Host Michael Mackie sits down with Julián Zugazagoitia, CEO & President of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art to discuss the expansion of the Museum with a new wing on the west end of their campus, with expanded spaces for education, performance, events and dining and which would be the biggest investment in arts in Kansas City. Julian will also discuss the impact of the Streetcar and the upcoming World Cup on the Nelson-Atkins Museum’s attendance expansion plans.
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Michael Mackie:
Hi everyone, it’s Michael Mackie here, coming to you from KC Studio. KC Studio and kcstudio.org is the only regional magazine and website entirely devoted to covering all arts all the time. I’m excited to work with KC Studio on this special podcast that will provide valuable insights into how public transit and the World Cup are shaping cultural expression and events in the heart of our city. So thanks for joining us on this month’s stop of KC Studio’s Artful Connections Along the Streetcar podcast presented by Arvest Bank and sponsored by TIVOL. We’ll be featuring some of Kansas City’s finest cultural arts and civic organizations each month that are along the recently extended Kansas City streetcar route that now goes from the riverfront to the Country Club Plaza and UMKC. Streetcar riders are now able to hop on the streetcar at any of the stops and ride to and from their favorite exhibits and events throughout the year. So please take a ride with us.
Support for Artful Connections Along the Streetcar comes from Arvest Bank. Arvest Bank believes that financial confidence should be within reach for everyone. Whether you’re just getting started planning for your future or starting a new chapter, we are here to help you plan and meet your goals every step of the way. Because everyone deserves a financial partner who cares. Arvest Bank. We believe. For more information, visit arvest.com or visit one of our 20 locations throughout Kansas City.
Hi everyone. I’m here today with Julián Zugazagoitia, CEO of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Julián, it is so great. Thank you so much for being here with us today.
Julián Zugazagoitia:
This is fabulous and great way to begin the year.
Michael Mackie:
Thank you. You have been leading the charge at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art since 2010, so 15, celebrating your 15th year anniversary?
Julián Zugazagoitia:
Correct? Correct. Who could imagine that it would go so quickly?
Michael Mackie:
And you have led the museums through some tremendous advancements and growth since your arrival and okay, I want to make sure I get this right. You’re getting ready to gear up for your centennial, right, in 2033?Can you believe that?
Julián Zugazagoitia:
It’s just amazing and we are going so fast as getting so closer to that.
Michael Mackie:
And no pressure, but the museum has more than doubled its attendance over the last decade?
Julián Zugazagoitia:
Totally.
Michael Mackie:
Those are some impressive stats.
Julián Zugazagoitia:
Mm-hmm.
Michael Mackie:
And I want to make sure I get this right, because you’re in the midst of a huge 61,000-square-foot west wing renovation and expansion, correct?
Julián Zugazagoitia:
Totally, totally. We are in the midst of all this. Yeah.
Michael Mackie:
And do we have a ballpark of when this is going to be finished? When are we going to unveil?
Julián Zugazagoitia:
I’m so impatient myself. I wish it would be ready tomorrow. But the reality is there’s so many steps that you need to take into account to get it right, also. And so right now what we can anticipate is that perhaps in the next six months we can present more final drawings. So the drawings that we began working with were the competition drawings. So the competition that drew 182 people to participate, that then was narrowed to six. And if you remember last year we showed the six finalists in a beautiful exhibition. From those six finalists, we narrowed them to WEISS/MANFREDI as the winner. And so we’ve been working with WEISS/MANFREDI from what it is a competition drawing, to now working with some of our staff or some of our community members, some of our board, just to make sure and refine each of the programmatic elements and then also to check on pricing, construction issues that might have a reason. And all of that is happening as we speak.
Michael Mackie:
There’s so much finessing and nuance that goes on behind the scenes. Godspeed, Julián.
Julián Zugazagoitia:
Totally.
