Artwork by María Velasco using testimony by Joe Martinez: “Nothing Left But Memories,” used to reconstruct a house of the destroyed Bottoms neighborhood. The work is part of the “Reclaiming Home: Remembering the Topeka Bottoms” project. (Madison Tubbs)
In an era of wrenching divisiveness, DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) has morphed into one of the most controversial topics in America. The debate over DEI has raged in virtually every sector of our society, from business to education to museums.
Opponents of DEI denounce such efforts as threats against merit and quality, and the outcries grew louder and more frequent during the presidential contest between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
In my opinion, DEI efforts have played a crucial role in beginning to reverse the racist exclusions that have plagued our country for far too long in areas such as housing, education, business, health care and the arts.
Rancor over this issue has reared its head in Kansas City time and again. But fortunately, our town has been making DEI strides in many areas, including the arts.
“It’s a part of our mission,” said Todd Stein, president and CEO of the Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA). “This is the work that we’ve been doing for over 50 years as an arts organization.”
In July the M-AAA awarded $184,000 to 13 artists and arts organizations in six states through its Artistic Innovations grant program. The recipients included Maria Velasco, an artist and professor at the University of Kansas, who received $15,000 for the “Reclaiming Home: Remembering the Topeka Bottoms” project.
“Reclaiming Home” is the work of an interdisciplinary team of artists and scholars working with the community to recreate the Topeka Bottoms neighborhood through storytelling, mapping, film and art.
Velasco, a native of Spain, described herself as a “social practice artist.” One of her primary goals as an artist is “to always be paying attention to Eurocentric and white supremacy narratives. We have not taken into account many stories and experiences that were not about white males.”
A few years ago, Velasco decided to create a project to explore the history of Black and Brown people in the region that includes Topeka and Lawrence.
Velasco and fellow researchers Valerie Mendoza, Matt Jacobson and Neill Esquibel-Kennedy learned that the Bottoms area of downtown Topeka was home to a predominantly Black and Brown community up until the 1950s. The Bottoms was a place where residents knew each other, and always had a place at the dinner table for a neighbor or an unexpected guest.
But in 1956, the city government began carrying out a federally funded urban renewal program that demolished the Bottoms area to make way for new real estate development and an extension of I-70. Homes, businesses and a historic 19th-century Black church were razed, and more than 3,000 people were displaced. Today the Bottoms exists only in the memories of the people who lived there, and in the stories shared each year at the Bottoms Neighborhood Kids reunion.
“As visual artists, documentarians and scholars, we feel the urgency to work with our communities to engage in meaningful conversations about racial justice through the reclamation of stories using dialogue, humanities and art,” Velasco said. “The Artistic Innovations grant is a tremendous support toward social justice and equity in local communities in Topeka and in the Mid-America region.”
The “Reclaiming Home” multimedia exhibition is scheduled to debut at ArtsConnect in Topeka April 4, 2025, and will run through the end of May.
In 2021, Charlotte Street introduced its Cultural Producer grants geared toward small, artist-run operations that typically subsist on modest budgets.
The grants are designed to “encourage a more diverse awardee base into our selection process,” said Amy Kligman, Charlotte Street’s executive artistic director.
Kligman said, “European model art institutions have been framed through the lens of Western European civilization. The efforts you see in DEI strategy say it’s weird that certain institutions get the resources and are more celebrated. This is an effort to say we could be better at distributing these resources.”
In August 2023, Charlotte Street announced the appointment of Yashi Davalos, an Afro Latinx Atlanta native, as its new curatorial fellow.
“Working with emerging and contemporary artists in project spaces such as The Front Gallery in New Orleans, Davalos’ curatorial vision brings together artists from multiple regions and cultural identities through innovative exhibitions and programming,” Charlotte Street said in a news release.
ArtsKC, Kansas City’s nonprofit regional arts council, in February announced a program to increase access and participation in Kansas City arts and culture among underrepresented communities by reducing systematic barriers such as cost, belonging and transportation.
Known as “The Drop,” the program offers members discounted tickets ($10 admission) to attend events put on by participating arts organizations.
“At ArtsKC, our commitment to diversity and cultural equity is not just a goal, it’s a philosophy that permeates our leadership, partnerships, grant-making, and programs,” the organization said.
Kansas City’s Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, located in the historic 18th and Vine district, displays the intertwining histories of segregated sports and DEI.
“We never looked at ourselves as just a baseball museum,” said Bob Kendrick, the museum’s president. “We are a civil rights/social justice institution that is seen through the lens of baseball. Diversity, equity and inclusion has always been at the forefront of what this story represented, both on and off the field.”
The Major League Baseball color barrier was broken when Jackie Robinson, who had played for the Kansas City Monarchs Negro Leagues team, signed with the Major League Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Kendrick noted that this was years before the Supreme Court’s historic Brown v. Topeka Board of Education ruling (in 1954) and Rosa Parks’ refusal to move to the back of bus in Montgomery, Alabama (in 1955).
“For all intents and purposes, baseball is what started the ball of social progress rolling in our country,” Kendrick said.
While the integration of Major League Baseball was positive from the standpoint of inclusion, Kendrick said the demise of Negro Leagues teams meant the end of their contributions to local Black economies.
But plans are on the drawing board for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum to build a new $30 million expansion facility. It will go up adjacent to the Buck O’Neil Education and Research Center, which will be housed in the historic Paseo YMCA building at 1824 Paseo. A capital fundraising campaign is underway, and the museum hopes to break ground for the expansion by 2028.
“This is a tremendous investment the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is making to 18th and Vine,” Kendrick said.
In addition, the Grayson Capital LLC and Corbella LLC development groups want to build a 100-unit hotel and up to 200 apartments to accompany the museum expansion.
In the public art arena, Kansas City homed in on diversity when artworks were chosen for the new KCI terminal and garage that opened in February 2023. Seventy-five percent of the selected art was created by women artists or artists of color.
PROGRESS ABOUNDS BUT SO DO THREATS; “UNDERSTAND THAT HISTORY IS NOW”
Carmaletta Williams, executive director of Black Archives of Mid-America, said the Kansas City art world has benefitted from a great deal of progress in terms of diversity, equity and inclusion.
“African American artists are doing an amazing job of getting their stories out,” Williams said. “We’re seeing it on public buildings, and galleries are making sure that there are accurate depictions (of Black people). When you have groups like the African American Artists Collective getting their work displayed in places like the Nelson and the Kemper and major galleries, great strides are being made.”
But despite all the progress, Williams said inaccurate and demeaning depictions of Black life continue to circulate amid the backlash against DEI. Children may accept negative depictions as accurate if they aren’t taught about their history, she warned.
“Don’t send your children out unprepared for the truth,” Williams said. “Have them understand that history is now.”
A PERSONAL NOTE
After over eight years of writing for KC Studio and over 48 years in journalism, I am retiring at the end of December. I have very much enjoyed the opportunity to work with editor Alice Thorson and all the other great folks at the magazine. It has been a privilege for me to meet, talk to and learn from so many individuals and organizations that make art and art-related developments happen. Our town would be a much poorer place, spiritually and materially, if not for your talent and vision and hard work. I will continue to follow your aspirations and accomplishments, as I will continue to support the mission of KC Studio. All the best! — Julius Karash
