Julius Karash

Julius A. Karash is a freelance writer, editor and public relations person. He formerly was a business reporter for the Kansas City Star and executive editor of KC Business magazine. He devours business and economic news, and is keenly interested in the relationship between arts and economic development in the Kansas City area.

Julius A. Karash on Business and the Arts: Bringing Kansas City Jazz Back Home

On the morning of the last day of spring, Daniel Edwards casts a hopeful look at an abandoned daycare center. High weeds and forlorn-looking play equipment loom large, but Edwards sees much more. Edwards envisions this site, located in the Wendell Phillips neighborhood near 25th Street and Michigan Avenue, as the future home of a […]

September 20, 2018
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ARTcap Microloans Help Artists Pursue Their Dreams

When fine art photographer John Lamberton put on his “Extrasensory” exhibition at the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center last year, a publicity release said he “fires a warning shot challenging the status quo.” At the same time, Lamberton challenged the status quo of how entrepreneurial artists obtain money. He took out a $7,000 loan from ARTcap, a […]

July 20, 2018
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Julius A. Karash on Business and the Arts: Henry Fortunato and the Art of Trailblazing

City of Tomorrow,” an exhibit at the Kansas City Public Library’s downtown (Central Library) branch through Sept. 1, spotlights the post-World War II urban renewal crusade. The renewal gospel hinged on a new network of highways, and visionaries prophesied that everybody soon would be driving everywhere they went. Walkable neighborhoods? Who needs them?!!! The visionaries […]

May 3, 2018
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Richard Hunt’s Exuberant ‘Spirit of Freedom Fountain’ Receiving a Much-Needed Restoration

With the restoration of another iconic fountain underway, Kansas City is burnishing its reputation as a city that cares about public art, cultural diversity and its “City of Fountains” bragging rights. The “Spirit of Freedom Fountain,” located at Cleveland Avenue and Brush Creek Boulevard on the city’s historically neglected East Side, was taken down for a long-needed fix-up after a removal ceremony on Dec. 8.

March 26, 2018
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Arts News: Haw Contemporary Expanding to Crossroads

Haw Contemporary, which filled a void when John O’Brien shut down his Dolphin gallery in the West Bottoms, is expanding into a Crossroads building that housed the Dolphin in its early years. Haw Contemporary owner Bill Haw Jr. said in January that he had agreed to lease about 2,500 square feet on the east side […]

March 2, 2018
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Arts News: Johnson County Scales Back Funding for Public Art

With large public construction projects in the pipeline, the Johnson County Commission on Nov. 2 voted to cut funding for public art designed to enhance such projects. The commission’s action reduces the public art funding cap for a new county courthouse from $1 million to $500,000, and caps all funding for future public art projects […]

January 9, 2018
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