Michael Mackie:
So the Nelson-Atkins is home to a collection of more than 42,000 art objects, and I want to make sure I get this right. You are renowned for an evolving selection of extensive Asian art collection, European and American paintings, photography, modern sculpture, Native American, Egyptian, African, literally the list goes on and on. As a museum director, what I want to know is could you ask for a better job?
Julián Zugazagoitia:
No, it’s a dream job and it continues to be every day a dream job. And one of the things I would say is the dream that was at the core of the ideals that founded the Nelson-Atkins continues to be the one that makes, this not only a dream job for me, but a dream institution for Kansas City and the world. And when you say that, yes, we have over 40,000 objects, and those numbers don’t really mean much, and let me tell you why. So maybe another museum down the street, or if you think the Smithsonians, which is a combination of all the museums in the Mall, it’s in the millions of objects. But what makes the Nelson-Atkins unique and distinguishable is that I would venture to say that each of those 40,000 is a masterpiece. So there’s something from the DNA of the organization when we first started in 1933, that it was really led by professionals, people in the art world, museum people that were wanting to do the aspiration of what an encyclopedic museum, that’s how technically we call it, a museum that represents the world heritage, a museum that tries to bring the world into the city.
And I think we have examples in each culture of the best. And also, one of the things that is daunting responsibility is to buy a new piece, because you’re always comparing it to the greatest works of art that you have. But the opportunity also that we have, and we have added to the collection in contemporary art from all of the world, also. So to show for instance, that there is a continuum. Now if we have one of the greatest collections of Asian or Chinese masterpieces from antiquities to today, but okay, continuous is a civilization that continues untouched and continues to evolve. And you show that too today, and you see that both the continuity and the disruptions that exist. So the museum attempts to be the way to discover world culture without having to leave Kansas City.
Michael Mackie:
Support for Artful Connections Along the Streetcar comes from TIVOL. For more than a century, TIVOL has helped Kansas City mark treasured moments and create cherished memories with fine jewelry of the highest quality. Visit us at our Country Club Plaza or Hawthorne Plaza locations or online at tivol.com. TIVOL is proud to be a sponsor of this special podcast and to celebrate our city’s vibrant arts community.
I’m putting you on the spot. Do you have a favorite piece of artwork at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art?
Julián Zugazagoitia:
You know, it’s not like you say about your children that you say, oh, I love all my children. And you say that and it is true. But in my world, what I would say is the next one. It’s the next piece that we’re trying to acquire, the next one that we’re looking, and I would not say that about kids. Imagine if you were to say that to your wife, like which is your favorite? The next one we’ll have. No, but in the art world or yes. And I’m always excited about what our curators are looking at, all the art that they’re pursuing and everything. And then we make amazing, amazing, amazing acquisitions.
Michael Mackie:
Now, I have read that you took the gig at the Nelson-Atkins because of the incredible collection of artwork and that you had never been to Kansas City before you ever considered this position. True?
Julián Zugazagoitia:
Correct.
Michael Mackie:
Alright, so after being here for 15 years, 15 years! Wrap your brain around that. What is your biggest takeaway and what has surprised you, I guess, about Kansas City and the museum’s growth?
Julián Zugazagoitia:
So first of all, it’s interesting that the name of the museum, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, doesn’t have Kansas City in it. So when I was a student at the École du Louvre in Paris and we’re looking at Chinese art, we were looking at Western art. So the Caravaggio was 101 art history. Of course, many of our Chinese works of art are 101 in the art history. So I had heard Nelson-Atkins, Nelson-Atkins. Everyone else in the art world knows our collection, whether you’ve been to Kansas City or not, by the importance of the pieces, the reputation, the reproductions. So when I was invited by the headhunters to come for the first time, like many, and I will admit my ignorance, I said, which Kansas City? Apparently I Googled that there are two, there’s one in Missouri and one in Kansas.
Michael Mackie:
There are.
