Caroline Honas, Arin Yoon, Simon Angel, Laura Kozak
KANSAS CITY, MO, JUNE 12, 2026: Eight artists have been selected to participate in Charlotte Street’s 2026-2027 Crossroads Artboards program. Located in the heart of Kansas City’s Crossroads Arts District at 125 Southwest Blvd, the Artboards will feature eight commissioned works every three months on the exterior, double-sided billboards. The artists selected for the 2026-2027 cycle are Simon Angel, Summer Brooks, Aimee Fresia, Caroline Honas, Laura Kozak, Jay Malik, Jean McGuire, andArin Yoon.
The works features traverse intersections of identity, environment, and collective memory, from Simon Angel’s stark self-portraiture, where the transgender body is set against Kansas City’s industrial desolation, to Summer Brooks and Jay Malik’s luminous celebrations of Black femininity, reframing narratives of beauty, strength, and self-definition. Aimee Fresia captures the tension between permanence and transience through layered landscapes in motion, while Caroline Honas reflects on the fragile ecology of the tallgrass prairie, where cycles of growth and burn reveal both threat and renewal. Laura Kozak confronts the ubiquity of waste, juxtaposing intimate refuse with expansive post-landfill landscapes, as Jean McGuire channels the enduring joy of Kansas City’s jazz and dance heritage. Arin Yoon’s deeply personal images trace the lingering impacts of war across family and generations, illuminating how trauma is carried and inherited.
The 2026-2027 Crossroads Artboards schedule is as follows:
April–June 2026: Jean McGuire (West), Summer Brooks (East)
July–September 2026: Aimee Fresia (West), Jay Malik (East)
October–December 2026: Caroline Honas (West), Arin Yoon (East)
January–March 2027: Simon Angel (West), Laura Kozak (East)
For interview requests or to inquire about sponsoring the Artboards program contact Amanda Middaugh at [email protected] or 816-994-7734.
CROSSROADS ARTBOARDS SELECTION PROCESS
Applications were submitted and scored through the online submission platform, Submittable. This year’s jury reviewed and rated 76 proposals for the 2026-2027 Crossroads Artboards program.
Charlotte Street administers the selection process, but staff are not voting panelists.
The jury for the Artboards consists of four artists and arts advocates–all from the Kansas City region with at least one juror who lives or works in the Crossroads Arts District. The jurors for the 2026-2027 cycle were Lorece Chanelle, Bernadette Negrete, Garry Noland, and Chico Sierra.
ABOUT CROSSROADS ARTBOARDS
Since 2008, the Crossroads Artboards has featured over 100 commissioned works by Kansas City-area artists. The Artboards capture the creative spirit of the Crossroads neighborhood while serving as an alternative platform for contemporary art. For a complete listing of artists and more information, visit charlottestreet.org/crossroads-artboards.
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 $3 million in awards and grants to artists and their innovative projects and has hosted countless exhibitions, performances, convenings, and conversations connecting and challenging Kansas City’s contemporary art ecosystem. For more information about Charlotte Street, its awards, programs, and initiatives, visit www.charlottestreet.org.
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View the press release as a PDF here.
