We’re a sports town. No! We’re an art town. Well. This summer at least, Kansas City is both, with many cultural institutions mounting exhibits and displays in conjunction with the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
At Union Station, Kansas City artist Chico Sierra will add World Cup-themed imagery, including references to soccer culture and the global communities that support it, to his previously installed “Welcome All” mural in the station’s Ramón Murguía Visitor Entrance.
At the National WWl Museum, a new exhibit, “The Beautiful Game,” delves into soccer history, exploring the relationship between soccer and World War l through artifacts, documents and vintage photographs. A highlight is the “Loos Football,” so named for its role on the opening day of the Battle of Loos in September 1915, when the London Irish Rifles kicked it ahead as they charged German lines.
Through Aug. 9, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art presents “The World in Kansas City,” an exhibit of works by Kansas City artists with global backgrounds intended to resonate with the influx of international visitors for the World Cup.
The Nelson-Atkins got out ahead of the game with last year’s “Personal Best” exhibit exploring the drive for excellence common to art and sports through works by Kansas City artists who are also athletes, and in April, Mexican artist Betsabeé Romero engaged the local community in two art activations that continue on view.
Visitors to the Kansas City Convention Center can see Romero’s Tejiendo Redes (Weaving Nets), a recreation of a soccer field and two goals (porterías), created with assistance from community participants and organized by the Consulate of Mexico in Kansas City and Mattie Rhodes Center. The piece was conceived as “a metaphorical net, binding together diverse voices and fostering a sense of unity among participants.”
Romero’s second activation took place April 29 at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in conjunction with her special installation, “A Field with Roots,” featuring three works that engage “with ideas of mobility, cycles, and the dynamism of cultures throughout soccer (fútbol).” The exhibit continues through Dec. 6.
Opening June 17, the Nerman is also presenting “Sport and Spectator,” an exhibit organized by the McNay Art Museum, of works that transform sports imagery and equipment into artworks.
The Nerman version is an expanded one, with additional artists including Kansas City’s Phil “Sike Style” Shafer.
Also in June, Kansas City Central Library exhibitions curator Craig Auge weighs in with an exhibit that looks at “how Kansas City grew from being an underdog to becoming a soccer hub and a World Cup host.” Titled “A People’s History of Kansas City Soccer,” the show was created in partnership with KCUR 89.3 and is based on a miniseries from the station’s award-winning podcast, “A People’s History of Kansas City.”
The bond between soccer and art finds a precedent in KC Current’s permanent exhibit at CPKC Stadium. “Line of Sight,” presenting works by 12 eminent Kansas City women artists, opened in summer 2024.
Fútbol, football. It’s been 14 years since the Kansas City Chiefs announced the Arrowhead Art Collection, a groundbreaking alliance of area art and sport launched with a call for artists in 2012. The collection was spearheaded by Sharon Hunt and inspired by the blue chip Dallas Cowboys Collection. Kansas City artists figure prominently at Arrowhead, which honors the region with a focus on works by artists in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Those were the days.
