Category: Articles

The Job: Doreen Maronde
Doreen Maronde has a passion for jazz. And it didn’t stop when she left her job at Johnson County Community College. As a volunteer, Maronde continues to program two jazz series at JCCC that she originated: the Winterlude concerts offered as part of Carlsen Center Presents, and the noontime Jazz Recital Series on Tuesdays.

Honors: Ben Gulley
In 2011, Ben Gulley walked onto the stage of the Muriel Kauffman Theatre at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and sang the first notes that ever graced the finished space. He performed “Nessun Dorma” from “Turandot” with then Lyric Opera of Kansas City artistic director and conductor Ward Holmquist, accompanying.

Arts New: Architect Marlon Blackwell to Speak at Annual Mary Atkins Lecture
In 1995 the Mary Atkins Lecture Series was established to honor and foster the legacy of Mary McAfee Atkins, whose bequest, combined with that of William Rockhill Nelson, provided funding for the building of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.