Art in the Loop Announces 2022 Performance Artists and Event Schedule

Artworks have appeared at KC Streetcar stops and bloomed across the sides of a streetcar vehicle; a sense of vibrancy has been infused into Downtown KC, and beginning in July, the excitement continues with a series of public performances taking place all across Downtown. The Art in the Loop Foundation is pleased to present an incredible summer revue of performances. For fans of music, dance, acrobatics, and poetry, we are certain that there will be something engaging for everyone. 

For nine years and nine summers, Art in the Loop has been committed to the project of enriching the Downtown KC area. Each year, a question, idea, or context provides parameters to work within. This year, artists and performers responded to the theme “Sustainable” by questioning the various definitions of sustainability, investigating the intersections between art and sustainability, and imagining the ways we can work together to create a more sustainable Downtown. 

There will be three different performance days, all free and open to the public, and each with its own variety of artists and styles. A closing reception will commemorate the summer festivities this fall. 

On July 20th at Oppenstein Park, expect live theatre, electronica jazz fusion, and puppetry. On 816 Day, aerial acrobatics, jazz saxophone, and a genre-bending musical duo will be an exciting spectacle for anyone walking through the City Market. And September 14th, join our guided Art Walk and prepare to break into improvisational dance or enjoy a multi-instrumental one-person band. 

The following is a list of this summer’s performance artists and days. More information about each can be found at our website: www.artintheloop.com.   

Art in the Loop Performance
Wed., July 20, 5:30 – 8:00 p.m. in Oppenstein Park, 12th & Walnut, Kansas City, MO

• Alber: A musician that fuses the styles of synth-heavy electronica and down-tempo modal jazz to create rich soundscapes that describe the multifaceted industrial and musical culture of Kansas City. 
• b.hive theatre: A theatre troop specializing in Playback Theatre, a kind of improvised storytelling technique that reenacts real-life events as told by audience members. Incorporating song, dance, and thoughtful performances to reimagine these stories and to give a platform to express their emotional content.  
• Pollinators Parade: A puppet show of hand-made puppets from playwright, educator, puppeteer, and artist Lavinia Roberts. This specific performance will focus on the loss of managed honey bee populations over the past decade and how, as stewards of our environment, we can help protect our local pollinators. 

816 Day Celebration
Tues., August 16, 5:30–8:00 p.m. at the City Market, 20 E 5th St, Kansas City, MO 

• The Black Creatures: A musical duo whose inspirations range from Robert Glasper to Da Brat. Their blending of genre creates soundscapes as engaging as they are harmonious, and the complex lyrics narrate stories of science fiction as often as they comment on everyday life. 
• Circus Scorpius: A dynamic display of breathtaking physical acrobatics, Kelsey Aicher is an aerial acrobat whose background in screenwriting is expressed in the rich narratives she infuses into her performances. 
• Kyle Jones: A jazz saxophonist who will be performing two compositions by musicians whose artistic ethe are concerned with righting social injustices through music. 

Art Walk + Performances
Wed., September 14, 5:30–8:00 p.m. along the KC Streetcar Route in Downtown KC

• Dancers of a Certain Age by Jeramy Zimmerman: A spontaneous series of dance performances all across the Streetcar stops. Jeramy Zimmerman will be breaking into improvisational dance in response to the different artworks at the different stops before rebounding the Streetcar to do it all over again at the next stop.
• Jass: A singer, multi-instrumentalist, and poet who has been writing, producing, and performing her own music since 2019. Creating a distinct musical sound that is sometimes retro, sometimes contemporary, but always impactful.
• This event will include a tour of the artwork installed at KC Streetcar shelters and on vehicle #806 by the 2022 Art in the Loop visual artists.

All this art and performance will end with our closing reception on November 3rd at the Kansas City Public Library – Central Library. This event will include two more performances: 

• FlamenKCMO will delight and entertain with both traditional and cutting-edge flamenco.

• Natasha Ria El-Scari will present a spoken word performance with drummer Kevin Church Johnson.  

Click here to register for the events. For more information about our first performance day at Oppenstein Park and to register visit www.artintheloop.com. 

The performing artists are selected for the annual program through an online application process open to artists in the Kansas City metropolitan area. A selection panel consisting of local artists, producers, performers, and community members reviewed over 30 applications and selected 11 artist teams.

The 2022 Art in the Loop Project is provided artistic guidance by Kyle Mullins, who is serving in his second year as art director for Art in the Loop. Mullins is a dance artist living and creating in Kansas City, MO. He is the artistic director of his company Cerca Trova, where he creates works of dance theater, and producer of Making Moves, a monthly dance performance series he founded in 2019. He also works as an Artists Services Program Officer at Mid-America Arts Alliance. He is a former Charlotte Street Foundation Studio Resident. Mullins danced in NYC for ten years before relocating home to Kansas City. He holds an MFA in Dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

The 2022 Art in the Loop Project is made possible through the generous support of the KC Streetcar Authority, Stinson LLP, UMB Bank, JE Dunn Construction, Academy Bank, and other corporate partners. This project is funded in part by the City of Kansas City, Missouri Neighborhood Tourist Development Fund, as well as by awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Missouri Arts Council, ArtsKC, and the Richard J. Stern Foundation for the Arts – Commerce Bank Trustee.

Project partners include the Downtown Council, Downtown Community Improvement Districts, KC Streetcar, Kansas City Public Library and the Kansas City Art Institute.

For more information about the project and the artists, visit www.artintheloop.com, www.facebook.com/artintheloop, or twitter.com/ArtintheLoop. 

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Contacts:

Art in the Loop
Ann Holliday, Program Director, ann@downtownkc.org, (c) 816-718-1355

Kyle Mullins, Art Director, kylewmullins@gmail.com,  (c) 913-230-0311

KC Streetcar

Donna Mandelbaum, Communications & Marketing Director, dmandelbaum@kcstreetcar.org,  816-877-3219