Nelson-Atkins to hold community meetings about its proposed cultural district this weekend

Last year, the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art revealed the results of an ambitious master plan it had commissioned that would expand the museum’s presence in the neighborhood. It amounts to a new cultural district that would stretch from 39th Street to 55th Street, from Main Street to Paseo Boulevard. It would tie together the Nelson, UMKC, the Plaza, the Kemper Museum, Rockhurst University and the Kansas City Art Institute, among other institutions, via new pedestrian bridges, green spaces, redirected traffic and new construction.

Potentially exciting stuff! But also: Who will pay for this? Who will build it? What existing groups, businesses and organizations will be negatively disrupted by such an expansion? What should a project like this look like? Etc. Lots of unanswered questions at this point. 

Which is why the museum is hosting what it’s calling a “charrette” over the course of the next three days. A charrette is a fancy foreign word for “an intense period of design and planning activity,” according to the Nelson. In other words, you can go listen to people talk about this plan, and also offer your thoughts on it. Everybody is invited, and all opinions are welcome. 

The meetings are being held at Bancroft School, at 4300 Tracy Avenue. They start tonight (Thursday, February 5), from 5 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. Megan Crigger, director of creative services at the city’s newly created Office of Culture and Creative Services, will speak. That’ll be followed by community discussion and reports from some of the teams that have been working on the plan. 

On Friday, organizers will refine those community ideas in a private session. Then on Saturday morning, the public is invited back to 4300 Tracy from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. to further discuss the project. More info here.