Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

Since the grand opening in 2011, the Kauffman Center, in collaboration with its resident Arts organizations (rao), Kansas city ballet, Kansas city symphony and lyric opera of Kansas city, along with numerous other community Arts organizations (cao), have continued to bring excellent Performing Arts experiences to the Kansas city area.the 2022-2023 season brought a full return to the building's operations which led to a diverse and impactful season. In addition to the rao and cao performances, new and former audiences were brought to the venue through 'Kauffman Center presents' with Performing Arts experiences ranging from weird al yankovic and wheel of fortune live to diane krall and boz skaggs. (continued on schedule o)- 538 on-stage performances and special events in fiscal 2023- 277,289 patrons attended performances and special events in fiscal 2023.the Kauffman Center is dedicated to creating unprecedented access to Arts experiences for young people and underserved audiences in the Kansas city metropolitan area. the Kauffman Center's open doors community engagement programs contain many avenues that connect local youth and families to high quality Arts experiences. the Kauffman Center presented three school matinees in spring of 2023 with 3,012 students and educators attending. Each year, they also host student matinees through our partner organizations (Kansas city ballet, Kansas city symphony, lyric opera of Kansas city, and storling dance theater - the culture house). Since the grand opening, more than 400,000 students have experienced school matinees on our stage, nearly half of which were brought to the Kauffman Center with financial support from our open doors transportation fund which provides bus assistance. the Kauffman Center held its 10th annual future stages festival on the afternoon of sunday, june 11, 2023. Over 650 youth from nearly 32 youth performance groups, of which 47% were made up primarily of young minority Performing artists, performed on stage for over 3,600 family, friends, and supporters in attendance. Twenty-two community partner organizations participated. More than 25% of survey participants indicated it was their first time visiting the Kauffman Center and 98% of survey participants indicated they would recommend this event to a friend. Nearly 1,300 community tickets were extended to schools, social service agencies and nonprofit organizations in our community to youth and families that might not otherwise have an opportunity to experience world-class Performing Arts. the Center offered additional student programs including building tours and field trips, internships, and shadowing, as well as youth poetry contest with categories for 10 & under and 11-18. They also use unique local collaborations, such as yoga at the Kauffman Center presented by saint luke's health system, to broaden the offerings and attract diverse patrons to visit the building. Kauffman Center's commitment to serving everyone in the community is evident in the wide range of free or low-cost programming, including offering low-cost school matinees and the popular national geographic series - part of 'Kauffman Center presents'.