Kansas City PBS will present a new annual special from Regional Emmy-winning producer Brad Austin (Me, Dorothy…And This Road to Oz; Bird: Not Out of Nowhere), featuring in-depth conversations with Kansas City arts leaders. An hour-long broadcast version of State of the Arts will air Thursday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m. on Channel 19.1. The full, unabridged interviews will be available on flatlandkc.org.
“Over the past few years, performing arts organizations were hindered by an inability to bring people through their doors,” said Kliff Kuehl, president and CEO of Kansas City PBS. “As proud supporters of the arts in Kansas City, we wanted to hear from those who were making tough decisions in an effort to continue to serve their audiences – and how that time will shape their organizations moving forward. A special thanks to our members and foundation partners who help fund our continued work celebrating the performing arts.”
Austin sits down for in-depth conversations with representatives from the Kansas City Ballet, Lyric Opera, KC Rep and the Mutual Musicians Foundation at the Crossroads Hotel. State of the Arts explores how individual organizations, performers and other creatives strove to overcome the pandemic, creatively shifting to serve their audiences. Plus, leaders will reveal the upcoming season’s offerings, what the future of the local arts scene looks like to their organization, as well as personal insights into serving the community in 2022.
“We have all of these wonderful arts organizations with inspirational leaders and I wanted to expand the conversation around the arts, especially given what they — and audiences — have endured over the past few years,” Austin said. “We’re always moving at such a rapid pace, we get sound bites. I wanted to create something that was the antithesis of that. An actual, deep conversation with these arts leaders on the state of the industry.”
For more information, visit kansascitypbs.org/stateofthearts.
