Kauffman Casavant Organ, Opus 3875 Classroom Guide was created and distributed to schools. The guide included organ facts, discussion questions and vocabulary practice for teachers to use and share with students. The guide accompanied a six-part video performance series featuring Organ Conservator Jan Kraybill.
STAYING CONNECTED VIRTUALLY
The Kauffman Center looked to build community relationships with a host of virtual initiatives to provide fun, entertaining and interactive content through the organization’s digital channels. A few highlights include:
SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGNS
- Fun Fact Friday – Sharing interesting facts about our building, programs and history.
- Kansas City Strong – Paying tribute to the first responders and essential workers on the front lines of the pandemic.
- Trivia Tuesday– Engaging the community with trivia about the Kauffman Center.
- Talented KC– Turning our social media channels into a virtual stage for the community to share their talents online.
- #KCFavePhoto – Providing an opportunity for our community to share their favorite pictures of the Kauffman Center through social media. More than 200 pictures of the Kauffman Center have now been submitted.
#KCFavePhoto submission by @addiegess
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
Developing partnerships with area organizations and artists, the Kauffman Center shared its virtual stage by developing new interactive videos and activities that provide FREE entertainment for the whole family. Examples include:
Jasiri the porcupine enjoys the spotlight of the Helzberg Hall stage.
- Halloween videos developed in partnership with the Mesner Puppet Theater shed a little (ghost) light on several well-known theater superstitions with a virtual four-part series of spooky family-friendly stories told by puppet, Scary Mary Bumbershoot from inside the Kauffman Center.
- A “wildly” clever video featuring several lovable critters visiting the Kauffman Center, created in partnership with the Kansas City Zoo.
- A Behind the Curtain video series highlighting some of the unique inner workings of the Kauffman Center’s operations, including Stringing Holiday Lights, which provides a glimpse of how the rope lights are added to the building’s cables to add to the merriment and joy of the holiday season; and Washing the Building, which shows how our building’s beautiful exterior stays pristine with the help of washers that safely do their work up to 151 feet in the air.
- Local painter and muralist Vania Soto brought her talents to the Kauffman Center with a video of her creating a Day of the Dead painting in Brandmeyer Great Hall while explaining the traditions of this Mexican holiday and what it means to her; and a Kauffman Center watercolor painting tutorial video producing a recognizable painting of the Kauffman Center.
- A three-part DIY craft series inspired by the Kauffman Center, developed in partnership with ScrapsKC, a local non-profit creative reuse center.
- FREE Virtual Trivia Nights, in which participants compete against fellow trivia lovers to puzzle out questions about the Kauffman Center, its history, the performing arts and Kansas City.
VIRTUAL PROGRAMMING
Providing quality performing arts experiences online took center stage as the Kauffman Center shared virtual concerts with at-home audiences.
- The Kauffman Center rang in New Year’s Eve with Pink Martini’s “Good Riddance 2020” concert featuring fan favorites and holiday classics streamed to at-home audiences.
- The Kauffman Center’s own Grammy-nominated Organ Conservator, Jan Kraybill, performed a six-part online organ concert series. These videos were shared with educators along with a newly created Julia Irene Kauffman Casavant Organ, Opus 3875 Classroom Guide complete with organ facts and vocabulary which was part of our education outreach initiatives.
Local singer-songwriter Casi Joy.
- The Kauffman Center, in partnership with PNC Bank, ArtsKC and the Power & Light District, celebrated National Arts & Humanities Month in November by providing virtual performances from several artists (shown in this teaser) previously featured in the PNC Pop-Up series at the Kauffman Center, including Calvin Arsenia, Hermon Mehari, Beau Bledsoe, Kelly Hunt, Jake Wells, Eboni Fondren, Barnaby Bright and Eems.
- To stay connected to the Kauffman Center’s loyal season and single ticket holders, a virtual four-part National Geographic Live series was launched in February. Speaker events were offered for a one-time viewing experience to ticket holders. Livestream events were also shared with social service agencies through the Kauffman Center’s Community Ticket program.
- To stay connected to our Spotlight Members, a holiday performance was livestreamed from the stage of Muriel Kauffman Theatre in December featuring local talent Casi Joy.
- Nine Kauffman-Center-inspired Spotify playlists highlighted the music of numerous artists that have performed on the Muriel Kauffman Theatre and Helzberg Hall stages over the years, ranging from Aretha Franklin and Tony Bennett to the Best of the Symphony, Opera and Ballet.
TAKING THE KAUFFMAN CENTER HOME
This past year included the launch of several new ways for the community to enjoy the Kauffman Center at home.
- Since October 2020, the Kauffman Center has offered the Dining Experience: At Home with special, seasonal three-course menu offerings. The Dining Experience: At Home features award-winning Executive Chef Laura Comer’s delectable culinary creations.
- Charlie Hustle and Kauffman Center teamed up to debut a new line of shirts and a commemorative pin. As part of the Charlie Hustle’s Communi-Tees program, a portion of the proceeds from every Charlie Hustle Kauffman Center shirt or pin helps support the Kauffman Center’s mission of bringing extraordinary and diverse performing arts experiences to all.
- A new online gift shop brings the great items that were formally only available at the Kauffman Center to you. Items include apparel, a jigsaw puzzle, mugs and more.
The Kauffman Center Charlie Hustle Collection launched Jan. 1, 2021. Find the collection in our online gift shop and through Charlie Hustle.
Follow the Kauffman Center on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to get details about upcoming performances and behind-the-scenes access.
Noteworthy 2019 History
The Kauffman Center had a record-breaking year. Here’s a look at some of these notable milestones.
