ArtsKC Fund campaign week returns to the KCAI campus with activities for faculty, staff and students and opportunities to participate in the fundraising efforts.

Managed by the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City, the fund raises money to support a wide range of visual and performing arts organizations, individual artists and arts-related programs. In 2011, half of grant recipients were KCAI alumni and faculty. More than 50 percent of individual artists who have received grants since the program started in 2007 have been KCAI alumni and faculty.

Week-long activities planned for the KCAI campus include:

• Spare Change for Art – Donate your spare change for the arts during campaign week, April 2-5. Look for collection containers throughout the campus.

• Café Nerman’s “ArtsKC Golden Ticket” – For a $10 donation, you receive a punch card good for any five beverages, specialty drinks included, valid April 2-27. (That’s five lattes, mochas or chai teas for $2 each!)

• ArtsKC Raffle – Purchase raffle tickets to win more than 10 great art-related prizes, including tickets to the Kansas City Ballet, Coterie Theatre, the Harriman-Jewell Series and many more. Raffle ticket holders could also win the use of President Chanda’s reserved parking space for one week. Raffle tickets may be purchased throughout the week for $2, or three tickets for $5. Winners will be selected on Thursday, April 5.

• Buy Your Birthday Off – For a $20 donation, staff members will receive an additional vacation day for their birthday.

Donation locations

Donation sites for all activities can be found in the student life office in Vanderslice Hall, the Jannes Library and the advancement office located in the Advancement and Alumni House.  Donations may be made by cash, check or credit card.

For more information contact Randy Williams, director of community relations, at rwilliams@kcai.edu.

ArtsKC Fund campaign week continues on the KCAI campus with activities for faculty, staff and students and opportunities to participate in the fundraising efforts.

Managed by the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City, the fund raises money to support a wide range of visual and performing arts organizations, individual artists and arts-related programs. In 2011, half of grant recipients were KCAI alumni and faculty. More than 50 percent of individual artists who have received grants since the program started in 2007 have been KCAI alumni and faculty.

Activities planned for the KCAI campus on April 5 include:

• Staff Jeans Day – For a $5 donation, staff members may wear jeans to work on Thursday, April 5.

• “The Basket Case” Silent Auction - Bid on more than 30 uniquely themed baskets filled with great gifts and entertainment packages, including art supplies, a children’s birthday package, hotel stays, spa treatments, golf packages and motorcycle gear. The silent auction will take place in the Vanderslice Reception Rooms from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 5. All baskets must be purchased and picked up that day.

Donation sites for all activities can be found in the student life office in Vanderslice Hall, the Jannes Library and the advancement office located in the Advancement and Alumni House beginning April 2. Donations may be made by cash, check or credit card.

For more information contact Randy Williams, director of community relations, at rwilliams@kcai.edu.

Current Perspectives lecture series: Dave Kehr
7:30 p.m.
Tivoli Manor Square, 4050 Pennsylvania Ave.

Dave Kehr is a veteran film critic who says he is doing his best “to transform the DVD column of The New York Times into a wide-ranging weekly essay on diverse aspects of film history.” Born in Oklahoma and raised in a Chicago suburb, he describes himself as “a compulsive film viewer from a tender age.” He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1975, and subsequently his film criticism has been published in the Chicago Reader, Chicago Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, the New York Daily News and The New York times. Read more.

“Parts”
6 to 9 p.m.
Undergrads Underground at Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, 2012 Baltimore Ave.

“Parts” will open with a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. April 6 at Undergrads Underground, the KCAI student exhibition space at Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, 2012 Baltimore Ave. The exhibition features work by Autumn Randell (senior, printmaking) that explores anxiety caused by ideas of death and how these ideas affect the artist. The exhibition will be on view through April 28. Regular gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. For more information, visit www.leedy-voulkos.com.

Current Perspectives lecture series: Kate Bingaman Burt
7 p.m.
Epperson Auditorium in Vanderslice Hall, KCAI campus

Born in Kenosha, Wis., in 1977, Kate Bingaman Burt has been making work about consumption since 2002 and teaching since 2004. Bingaman says she has been “drawing until my hand cramps since about 2006.” Her first book, “Obsessive Consumption: What Did You Buy Today?” was published in 2010 by Princeton Architectural Press. She now lives in Portland, Ore., where she is an assistant professor and program coordinator of graphic design at Portland State University. Read more.