Julián Zugazagoitia:
And then they said, well, it’s the same airport. You pick and choose where you want to go, but it’s the same airport. So I started learning about what it is unique to Kansas City, being in two states and everything and all of that came as a surprise. Upon really taking on the job, one of the funny anecdotes is on those interviews trips that I took, I remember taking a bus from the airport terminal, the old one, to wherever I was going to rent a car. And it was late at night and I was all by myself and the driver of the bus and I started having a conversation. And he happened to be from, he had an accent just like me, but a different one. And he was from the Netherlands. I was like, from the Netherlands, driving a bus here. What happened? He’s like, oh, I came 10 years ago for a scholarship or something. I’ve never left. I love this city. And I was like, maybe the trustees paid this guy to say that. So that was my introduction. I tell you, I have not even gotten the job, but this guy is already telling me he came for a little stint and he’s now living here forever.
Michael Mackie:
How’s that for some serendipity?
Julián Zugazagoitia:
And that is like, okay. And then I keep hearing that over and over in all that interview process. Today, I’m the one telling that story myself. I came here maybe know how long, but the city has been tremendous, the welcoming, the people, and also it’s a city that is growing. So it’s a city that has a dynamism and an energy that is something that has propelled us to not only grow our tendency to and have the excitement to see. For instance, when I came, the Kauffman Performing Arts Center was just being built.
Michael Mackie:
Right. Literally. From the ground up.
Julián Zugazagoitia:
It’s one of my favorite places. For instance, World War I has gone also through two or three renovations that make it extraordinary. It was already great, but it’s now extraordinary. So this is a city in which I see, and I just see it from the arts and the colleagues that I admire. But in our world, but also when I arrived, the Chiefs were not winning games. And let me tell you, the Royals were not local. And so all of a sudden we have the Chiefs winning games,we have the Royals being owned by local people that are giving so much to the community and really wanting to make it in the big time. So I just see a city that I am proud to be part. And always I pinch myself in the morning when I go to the museum to work because I love the place so much.
Michael Mackie:
And literally, speaking of, you were only the fifth museum director in the Nelson-Atkins, in its entire history.
Julián Zugazagoitia:
So that’s another funny story because yes, when I’m studying a little bit of the history of the museum before the interviews or the interviews, I Googled it twice, like only four or five museum directors. So I said then, okay, you divide, at the time it was like around 80 years, all the institution and you divide by four predecessors, like the average tenure here is enormous. So I thought either there’s something wrong with this and maybe I’m not getting the facts right, or people stay for a long time. And what I would say is that again, upon, if you see today’s rhythm of changing directors in institutions, I think the average is five, six years. University presidents even shorter. But what has made also the success of the Nelson-Atkins, I would venture to say is long tenures of people who knew how to invest in their institution, all their intellectual capacities. It takes time, especially at the size of the Nelson to build a team, to maintain the course or to change course. And so long tenures have been perhaps a success of the institution. And I’m just as surprised as anyone else that I’ve been here 15 years and it went so quickly.
Michael Mackie:
We are thrilled that you’re here. Please tell us that you’re going to stay through the, you have to stay through the centennial. It’s a whole thing now, Julián.
Julián Zugazagoitia:
I go to the gym every morning, just to stay alive to get to the centennial. Of course, I want to be to the centennial.
Michael Mackie:
We’ll see you in eight years. I’m excited for it. Okay. You have more, like I mentioned, you have more than doubled your attendance over the last decade, and you have one of the most extensive Asian art collections in the world, and you’ve hosted some of the monumental exhibits, like the Unexpected Encounters and Monet and His Modern Legacy in recent years. So can you tell us some of the top two or three maybe significant accomplishments that you and the museum have had over the last decade or so?
