CSF news from elsewhere.
Via KC Studio
“Sweeping the Chimney through the Mantle of the Earth,” Charlotte Street Foundation
Curated by Charlotte Street resident Andrew Ordonez, “Sweeping the Chimney through the Mantle of the Earth” is an exhibition about the decay of the world. Each artists tackles their own concept of ruin through painting, sculptures, photography, film and drawing. With all the exhibition’s artists living in the Central Time Zone, the show provides a cross section of America and Mexico, focusing on shared experiences of finding tragic beauty in our recent past.
Jose Villalobos’s installation “Lo Que Existe Entre Paredes” is a large cinder block wall, painted white and topped with dozens of broken Coca-Cola and Juarito’s bottles, planted like dangerous flowers. Across the wall, a single line of homophobic graffiti is scrawled “PUTO el que lo leea” (roughly meaning “gay if you read this”). Behind the wall, one can look at a photograph and see that the entire scene is a recreation of an actual wall near his grandfather’s house in Juarez, Mexico. The homophobic machismo of the graffiti becomes smaller and pathetic as Villalobos defiantly transplants it into the gallery space, unafraid of expressing his own queer identity.
Via KC Studio
Arts News: Charlotte Street Foundation Announces New Awards Fellows
Twenty-five years ago, a group of like-minded artists and their supporters met informally yet regularly at a bungalow on Charlotte Street. A few years before, the National Endowment for the Arts, for political reasons, stopped awarding individual grants for visual artists throughout the United States, and there was little money anywhere for local artists. Some of the Charlotte Street regulars decided to do something about the paucity of funding for artists in Kansas City, and they began raising money for artist grants annually.
Via KCUR 89.3 FM
A Kansas City composer’s tribute to Judy Garland is part concerto, part drag show
For a Judy Garland centennial tribute, Stacy Busch’s double concerto premieres with the Mid America Freedom Band and solos for two Kansas City drag queens.
Few performances are as iconic as Judy Garland’s Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.” Garland, who died in 1969, would have turned 100 this year. To mark that occasion, Kansas City’s Mid America Freedom Band presents a tribute concert, which includes the premiere of a commissioned piece of music with a unique role for two particular soloists.
Via KC Studio
Honors: Victoria Botero
The lauded soprano is recognized with a cultural producer grant from the Charlotte Street Foundation for her The Cecilia Series of concerts, including an upcoming program highlighting Gabriel García Márquez
A soprano hits the high notes. The highest.
Via KCUR 89.3 FM
Kansas City artist Harold Smith is everywhere these days — including on the TV show ‘Bel-Air
For decades, Harold Smith has created colorful paintings and multimedia works in his Kansas City, Kansas, living room. These days, he has a big new space and his artwork is in museums and on national television.
Harold Smith's paintings are easy to spot in the TV show “Bel-Air,” a reboot of the 1990s sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”
Via The Pitch KC
Charlotte Street Fellows create portals at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art
I wasn’t ready to travel into new dimensions on a Tuesday afternoon. But at the Nerman Museum, the artworks of Charlotte Street Foundation fellows glyneisha, Cory Imig, and Kathy Liao created portals that shaped the space around me in new ways.
Cory Imig’s abstract installations, glyneisha’s sacred spaces, and Kathy Liao’s massive drawings constitute the Portals show housed within the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art at Johnson County Community College.
Via KCUR 89.3 FM
For experimental musicians in Kansas City, sometimes a traditional concert hall just won’t do
The grand concert hall may not host experimental music as much as traditional performances, but musicians creating new, more avant-garde compositions are finding homes and audiences for their work.
With vaccination cards in tow, Kansas City's music lovers have ventured back to venues where they can enjoy the anticipation of a live performance, buoyed by the energy of the musicians.
Via KCUR 89.3 FM
Charlotte Street Foundation grants opportunities for Kansas City artists
The long-time supporter of the arts has been approved for a $35,000 grant to support studio and startup residencies.
Two programs will be supported by this grant from the National Endowment of Arts: studio residency and startup residency.
Charlotte Street’s studio residency program provides visual artists, writers, and generative performing artists with free studio and rehearsal space, professional development, exhibition and performance opportunities, and mentorships.
Jada Patterson, a current studio resident says she's benefited from the program. It allows her to interact with other artists and bounce ideas off her peers. Engaging with other artists is something Jada says she really thrives on and was unable to do during the pandemic.
Via KC Studio Magazine
Cultural Producer Grants Unveiled in Kansas City
Charlotte Street Foundation’s New Grant Series Breathes Life into Kansas City’s Grassroots Art
As the broader Kansas City cultural landscape reemerges from the depths of a pandemic, the Charlotte Street Foundation has inaugurated a new funding stream to benefit some of the community’s smallest creative organizations. Unveiled in 2021, the Cultural Producer Grants are the product of an intensive collaboration between the Charlotte Street Foundation team and David Hughes, Jr., the group’s founder and emeritus director.
Although Kansas City’s arts community is fortunate to have the support of innumerable generous benefactors, the Cultural Producer Grants are specifically geared toward assisting small, artist-run operations that typically subsist on modest budgets. Amy Kligman, executive director of the Charlotte Street Foundation, explains how these organizations “have historically been underfunded and are primarily run on the volunteer efforts and funds of the organizers . . . we are hoping to contribute to more sustainable and equitable ongoing operations for the grantees.”