Open Studio
8:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.
KCAI campus

Each year, the Kansas City Art Institute’s admissions office hosts Open Studio, a preview of the college for prospective students and their parents and teachers.The event allows participants to visit three studio departments, see current students making work and meet studio faculty to hear more about the art-making experience at KCAI. Separate presentations about liberal arts and financial aid are included in the day’s events as well. Registration is required.

For more information, go to our Visit KCAI page.

6:30 to 11 p.m.
April 14, 2012

The Grand Ballroom at the Kansas City Convention Center

Chairs – Brian Williams and Steve Metzler

Cost – $175 per ticket

The power of art is in its ability to transform your thinking; to turn an idea upside down or literally stop you in your tracks with its beauty.

The evening will feature cocktails, a gourmet dinner, dancing and an unforgettable, dazzling performance by KCAI students from the fiber and animation programs. 

To become part of the performance yourself, wear white or incorporate white into your black-tie-optional attire.

For more information, vsit www.kcai.edu/gala.

Current Perspectives lecture series: Dean Daderko
7 p.m.
Epperson Auditorium in Vanderslice Hall, KCAI campus.

Dean Daderko is the curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. His most recent exhibitions include “Directing Light onto Fist of Father,” a solo exhibition of work and performance by the artist MPA, which he co-curated with Alhena Katsof for Leo Koenig Inc. in New York; “Centro de Investigaciones Artisticas” at Centro Cultural Recoleta in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which was organized in dialogue with the grantees of the Centro de Investigaciones Artisticas study program; and “50 Artists Photograph the Future” at Higher Pictures in New York. Read more.

Today is the last day to view “Construction in Structure” at City Arts Project.

The exhibition is part of the KCAI Career Services Access Alumni Events in which student work is juried and selected to be shown by alumni curators. The exhibition is curated by Matt Bollinger ('03 painting); Justin Gainan ('04 fiber); Erika Hanson ('06 fiber); Amelia Ishmael ('04 photo/new media and '09 art history); and Jason Lips ('02 ceramics).

Exhibiting students include Andrew Ordonez (’13 painting), Ashely Ariel Proski (’13 photo), Ben Harle (’12 ceramics and art history), Bradley Kyle Lewis (’12 painting and art history), Caranne Camerena (’12 painting), Emily Connell (’12 ceramics), Fredrick Vorder-Bruegge (’13 painting), Hank Hafkemeyer (’12 ceramics), Julian Chams (’12 painting), Julian Stropes (’14 painting), Katy McRoberts (’12 fiber and CASL), Lauren Sobchak (’13 fiber and CASL), Madeline Gallucci (’12 printmaking), Maret Miller (’13 ceramics), Marianne Laury (’12 sculpture and CASL), Molly Ryan (’13 sculpture) and Zachary Miley (’13 illustration). Regular gallery hours are 12-5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.

For more information, contact Calder Kamin, career services assistant, at ckamin@kcai.edu.

"Telling"

7 p.m.
La Esquina
1000 W. 25th St.

"Telling," is a performance featuring Mara Gibson's UMKC-KCAI, cross-institutional Creative Collaborations class. Collaborators include Mintra Greer (junior, photography), Lizz Hougland and Taylor Wallace (junior, photography) who will address "the reflection on the journey of becoming human." The performance will be the final ArtSounds of the 2011-2012 season.

Reservations are required for these sessions and may be made by calling the KCAI admissions office toll free at 800-522-5224 or locally at 816-474-5224 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday or by e-mailing visit@kcai.edu. Let us know how many are in your party, what city you live in and what school you are presently attending. Also let us know if you are bringing your portfolio.

Today is the last day to view “Parts” at Undergrads Underground, the KCAI student exhibition space at Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, 2012 Baltimore Ave.

The exhibition features work by Autumn Randell (senior, printmaking) that explores anxiety caused by ideas of death and how these ideas affect the artist. Regular gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.

For more information, visit www.leedy-voulkos.com.