Julián Zugazagoitia:
And whatever I say, again, it’s never my accomplishments because nothing happens at the museum without the whole team that everyone is, and again, I’m always, everyone, every day reminded how talented our staff is. We were opening an exhibition recently, and it’s the combining of so many talents, and perhaps, I mean, of the many that I’m very, very proud are the ones that also bring new scholarship, different departments to collaborate, different institutions sometimes to collaborate. And so those are perhaps the big, big exhibitions that we always promote even more because of those accomplishments. One would be Plains Indians, for instance, and Plains Indians was curated by Gaylord Torrence at the time, our curator of Native American Art, and at the behest of the museum in Paris, the Musée du quai Branly. So it was our first international collaboration that we had not had before at that level. And then that show came to Kansas City and then went to The Met. And so you’re putting also the scholarship and the collections of the museum in the light of those international institutions. And it was just an amazing, amazing exhibition. The catalog and then also what ensues as also documented in our own collection was amazing. The other one I would say that I was particularly closer was the first one that I ended up being partly curating for the museum, but it was also an international collaboration ensuite with Quai Branly and also the Picasso Museum in Paris. And it was Picasso and African Art.
And that was already seven years into my tenure. And so it helped me also by playing the role of curator there, to work with all the teams and to see all that dynamic, how it was, and to even get closer to all the different departments. And it was just a fabulous experience.
Michael Mackie:
I mentioned the 61,000-square-foot expansion. It’s budgeted 160, 170 million. Is that still the budget?
Julián Zugazagoitia:
You know, with numbers, the problem is, if you factor then sometimes the creeping factor of the fact that prices are rising and all of that, that number is as accurate as it was when we put it in the paper. Exactly. So that’s part of what we’re refining right now, getting to not only the expansion, but a lot of the renovation because that expansion is predicated also on renovating a lot of the classic Nelson Building so that they also interact very well. And that creates circulations that really embrace now a totality of a campus that is embracing the Bloch Building, the Classic Building, and the new wing, and creating also that the Sculpture Park makes it all more integrated and really a campus that you can circulate with our ambition that you almost erase what’s inside, what’s outside, the in and out of the Sculpture Park. Just you’re immediately inside the museum, or if you’re in the museum, you can also go into the outside. So getting more transparency was part of the challenge that we gave the architects, and I think they’re proving that strategies that will be realized through this concept have been very, very beautifully. But bringing again the glory to the Nelson Building is something we’re looking forward.
Michael Mackie:
Support for Artful Connections Along the Streetcar comes from Arvest Bank. Arvest Bank believes that financial confidence should be within reach for everyone. Whether you’re just getting started planning for your future or starting a new chapter, we are here to help you plan and meet your goals every step of the way. Because everyone deserves a financial partner who cares. Arvest Bank. We believe. For more information, visit arvest.com or visit one of our 20 locations throughout Kansas City.
There are plenty more indoor-outdoor spaces, more exhibition halls, a new restaurant. What are you most excited about in this milieu?
Julián Zugazagoitia:
It’s difficult to give priorities, but of everything is among other things, there’s a Black Box Theater that I’m very excited about, and the reason I’m excited about is that some of the new galleries also for photography and from new media, will allow us to go also into the digital age. But having that Black Box Theater will give us a third auditorium in the middle size. So we have right now the Atkins Auditorium that is around 500 people, and we have Lens 2 that we use for a hundred people. So this will be 200, 250, but it can also open to the outside. So I can imagine a jazz concert happening outdoors and people sitting indoors, or the other way around. You can have the stage indoors and people all in the park listening to a concert, but it could also be programmed for a lecture, programmed for a display of perhaps digital art or can be rented for a wedding. So that space that connects the park into the museum is an interstitial space that can be multifunctions and that we hope that is programmed in all of those ways, in the same week. No? A lecture, one day, projections of digital art during the day that normal, and then at evening, a wedding. A normal thing for the museum.
Michael Mackie:
Just in one day. Or a Thursday, a typical Thursday at the Nelson. Right?