Photo by Cody Boston
Over the last year…
- 530,000+ guests visited the Kauffman Center – the highest annual attendance since the Center’s opening in 2011
- A record-breaking 350+ performances were shared on our stages by the Kauffman Center Presents series, our three resident companies, and more than 20 other arts organizations
- The Kauffman Center received the highest experience rating of Kansas City’s 10 major cultural institutions in Mid-America Regional Council’s Quality of Life Survey for the second consecutive year
- 99% of all survey participants responded favorably when asked if they would recommend the Kauffman Center to a friend
- Five Kauffman Center Presents performances brought more than 1,400 first-time patrons to the Kauffman Center
- 53,000+ students and educators attended nearly 50 school matinees
- 21,000+ students received Open Doors bus transportation assistance to attend school matinees
- 1,035 individuals received free tickets to attend Kauffman Center performances through the Community Tickets program
- 4,500 people have attended Future Stages Festival, a free annual event showcasing 750 youth performers
Kauffman Center Goes Global
In April, Kauffman Center was viewed around the world through Google Arts & Culture – an online exhibition that features collections, stories, and 360-degree tours from 15 renowned Kansas City institutions, including the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. The exhibition highlights the history, people and culture that makes Kansas City the “Heart of America.” The project launched with a video highlighting Kansas City’s arts and culture scene. The platform has introduced Kansas City and its arts and culture to an international audience giving visitors around the world the opportunity to learn and experience Kansas City – and the Kauffman Center – in a new way. Learn more about the Kauffman Center’s involvement in Google Arts & Culture here.
New Accessibility Resources Allow More People to Enjoy the Kauffman Center
Photo by David Riffel
The Kauffman Center is dedicated to connecting Kansas City communities with live performing arts experiences. Through a partnership with Variety Children’s Charity of Greater Kansas City, the Center introduced new accessible amenities including Serenity Rooms and Sensory Kits. In October, the Kauffman Center held ribbon cutting event to celebrate the new amenities. The unveiling event was attended by 75 Variety KC families who were the first to explore the Kauffman Center’s new accessibility features. Families also attended the Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild Live! matinee. The new features will support the Center’s ongoing effort to ensure attending a performance is a positive experience for all. Learn more about the Kauffman Center’s partnership with Variety KC here.
Photo by Sandy Woodson
Kauffman Center Hits National Airwaves
On January 12, an audience of approximately 2.6 million people – our largest audience yet – heard the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts mentioned numerous times during the American radio show Live from Here with Chris Thile. The show was produced and broadcast live from the Muriel Kauffman Theatre stage to more than 650 National Public Radio stations across the country, Sirius XM satellite radio, and the Armed Forces Network around the world. Learn more.
Connect with the Kauffman Center
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to get more details about upcoming performances at the Kauffman Center and behind-the-scenes access.
Kauffman Center Featured by Google Arts & Culture
Explore Kansas City culture in a new interactive online project by
Google Arts & Culture in collaboration with the Kauffman Center
Photo of Brandmeyer Great Hall by Jillian Shoptaw
On Friday, April 5, 2019, Google Arts & Culture launched Kansas City – Google Arts & Culture’s first online exhibition featuring an American city. The project brings together collections, stories and 360-degree tours from 15 renowned Kansas City institutions, including the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.
Photo of Helzberg Hall by Steve Mohlenkamp
From articles like ‘11 Fun Facts About Kansas City‘ to ‘The KC BBQ Experience: What to Expect,’ the exhibition highlights the history, people and culture that makes Kansas City the “Heart of America.” The project launched with a video highlighting Kansas City’s arts and culture scene. The platform has introduced Kansas City and its arts and culture to an international audience giving visitors around the world the opportunity to learn and experience Kansas City in a new way.
The partnership also features Google Arts & Culture’s Art Camera – a custom device that takes hundreds of close-up images, revealing a level of detail hidden from the naked eye. This means Helzberg Hall, Muriel Kauffman Theatre and Brandmeyer Great Hall can now be viewed in an interactive 360-degree gigapixel-picture.
“We’re excited to launch our first project profiling an American city here in Kansas City,” said Simon Delacroix, US Lead at Google Arts & Culture. “Kansas City’s vibrant art and history has been instrumental to Google Arts & Culture from our very beginning in 2011. Today marks a big step forward — with the help of 15 world-class institutions, we’re thrilled to share with anyone, anywhere, some of the amazing stories that make Kansas City the Heart of America.”
Paul Schofer, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Kauffman Center stated, “We’re excited and honored to be a part of this ambitious endeavor to highlight the many artistic and cultural experiences that Kansas City has to offer. The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is an iconic part of the arts and cultural landscape of Kansas City and we are proud to be included to showcase what so many of us already know: that Kansas City has world-class entertainment for everyone.”
Below are some of the featured exhibitions about the Kauffman Center:
Photo of the Kauffman Center from the southside by Mary Beth Russell
- Performances at the Kauffman Center: featuring information on the 300+ performances the Kauffman Center hosts per year (including the Kauffman Center Presents series, Kansas City Symphony, Kansas City Ballet and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City).
- The Construction of the Kauffman Center: an exclusive look into the five-year construction of the Kauffman Center from groundbreaking to grand opening.
- Architecture Highlights: an in-depth look at the Kauffman Center’s architectural features both inside and outside of the facility.
- The King of All Instruments: a showcase of the Julia Irene Kauffman Casavant Organ, Opus 3875, one of the finest performance organs in the country and the visual centerpiece of Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center.
You can experience Kansas City and the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts by downloading the Android or iOS app or visiting Google Arts & Culture.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to get more details about upcoming performances at the Kauffman Center and behind-the-scenes access.
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