Looking for something to do in Kansas City the weekend before Thanksgiving? Don’t worry, it’s time once again for the editor’s weekend calendar picks from the KC Studio Arts Calendar. We’ve photography at the Nelson, Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms at the Kauffman and more. You can discover even more events by visiting KC’s most comprehensive arts calendar at kcstudio.org/events.
Through the Lens: Visions of African American Experience, 1950-1970
November 18, 2015 – April 4, 2016 | Free
This exhibition features over sixty works by seven photographers active during the civil rights era (1950-1970). Organized to underscore different artistic intentions and photographic approaches, Through the Lens highlights various aspects of African American experience during this time of tremendous social and political change.
Photographers Danny Lyon, Bruce Davidson, and Charles Moore bore witness to the activities and struggles of the civil rights movements as a means to effect social change. W. Eugene Smith, Gordon Parks and James Karales produced extended photo-essays that brought stories about the lives of ordinary African Americans to the national public. Drawing inspiration from music and literature, Roy DeCarava and Gordon Parks made original, creative photographs as purely artistic expressions.
Peace on Your Wings
November 19 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm | Free
The Sadako Legacy Foundation will donate one of Sadako Sasaki’s original origami cranes to the Truman Library. Diagnosed with leukemia due to radiation exposure from the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Sadako Sasaki began folding paper cranes in her hospital bed. According to a Japanese legend, if a person folds 1,000 paper cranes, that person is granted one wish. Although she died in 1955, her cranes have come to symbolize world peace and reconciliation. The program will feature remarks by President Truman’s eldest grandson, Clifton Truman Daniel, and Sadako’s brother, Masahiro Sasaki. Sadako’s nephew, Yuji Sasaki, will perform the original song “Inori” (Prayer). Composed by Yuji in 2003, Inori has been performed in concerts across Japan and shares Sadako’s final words: “Thank you, thank you so much.”
The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail
November 19 @ 7:30 pm
November 20 @ 7:30 pm
November 21 @ 7:30 pm
November 22 @ 2:00 pm
$15 – $32
Produced around the country under the American Playwrights Theatre program, this drama opens with Thoreau in jail for refusing to pay taxes to a government conducting a war of aggression in Mexico. Scenes portray his return from Harvard where he idolized Emerson, his attempt to establish a transcendentalist school, his career as a handyman and tutor in Emerson’s household, his romance and his friendship with an illiterate cellmate.
Public Hanging
November 20 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm | Free
The Public Hanging event will be held Friday, November 20 from 6pm – 9pm. There will be appetizers, beverages and music provided throughout the night. Invite your patrons, family and friends. The more the merrier.
Kansas City Symphony Classical Series Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms
November 20 @ 8:00 pm
November 21 @ 8:00 pm
November 22 @ 2:00 pm
Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
Experience three orchestral masterworks led by distinguished American conductor, David Zinman. Mozart’s Symphony No. 33, a genial and playful work, contrasts with the gripping Coriolan Overture, a musical portrait of both the Roman leader and, perhaps, Beethoven as well. Brahms’ youthful and romantic First Serenade rounds out the Kansas City Symphony program, brimming with spirit and gorgeous melodies. Tickets start at $25.