Julián Zugazagoitia:
Well, I mean, jokes aside, not long ago, a Thursday, we had the opening of an exhibition going on, we had a rental that was the convention of people that host restaurants, we had the Kansas City Chorale, and we had a teens’ council going on. So yeah, when they say it’s a three-ring circus, it’s now more like a five-ring circus, every day.
Michael Mackie:
So many rings, so little time.
Julián Zugazagoitia:
Totally.
Michael Mackie:
So how much money still needs to be raised, I guess, and more importantly, how can the community continue to help support with this expansion and this renovation?
Julián Zugazagoitia:
So, first of all, what I would say is everyone who’s been a member of the museum and whose membership has lapsed, just renew your membership. Membership is the lifeblood of the museum. We really count on membership as a way of maintaining that we can open the doors for free every day and give access to people who might not otherwise be able to come to the museum. So I think it’s important as a gesture of philanthropy. Even the lowest membership is already a gesture of philanthropy that can help us, and it can help the city continue to provide a free open museum for all. Having said that, we encourage and we will be soliciting everyone that we know, and everyone who wants to show up and be part of this campaign will be part of this campaign because we want, in a way, the notion of this museum for all means that we really want it to be, again in this expansion, something that we incorporate everyone. But it is also an opportunity for everyone to make a difference, and everyone can show up and contribute to making this happen.
Michael Mackie:
Support for Artful Connections Along the Streetcar comes from TIVOL. For more than a century, TIVOL has helped Kansas City mark treasured moments and create cherished memories with fine jewelry of the highest quality. Visit us at our Country Club Plaza or Hawthorne Plaza locations or online at tivol.com. TIVOL is proud to be a sponsor of this special podcast and to celebrate our city’s vibrant arts community.
Can we dish really quickly on the Young Friends of the Arts? It’s a great part of the Nelson-Atkins.
Julián Zugazagoitia:
Totally.
Michael Mackie:
Yeah. Can we dish on that for a minute?
Julián Zugazagoitia:
So Friends of Art is one level of membership and Society of Fellows is the following. So what I would say, Friends of Art has a Young Friends of Art component. What we try to do through those different tiers of membership is to give opportunity to young people to be engaged as young professionals and then develop an affinity for the museum. And then in a perfect evolution, what I would say is you come to the museum, maybe the school brings you when you’re very young. If you become passionate about the museum, but you don’t necessarily need to be passionate. But for instance, if you’re passionate about museum or art, there’s the teen program and you can become a teen program member and then get more exposure to behind the scenes. You can just also join as a Young Friends member and have parties like Party Arty, start meeting people around with similar interests and also making the Nelson a place, a hub,for your passions and your pleasure.
It doesn’t necessarily be that you’re an art fanatic, but it is a place where you can come and be yourself. And then let’s imagine that you start enjoying Party Arty and those parties. Then there’s another level of partying that is like ShuttleCork. ShuttleCork has two components, one that is very sophisticated, dinners in homes, all supporting the Nelson-Atkins, but then there’s a Friday event that it seems like the young professionals have really, really hopped in, and you can try a hundred wines and everything. So that is like the transition between Friends of Art and Society of Fellows. So Society of Fellows, what I would say, gives us definitely more ways of engaging with the families and the friends that become members and gives us a closer way to engage them to continue their journey through being philanthropic. And then you go to the galas and all that. So it’s a way from very young to later in life.
And I know that there’s moments we lose some people when couples become parents generally, or they’re developing their business, that is more of a trough for us, but then they come back because of the memories and the legacies that they see there. And I tell you, I think today when people say, well, museums are not for me, or I don’t understand art, what they’re really saying is that they had a bad experience once because they felt it was prescriptive. No, you need to have a PhD in art history in order to enter here. What I tell people is that I eventually got a PhD, but that has nothing to do with it. But I didn’t begin by trying to get a PhD. The only thing is I was interested in art enough that I was more curious, and that curiosity led me to eventually what I do. But that realization and all the conversations we have with our educators or our curators, we’re no longer trying to teach art history per se.
