With eyes fixed on becoming an innovative hub for Kansas City’s history and cultural heritage, the Kansas City Museum announced today HUB projects, an initiative that will offer a collection of diverse personal and neighborhood stories of Kansas Citians. In addition to signifying the Kansas City Museum as a community anchor and nucleus, HUB stands for “historical urban base,” to recognize the rich history of Kansas City’s neighborhoods in the urban core that contributed to the development of Kansas City—including the Historic Northeast, which is where the Kansas City Museum is located. The projects will be produced in collaboration with local organizations, recorded through a variety of formats—including oral histories, video conversations, documentary film, digital storytelling, and youth radio—and made broadly accessible to the public. HUB projects will document, interpret, and preserve Kansas City’s history and collective memory, inspire engagement and civic unity, as well as foster positive, sustainable community development and social change.
With architectural design planning underway and construction on Corinthian Hall (the mansion) slated to start in 2017, the restored and renovated Kansas City Museum will be the home, hub, and heart for learning about Kansas City’s history. In Fall 2016, the Kansas City Museum launched its new mission and vision. The mission is to preserve, interpret, and celebrate Kansas City through collections, exhibitions, and bold programs that reflect the City’s evolution and spirit, and engage visitors in unfolding stories about Kansas City’s vibrant history, cultural heritage, and pride. The vision is for the Kansas City Museum to be a hub of learning, creativity, and collaboration where individuals and communities innovate and inspire engagement and civic unity.
HUB projects supports the Kansas City Museum’s educational and civic mission by creating interpretive content for exhibitions, programs, and experiences while enhancing the Museum’s collection of historical artifacts and archival materials. The restored and renovated Corinthian Hall is expected to be completed and open to the public in 2019, and there will be an interactive and immersive space for recording and experiencing stories.
The Kansas City Public Library and the Kansas City Museum Foundation will serve as the lead partners for HUB projects to finalize the scope and scale of the initiative, prioritize projects and produce content, and secure funding opportunities to build the initiative’s capacity. They also will determine with the Kansas City Public Library how best to archive the digital media that is created and make it broadly accessible, beyond the walls of the Kansas City Museum and the Kansas City Public Library, to educators, students, researchers, and the public.
Together, the Kansas City Museum, the Kansas City Museum Foundation, and the Kansas City Public Library will identify additional collaborators to participate in the ongoing, multi-year initiative. The Kansas City Museum Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to develop initiatives, convene leaders, and mobilize resources through inclusive partnerships to support the mission, vision, values, and strategic priorities of the Kansas City Museum.
“In 2014, the first spark came to me to develop the concept for HUB projects,” said Kansas City Museum Executive Director Anna Marie Tutera. “In reimagining the Kansas City Museum, it became clear that there are so many untold personal stories of Kansas City residents and change makers, whose faces and voices should be captured and whose stories of shaping Kansas City and contributing to its development should be documented. There are civic and community leaders who have passed away recently from whom we have no record of their personal experiences. As the City’s history museum, the Kansas City Museum has a social responsibility to record, preserve, and share our stories so that we may not only learn about and understand the past, but also define our future. Ultimately, our stories and our histories unite us.”
Kansas City Public Library Deputy Director of Public Affairs Carrie Coogan said, “The Kansas City Public Library is a doorway to knowledge for all people in our community, a community that has been fortunate to have strong leadership in recent decades. The Library has endeavored to preserve our local history through its extensive public programming, Missouri Valley Room and archives, and historical websites. Now we are excited to partner with the Kansas City Museum to preserve and share the stories of community leaders who helped build this City.”
For more information on HUB projects, visit kansascitymuseum.org.
BACKGROUND ON THE KANSAS CITY MUSEUM
Located at 3218 Gladstone Boulevard in the Historic Northeast community of Kansas City, Missouri, the Kansas City Museum is comprised of five original buildings, including the mansion Corinthian Hall, which was built in 1910 by Robert Alexander Long. The estate became a public museum in 1940. It is owned by the City of Kansas City, Missouri, and operated and managed by the City of Kansas City, Missouri Parks and Recreation Department. The Collection contains more than 100,000 artifacts and several thousand more archival materials that interpret Kansas City’s local and regional history.
The Kansas City Museum is in the process of architectural design development to create a first-rate museum of Kansas City’s history through a multi-year, multi-staged restoration and renovation project. International Architects Atelier is the lead architectural design firm, and JE Dunn Construction Co. is the Construction Manager at Risk. Construction on Corinthian Hall (the mansion) is slated to begin in summer 2017 and be completed in 2019. Museum Management Consultants produced the Museum’s Strategic and Business Plans, which were adopted in Fall 2016, and Gallagher & Associates is producing the Museum’s Visitor Experience Plan that provides the parameters for exhibition design and development.