As the eighth edition of the Art of the Car Concours® approaches on June 22, the event, held on the grounds of the Kansas City Art Institute, has taken its place as part of Kansas City’s cultural, artistic and automotive life. Connoisseurs of the automobile as art await it as if it were a new exhibit at the Nelson, a gallery opening at the Crossroads, a faculty art show at the Kansas City Art Institute or the Plaza Art Fair. With approximately 200 exhibitors coming from as far afield as California, Florida and Texas, as well as South Dakota, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas, it allows many to see vintage vehicles they had only read about and had never seen in Kansas City previously. Besides the traditional vintage cars seen at other concours, The Art of the Car displays vintage trucks, race cars, hot rods, motorcycles, original unrestored vehicles and those owned by the same family for generations.
For more casual observers, it is an opportunity for a multi-generational outing, where you overhear conversations with quotes like, “Your uncle Joe had one of those,” or “This is just like the car your father had when we started dating.” Whichever group one belongs to, the Art of the Car Concours® provides a window on automotive history unmatched in the Midwest. By the end of the day, more than 40 awards are presented to exhibitors.
On another level, Art of the Car Concours® is also a major philanthropic force in the city, as one of the largest contributors to the Art Institute scholarship fund. Money raised by the event helps KCAI achieve the remarkable record of providing some form of financial aid to more than 90 percent of its students.
With an eye toward creating a future generation of automotive cognoscenti, Hagerty Insurance, a company specializing in vintage vehicle insurance, is sponsoring Operation Ignite: Connecting Kids and Cars. The program trains and allows youth judges 9 to 16, an opportunity to interact with collectors and other experts on the show field and learn why a specific car has historic significance. To help a young person take part in this educational event, go to www.artofthecarconcours.com and fill out a registration form. Registration is free, but spaces are limited.
Guests will find a variety of easy parking opportunities. Free parking is available at the University of Missouri – Kansas City high-rise parking garage at the corner of 50th and Oak Street. A free, all day shuttle service will carry passengers to the Concours, just two blocks away. Paid parking is available at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Entry is from Oak Street at the west side of the building across the street from the show field. Street parking is available in all surrounding neighborhoods.
The weekend’s events will begin with a “Meet the Legends” panel discussion on Saturday afternoon, June 21. To honor our first year of welcoming hot rods as entrants, the subject will be the history of hot rods and experts on the subject will take part. Admission will be $25.
Saturday evening there will be an Exhibitor and Sponsor Reception in Vanderslice Hall on the Kansas City Art Institute campus. The public is also invited for a fee of $20. Refreshments and hors d’oeuvres will be served.
Tickets for Sunday’s Art of the Car Concours® will be $18 online in advance and $20 at the door. Children 15 and under will be admitted free. For those who want to see and photograph the cars before the main crowd arrives, there is an early admission option available for $30. It allows entry from 8 a.m. on, with regular ticket holders allowed in at 10 a.m.
Proceeds from the Art of the Car Concours® benefit the Kansas City Art Institute, a private, four year, co-ed, fully accredited college of art and design, considered a leader in its field. Alumni and faculty over the years have spanned creative disciplines and include animator Walt Disney, who took Saturday classes at KCAI when he was a teenager; regionalist painters Thomas Hart Benton and John Steuart Curry, both of whom taught at KCAI; painters Robert Rauschenberg (who studied at KCAI as a freshman) and Elaine de Kooning; minimalist sculptor Robert Morris; novelist and screenwriter William F. Nolan (who briefly attended KCAI). Considering the content of the Art of the Car Concours®, it is interesting to note that Robert Rauschenberg painted one of BMW’s famous collection of art cars and William F. Nolan often wrote about motorsports, including biographies of race drivers Barney Oldfield, John Fitch and World Grand Prix Champion Phil Hill.
For further information: www.artofthecarconcours.com
–The Kansas City Art Institute & Michael Lynch