We want to instill curiosity. And curiosity can be in so many fields, because art history is one way to resolve that. But art gives you insights in so many things, when you talk to a scientist and how they look at a painting and all of a sudden they’re telling you, oh, like in our Van Gogh, well, that Van Gogh was painted outdoors because we see in the crust of the paint that there’s a little insects being, and then they tell you what insect it is and that it was dead. Because if it had been alive, he would’ve flown away, but it was dead and it was lighter, and then the wind kicked. Who would know? All that science,
Michael Mackie:
All that insight.
Julián Zugazagoitia:
All that science that goes. But each of us look at art differently, and maybe you just go because you like flowers or you like dogs, and you do a tour of, we have many dogs in the collection that you can look at.
So what I want to say by that is that today a museum is a place for discovering yourself, for self-discovery. You don’t need a PhD. You don’t need to love the arts. You just need to love yourself and say, Hey, maybe this is a place where I can quiet down, look at art, look at things that are beautiful, what do they say to me and what do they say about me, if I like this or that or that. And you can do that as a date,you can go by yourself, you can go with your family. You can do a scavenger hunt if you’re taking your kids and let them loose and say, Hey, find so many dragons and come back two hours later.
Michael Mackie:
Best day ever.
Julián Zugazagoitia:
Yeah.
Michael Mackie:
So my thing is, the streetcar now has 12 brand-new stops and one of them is dedicated to The Plaza and one of is dedicated to UMKC. So writers could stop at your museum, the Kemper, the Kansas City Art Institute. So what I want to know is what do you envision the impact that the streetcars’ new stops or new extensions will have on the museum, and more importantly, the entire cultural arts network for both residents and visitors?
Julián Zugazagoitia:
So I’ve been dreaming of that stop, like I think a lot of us in what we call a cultural district all around us, for many years now, because I do think that all of a sudden we will be more visible. There’s going to be a visibility. There’s a, I think it’s called Museum Stop. Museum, the Art Institute being the beneficiaries, but we’re highlighting that with something called The Arterie. It’s a fun name.
Michael Mackie:
The Arterie.
Julián Zugazagoitia:
The Arterie.
Michael Mackie:
I see what you did there.
Julián Zugazagoitia:
Yeah, yeah. And it’s cool and it’s fun and it’s tongue in cheek and we’re having fun with that. And The Arterie really is paving a way, a signaling from that street stop to the three institutions that are there. But it eventually also will grow because what we have defined more or less as our cultural district includes UMKC with of course the arts there. They have the Kansas City Repertory Theater. There is the Toys and Miniatures Museum. We have one of the most wonderful libraries in the world. Again, it’s a secret jewel. I don’t know why more people don’t know about it, but Linda Hall is one of the crown jewels of this city. It’s a library dedicated to science, technology and the books — they have most precious collections of rare books, and they do beautiful exhibitions that now really are part of what I would call our cultural district.
We have also great institutions like the Kauffman Foundation there, the Anita Gardens. We have Stowers Institute of Research that they’re opening more and more for conferences and lectures and hopefully soon even more exhibitions too. So there is an energy all around us and I think those stops that bring The Plaza, that is our commercial entity that I hope is living a renaissance. And we’ll see how this shopping Christmas season happen and what the results that will tell us. But I think there is an energy between the commercial side of The Plaza and the more cultural side of our side of the street, but between the Kemper, the Kansas City Art Institute and us, that nucleus feels just right. And I anticipate now visitors starting to see that as a hub so that they can hop on the train and come to us. But more importantly, I’m also more, well, of course, visitors coming for the world soccer cup is something that is in everyone’s mind.
Michael Mackie:
Oh, we’ll talk about that in just a minute.
