KANSAS CITY — A proposed Downtown Center for the Arts took a giant step forward Monday with a $6 million donation of land for UMKC’s Conservatory of Music and Dance.
Anonymous donors worked with the Downtown Council to provide two acres of prime real estate just south of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.
UMKC is going to get one full city block, between Broadway and Central, from 17th to 18th streets. The university calls it the dream location for conservatory students to be in the artsy Crossroads neighborhood with the Kauffman Center next door.
Expansion of arts and education programs at UMKC’s new downtown campus is projected to create nearly $23 million a year in real disposable personal income for 25 years.
This donation has pushed private fundraising for the move to $27 million. Once $48 million is raised privately, the school hopes to lobby the state to pay for the remaining half of the project.
“It’s not just about energizing the students and the faculty,” said Jane Chu of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. “It’s about sparking this vitality in the whole community that surrounds the area.”
This is one of the Big Five civic priorities for the region identified by the Chamber of Commerce.
Having performance, teaching and learning happening all in the same place is similar to what you’d find with the Julliard School and Lincoln Center in New York City.
The goal is to help create a downtown center where artists, innovators, entrepreneurs and conservatory students are all part of a livable, walkable, transit connected neighborhood.
“I think the energy of the Crossroads district especially is so great,” said Sarah Carney, a conservatory student. “Being around the Crossroads during First Fridays, having Kauffman Center, I think it will really help put a big jump in our step, liven things up a lot. draw some new crowds to our performances, set the standards a little bit higher.”
The conservatory also is expected to help the city boost activity, attracting more to live and work in the central city.
