Soon Kansas City will join the ranks of more than 50 cities coast-to-coast with a digital guide to arts and culture built on the artsopolis platform. Watch for the launch of ArtsKCGo.com in late spring by ArtsKC, our regional arts council.
The guide will launch with content primarily provided by the long-running KC Studio Calendar, featuring arts and cultural events in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The timing for ArtsKCGo.com is just right, as our city continues to rank at the top of lists for its vibrant arts scene.
ArtsKC believes the website will play an important role in audience building and increasing awareness for arts and cultural organizations in our region.
“We view this digital guide as a way to help build audiences for our region’s arts and cultural organizations by making event information more readily accessible,” said Brad Douglas, Chairman of the ArtsKC Board. “It also offers organizations of every size an additional and equitable platform for promoting their events.”
While some artsopolis websites in cities such as Nashville include sports events on their calendars, ArtsKCGo.com will primarily focus on arts and cultural events, which aligns with the ArtsKC mission to unleash the power of the arts. And while the website will provide links to ticket information, it will not directly issue event tickets.
Fulfilling the ArtsKC Mission
“ArtsKC focuses on three primary goals every day — to promote, support and advocate for arts and culture in our community,” added Douglas. “ArtsKCGo.com will allow us to accomplish all three at once — it will be the platform for promoting events to regional audiences and tourists. But it’s also a way to support artists and arts organizations while advocating for fair access to arts and cultural events, including promoting free events.”
In addition to the events guide, ArtsKC plans to add other sections to ArtsKCGo.com. The goal is that, by the end of the year, the council will phase in other sections, including public art, so you can locate public art installations; classifieds, which will highlight things like theatre auditions; plus arts education to help parents, schools and other organizations incorporate art into their curriculum. The website will also feature a robust artist directory that will give local artists a chance to post their profiles, showcase their work and connect to the community.
Calling all arts and culture orgs
Once the website launches, ArtsKC encourages arts and cultural organizations across our city to visit ArtsKCGo.com, create a login and submit their events for consideration. KC Studio asks that organizations continue to send them information about events, exhibits and performances, so that organizations can be featured in KC Studio’s print magazine. Going forward, KC Studio will feature an ArtsKCGo.com “widget” on its website, with all the calendar content our readers have come to expect.
Partnering with others
ArtsKC will also offer other organizations with event calendars an option to add an ArtsKCGo.com “widget” to their websites. Visitors will know that the events they’re viewing on another website originate from the ArtsKCGo guide, because the syndicated version will say: “Powered by ArtsKCGo.com.”
“ArtsKC is currently working with organizations, including KC Studio and KC Metropolis.org that host calendars, along with area media partners, including KCPT and The Kansas City Star, to discover ways we can work together and cross-share event information,” Douglas said. “We want ArtsKCGo.com to be an inclusive initiative, which reflects the community-minded nature of ArtsKC — we’re here to be a central resource.”
Learning about ArtsKC
For questions about ArtsKCGo.com, contact ArtsKC at: news@artskc.org. In the meantime, you can learn more about ArtsKC at artskc.org, or visit the council’s Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages.
Checking back with ArtsKCGo.com
Right now when you visit ArtsKCGo.com, you’ll see a “Coming Soon” page, but soon, you’ll see your city’s guide to arts and culture up and running, so check back frequently.
–Susan Franke
The exhibits and events shown above are examples of the type of curated event, performance and exhibit content you’ll see on ArtsKCGo.com.
