Kansas City, MO, June 25, 2025:Charlotte Street is pleased to announce therecipients of the 2025 Cultural Producer Grants. This year, Charlotte Street has awarded 6 grassroots arts organizations and artist-run projects in Kansas City with general operating grants of $5,000.
Kansas City has long enjoyed a thriving and diverse ecology of low-budget artist-run spaces, collectives, groups and organizations. The collective impact of these grassroots operations to both our arts community and to the cultural landscape of Kansas City is enormous. Whether permanent or temporary, these groups nurture and grow artists creatively and become powerful engines of community. Through the Cultural Producer Grant program, Charlotte Street seeks to help build capacity, sustainability, visibility, and further funding viability for art operations with budgets under $50,000.
Through Charlotte Street’s juried selection process, 100% of funds for Cultural Producers is awarded in support of organizations whose mission and leadership will positively impact the advancement of BIPOC, LGBTQIA, or Disabled communities, in recognition of the oppression of those communities in the art sector and the gap that has created particularly in the Kansas City art scene.
The 2025 recipients include – Darkwater Inn, The Emerald, Goofball Sk8, Kansas City Folk Festival, Manor Records, and Stray Cat Film Center.
ABOUT THE 2025 CULTURAL PRODUCER GRANT RECIPIENTS
Darkwater Inn
Darkwater Inn is a bi-monthly variety show curated by Naomi Thomas and Mazzy Mann, presenting a dynamic lineup of acts including alternative drag, folk and electronic music, spoken word, burlesque, comedy, dance, punk, and multimedia performance. Hosted at The Ship, each uniquely themed “room” invites artists to experiment and connect across genres. Over 2.5 years and 17 events, Darkwater has featured more than 100 performances and cultivated a reputation as a vital queer, non-judgmental space for emerging voices in Kansas City. The platform fosters collaboration with groups like Sugar Rush and KC Synthesizer Collective, and has expanded into the podcast Darkwater Daytime Hours, centering DIY culture. Through immersive programming, Darkwater bridges communities, nurtures experimentation, and provides a launchpad for new artistic expression.
The Emerald
The Emerald is an artist-led performance collective founded by Alec Nicholas in Kansas City. Launched from a low-cost audiovisual studio in 2020, it became a full-scale venue in 2023, producing over 40 boundary-pushing shows in its first year—ranging from cabaret to avant-garde theater. The Emerald prioritizes experimentation and elevates artists overlooked by traditional venues, offering professional production support to realize ambitious ideas. Though its 9th Street space closed in 2024 due to real estate pressures, the collective continues programming at alternative venues like The Black Box and Blip Roasters. Its recent breakout show, Hamlet Jr., embodies the group’s evolving artistic vision. The Emerald remains committed to fostering collaboration, challenging convention, and creating accessible spaces for unconventional performance.
Goofball Sk8
Goofball Sk8boards is an 8,000-square-foot indoor skatepark and shop centering queer and beginner skateboarders in Kansas City. Founded by spouses Joan and Harper Rose in 2023, Goofball challenges dominant skate culture by fostering a sober, anti-harassment space where all skaters—especially queer youth—feel welcome. With a donation-based model, free gear access, and inclusive programming, Goofball lowers the barrier to entry in a sport often marked by gatekeeping. Beyond skating, it hosts zine events, music shows, and grassroots organizing, including a mutual aid drop-in space and monthly Zine Club. As anti-trans legislation rises, Goofball offers a vital third space for queer joy, recovery, and community. With future plans to improve accessibility, Goofball continues to grow as a hub for alternative sport, art, and care.
