While construction is underway at the Kansas City Museum to restore and renovate Corinthian Hall, and during the exhibition design and development process for Corinthian Hall, the Kansas City Museum is piloting and advancing a number of new creative partnerships, including with the Gladstone Elementary after-school STEAM fashion program, the Gay and Lesbian Archive of Mid-America (GLAMA), and the West 18th Street Fashion Show.
The Kansas City Museum at the Historic Garment District (KCM@HGD) will serve as a welcoming place for many of these new collaborative partnerships while the Museum is under construction. The 3,300-square-foot space located at 800 Broadway Blvd. is open to the public Wednesday-Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. In this space, the Museum is exploring Kansas City’s history using its historical collection of clothing, textiles, and costumes, and by inviting local fashion designers to participate in reactivating the rich history of the Garment District.
For example, in spring and summer 2018, the Museum will continue to provide educational offerings for the Gladstone Elementary after-school STEAM fashion program. In addition the Museum will partner with GLAMA at UMKC to present My Tee & Me: Statement & Identity in Kansas City, an exhibition opening on April 21 that will feature t-shirts from the Kansas City Museum’s collection supplemented by photographs and memorabilia documenting cultural trends, sports and entertainment, political themes, and activism in the community.
“Reimagining and renovating a major civic asset cannot be accomplished without creative partners,” Museum Executive Director Anna Marie Tutera said. “The Museum’s mission and vision prioritize innovative and inclusive collaborations aiming to bring people together to learn, converse, connect, engage, and create. As institutions and organizations, we are stronger together, and the Museum hopes to inspire new models of elevating, bolstering, and mobilizing resources and opportunities for our partners.”
A highlight for this spring and summer includes a partnership with the West 18th Street Fashion Show with continued artist direction by Peregrine Honig. Taking place on June 9, Honig will celebrate the fashion show’s golden birthday with the theme Summer Migration.
“Inspired by memory, movement, resilience, and transcendence, Summer Migration aims to create an experience where narrative and fashion converge to elevate our dreams, our voices, and our humanity,” Honig said. “This year we ask designers to present us with their heritage and history, to re-contextualize the garments of their ancestors.”
Honig and her team will select up to 11 designers and the call for entries is due on March 27. The Kansas City Museum will collaborate with the West 18th Street Fashion Show by presenting public programing at the KCM@HGD from June through August, and by providing designers access to research the Museum’s collection of clothing, textiles, and costumes. Programming will include conversations with the designers and the recording and sharing of life stories of immigrants who worked in Kansas City’s Garment District.
The design and development process for Corinthian Hall that is underway will create the long-term and changing exhibitions, educational and public programs, and special events and experiences that will comprise the City’s 21st-century Museum of history and cultural heritage.
This phase of exhibition and program design and development for Corinthian Hall will take approximately 12 to 16 months and include the participation of local historians, educators, curators, artists, and organizations—including museums, universities, schools, libraries, arts and humanities projects, neighborhood associations, social service agencies, and more—with the goal of producing interpretive content and experiences for Corinthian Hall that share the unfolding stories of Kansas City’s past, present, and future