Harold Smith

Harold Smith is an educator and multimedia artist who lives and works in the Kansas City area. Most of his work is focused on his experience within the American black experience.

American Jazz Museum’s New Executive Director Will Lead Push to Prominence

"Certainly, the AJM has a lens on what Kansas City has contributed to the industry and to the music. This being a territory town for folks like Count Basie and such, this was the kitchen, a laboratory for many of those bands. So, the museum here offers a different lens for the music."

March 2, 2020
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Arts News: Rare Daguerreotype Gives Insight into Issues of Race

In November, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art announced the acquisition of a rare daguerreotype. The Hall Family Foundation purchased the work for the museum, and it is believed to be the earliest known photograph depicting African American slaves with cotton. According to a release from the museum, “the photograph was likely taken some time during […]

January 6, 2020
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The Arts in Kansas City Have a Friend in Mayor Quinton Lucas

The arts in Kansas City have a friend in Mayor Quinton Lucas: "To me, arts and culture are essential"

November 22, 2019
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Artist Pages: The Art of Black Hair Braiding

I believe that creativity is the child of want. The emotion-rich blood of humanity’s deep need to simply belong flows through creativity’s veins. To me, this explains why America’s most impactful artistic movements were conceived in the womb of its most disenfranchised communities.

July 17, 2019
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“Glyneisha Johnson: Bo͝ozəm,” Haw Contemporary Crossroads

The esteemed poet, essayist and playwright Elizabeth Alexander defines “the black interior” as “black life and creativity behind the public face of stereotype and limited imagination.” Alexander states that tapping into it “helps us envision what we are not meant to envision: complex black selves, real and enactable black power, rampant and unfetishized black beauty.” […]

June 17, 2019
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Honors: Sheri ‘Purpose’ Hall

Sheri “Purpose” Hall is an author of three books, including poetry, epistles and a collection of writings titled “Black Girl Shattered.” A dedicated social activist, Hall has been a steady and consistent fixture in Kansas City’s vibrant spoken word scene, receiving numerous awards and accolades along the way.

May 16, 2019
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