Kansas City Folk Festival
Kansas City Folk Festival is a grassroots, artist-led organization uplifting the city’s diverse folk arts through a free annual festival in Washington Square Park. Expanding traditional definitions of “folk,” KCFF centers the voices of artists of color, Queer artists, and other historically marginalized groups, spotlighting hip hop, experimental music, spoken word, DIY crafts, and more. Through intentional curation, KCFF desegregates cultural silos, presenting local and nationally recognized performers across genres. The festival also includes live painting, interactive installations, and workshops. Founded in 2016 and becoming an independent nonprofit in 2021, KCFF blends performance with education, sustainability, and community resilience. With over 2,000 expected attendees in 2025, KCFF continues to model what living folk art looks like today—communal, cross-cultural, and transformative.
Manor Records
Manor Records is a nonprofit record label and community hub supporting Kansas City’s independent music scene. What began as grassroots house shows in a Shawnee basement has evolved into a mission-driven organization providing tangible support to local artists. Manor reinvests its revenue into physical and digital releases, show booking, press outreach, and artist development. Its flagship event, Manor Fest, now spans eight nights each May, featuring 60+ artists across 20 venues. The label also offers artist meetings, access to practice spaces, mentorship, and more. With a volunteer-run board and a storefront on 55th & Troost, Manor has released dozens of albums since becoming a 501(c)(3) in 2022. It remains rooted in D.I.Y. ethics, working to build an equitable, sustainable music ecosystem for the Midwest.
Stray Cat Film Center
Stray Cat Film Center is a volunteer-run microcinema and community space dedicated to showcasing bold, underrepresented voices in film. Since 2018, it has evolved from guerilla screenings to a permanent 50-seat venue in the Crossroads, screening everything from experimental shorts to cult classics. Stray Cat is more than a movie theater—it’s a gathering place for artists, activists, and educators. The space hosts concerts, talks, and fundraisers alongside themed film series like Trans Lives on Screen, Blk + Brwn, Get Punk’d, and Sound of Silents. With partnerships spanning local universities to international distributors, Stray Cat continues to expand its programming and projection capabilities—including plans for Kansas City’s only functional 35mm cinema setup. Stray Cat exists to challenge, connect, and cultivate community through the moving image.
2025 CULTURAL PRODUCER GRANT JURY
Debbie Barrett-Jones
Textile Artist; Healing with Weaving, founder; Children’s Mercy Hospital; Assistant Gallery Manager, Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, Kansas City, MO.
Healing with Weaving provides community weaving workshops with the mission of making and donating weaving loom kits to local Kansas City hospitals, medical and counseling facilities.
Karen Lisondra
Multifaceted performer/director/educator based in Kansas City.
After a decade doing devised theatrical work in South America, and touring the globe with two prestigious theatre companies, Fuerza Bruta and Teatro de Los Andes, Karen co-founded Resonation Music and Arts with her husband, Amado Espinoza, to inspire curiosity and respect for world cultures, stimulate creativity, and promote a sense of togetherness through music and art in the classroom and beyond.
Charlie Ortiz
Illustrator, designer and tattoo artist. Gallery Coordinator; Mattie Rhodes Cultural Center, Kansas City, MO.
Charlie is a young designer and artist from Kansas City’s Westside neighborhood. Currently he is employed as the Gallery Coordinator at the Mattie Rhodes Cultural Center. Mattie Rhodes considers Charlie as a “poster child” for their arts programming and after-school youth programs, which he attended. Following his studies at The Art Institute of Chicago, Charlie returned to the Westside to pursue his multi-disciplinary design art practice. His artwork topics celebrate his Latino culture, obsession with streetwear and sneaker culture, and his love for his family and neighborhood.
ABOUT CHARLOTTE STREET
Charlotte Street centers Kansas City’s most forward-thinking visual artists, writers, and performers—acting as the primary incubator, provocateur, and connector for the region’s contemporary arts community, and its leading advocate on the national stage. Since 1997, Charlotte Street has distributed over $2.5 million in awards and grants to artists and their innovative projects, and connected individual artists to each other and to the greater Kansas City community. For more information about Charlotte Street, its awards, programs, and initiatives, visit www.charlottestreet.org.
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