Julián Zugazagoitia:
But I’m more interested on our residents or the people who really live here year long, because for us, what is more important is repeat visitations and to really serve our community. So I now imagine a young student that is coming to UMKC or a student that is now working and studying at the Art Institute, all of a sudden being able to live further away and find a place, but that this will connect them all the way down to the River Market. They can go to Union Station, World War. I mean, right now the Crossroads is also living a renaissance and there’s so many bars and everything. So all of a sudden this provides access to so many places and so allows also younger people to be able to live in more affordable places and still be within reach of the whole city.
Michael Mackie:
Those two stops aren’t just a double whammy. They’re literally like a quintriple whammy with so many things to offer. Okay, you said it.
Julián Zugazagoitia:
Yeah.
Michael Mackie:
We’re going there. World Cup. It’s looming. What does The Nelson-Atkins Museum have planned?
Julián Zugazagoitia:
So we are planning, first of all, we have an exhibition that is called Personal Best, and that exhibition highlights artists in our community that are also sports people. We didn’t want to go the route of saying artists decorating soccer balls. That would seem disingenuous for us. But we really identified in our community artists that are at the top of their art career, but they’re also heavily invested in sportsmanship in very different disciplines, from rock climbing to long distance running to karate. And we’re featuring them because again, it’s the drive that is and the discipline that it takes to be at a high level performing sportsman is also reflected in their art. And so that was a show that we wanted to put in dialogue in an intellectual dialogue with the World Soccer Cup. And on the other side, we said, when people come from all over the world, let’s have an exhibition that shows the most beautiful art that everyone can relate to.
And If I tell you the name Alphonse Mucha, maybe it doesn’t ring, Muha or Mooka, M-U-C-H-A, but you pronounce it as the Czech way, Muha, you might not, what is that? But if you see an image, I can almost bet you had a poster in your adolescent life, in your bedroom or in your dorm, of this. And it is this kind of posters that we all loved that had flamboyant hairs and very, it’s the Art Nouveau movement. And so it’s beautiful, it’s high quality, but recognize them. And we’re working with the heirs of the artists and the foundation to bring one-of-a-kind retrospective. So we wanted the best of the world’s art that everyone would recognize, even if the name is not immediately recognized. But the moment you see the posters, you knew that you had one in your life, then you want to see that exhibition.
Michael Mackie:
It’s true.
Julián Zugazagoitia:
It is true. We all had one. And it’s like faces in life. You’re like, oh, I remember when I was into that kind of thing. And those are introductory things. We also had, all of us at one point or another, The Scream by Munch in our dorms. So yeah, there are different phases of our own eye being trained, no?
Michael Mackie:
Well, I want to say thank you on behalf of the entire city for being such an instrumental leader in the arts community, and thanks for coming on our Artful Connections Along the Streetcar podcast. You are going to have a busy year, young man. You are going to have a busy year.
Julián Zugazagoitia:
It’s not this year, the next very busy decade, to get to celebrate together the hundredth anniversary of our museum.
Michael Mackie:
Well, the entire arts community is just thrilled to have the Nelson-Atkins literally in our backyard, and we look forward to everything you’ve got planned for the future.
Julián Zugazagoitia:
Thank you very much.
Michael Mackie:
Thanks for being here.
Julián Zugazagoitia:
Thanks.
Michael Mackie:
Thank you so much for joining us today on our monthly stop of the Artful Connections Along the Streetcar podcast presented by Arvest Bank and sponsored by TIVOL. You can find this podcast and our future stops wherever you find your favorite podcasts. As a reminder, this is Michael Mackey for KC Studio, Kansas City’s only full-time magazine, website, and e-newsletter with professional journalists covering the cultural arts region. Go to kcstudio.org to check out all our upcoming arts events, our latest podcasts and to sign up now to receive your free, yes, just like the streetcar, your free magazine, six times a year in your mailbox, or to receive our weekly newsletters at kcstudio.org/subscribe.Thanks for riding with us during this month’s episode.
