Artist-entrepreneurs are an essential part of Kansas City’s cultural and commercial landscape. They are also a leading export. Take Made in Americana, a design firm started by Kansas City Art Institute alums, Joey Grimm and Jordan Johnson, who create and market custom furniture and lighting from their studio in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.

The Nelson's associate curator of Chinese art challenges the status quo with lively exhibits laced with subtle surprises.

In 2016, at age 95, long-time KC resident Jack Jonathan hopes to return to Egypt, 64 years after he left that country. It seems fitting that a photography show, which enabled him to leave an Egypt in turmoil all those years ago, is the very thing impelling his return.

A photography exhibit, titled “Faces of Change,” is coming this fall to the Kemper Museum. The images are by Nick Vedros, a KC-based photographer with a glittering list of corporate clients, including Apple, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, DuPont and Sony. The faces belong to Kansas prison inmates.