photo by Julie Denesha/Flatland
Philomene Bennett (1935-2024) left behind more than 60 years of paintings, ceramics and prints. Many can be found in prestigious collections. But a meeting she helped convene in 1975 is an equally important part of her legacy.
In a studio above Poor Freddie’s in the old River Quay, Bennett and her husband Lou Marak informally formed the Kansas City Artists Coalition. Did that inaugural gathering “invent” the nationally recognized art scene we know now? Not exactly, but it began normalizing the notion that local artists were making valuable work, and that finding ways to assist each other would surely improve it.
Bennett also taught painting classes for many years at the Kansas City Art Institute. Janet Simpson, who served for three decades as the KCAC’s executive director, once noted that people “gravitated” toward Bennett and Marak and “wanted to be in their light.” After her good friend’s death, Simpson shared this with KC Studio: “Philomene lived a long, productive life. She was many things to many people, but most of all she was an artist who explored what it is to be human in this mysterious and magnificent world.”
The “Sky Stations” high atop the Kansas City Convention Center have been in place since 1994, so long ago that most of us barely remember the hubbub that surrounded their arrival. As Kansas City’s first public art administrator, Heidi Iverson Bilardo, bolstered by the support of Stephanie Jacobson, then head of the Municipal Art Commission, and Kansas City Councilwoman Katheryn Shields, oversaw the process of selecting and installing R. M. Fischer’s space-age metal forms. The giant “hair curlers” were part of the city’s One Percent for Art program, which earmarked funds for all its big construction and restoration projects.
During Bilardo’s tenure (1991-1997), pieces like Robert Morris’ “Bull Wall” and Terry Allen’s “Modern Communication” began popping up (sometimes controversially) at police stations, the airport, the American Royal and the Kansas City Zoo. Buoyant, knowledgeable and determined, with a deep sensitivity to artists and the need for public buy-in to their contributions to the civic landscape, Bilardo, who studied and taught music before stepping into the newly created post, was the ultimate team player, quietly building consensus among a wide range of elected officials, staff members and arts professionals. Of the hot seat she sometimes occupied, Bilardo said simply, “The public art administrator sweetens the pot to make sure everyone gets along and gets going!”
The InterUrban ArtHouse near downtown Overland Park owes its existence to the frustration — and determination — of Nicole Emanuel. After working as an artist in New York, California, Minnesota and Wisconsin, Emanuel moved with her husband and young children to Johnson County — a part of the metro known for its strong support of various arts endeavors, but not necessarily for providing the kind of spaces artists need to actually do their work.
It wasn’t long before Emanuel launched a campaign to change that. In 2011 she developed a plan for the ArtHouse and soon secured an Our Town grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to pursue it further. In 2013, the first iteration of the InterUrban (named for an early transit line) opened in an old church. The nonprofit purchased a post office across the street, and in 2017, unveiled the results — an arts incubator with 19 studio spaces, meeting rooms, galleries and an event space.
Fast forward to 2026, which finds the facility in the capable hands of an energetic, diverse staff determined to carry Emanuel’s vision forward. Meanwhile, its founder has once again immersed herself in paintings and writings, many of them inspired and informed by her Jewish heritage.
Joan Israelite loves spreading the word about Englewood Arts in Independence. Though she and her husband Steve live in Lee’s Summit, they’ve become outspoken advocates for the center and its programs. But this story is about Joan — and her long list of accomplishments.
“It’s really funny because it’s all accidental,” Israelite explains. “I was a nurse. I had no arts background at all.” Until the 1980s. While serving as development director for the Boys and Girls Club, she was approached (twice) by the Lyric Opera. Though she knew little about opera, she finally took the development job. Five years later, the Kansas City Symphony lured her away. Then in 1999, Jan Kreamer, president of the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, tapped her to lead the newly formed Metropolitan Arts Council of Greater Kansas City (now ArtsKC).
After 10 years as president of the Arts Council, Israelite helped Julia Irene Kauffman launch the new Performing Arts Center. (Israelite is still a consultant there.) In 2013, Israelite was chosen to serve on the National Endowment for the Arts’ advisory board — a role that took her to award ceremonies in the East Wing and luncheons with icons like Ruth Bader Ginsburg. “Being a part of that,” she says, “was the greatest experience of my life.”
