Arts Incubator Cultivates Artists and Communities
The staff and artists in Arts Incubator, 115 W. 18th St., Kansas City, Mo., marked the 7th anniversary of the business May 1. Executive Director Jeff Becker started learning about collaborative business relationships when he ran a manufacturing business in the late 1980s and 1990s for Discovery Zone.
“I went back to school for an art degree and started tossing around the idea of how to house several artists and all the tools they may need to be successful,” he says. “I started looking for space.”
Becker started the paperwork to be a non-profit on May 1, 2001 and turned in the business plan in July 2001 at the Kauffman Foundation. “I wanted an opportunity for entrepreneur artists to give their art a shot. This is a place that provides artists a community to thrive in and some business support, which is almost never taught in art school.”
Cost prohibitive art fields such as woodworking and welding are not a problem at the Arts Incubator. Becker says he is also going to expand into printmaking, another cost prohibitive field for a solo artist.
“Most artists spend three to five years at the facility. They get a jump in growing their art career,” he says. “When they venture out into the world, the next artist moves in. Many artists are staying in town and helping nurture the arts culture here. No matter what, we need to work hard to develop Kansas City into a city where the arts are taken seriously. That full development could still be about 20 or more years away, but the growth has begun.”
More than 100 artists have gone through theArts Incubator. Becker says the artistsattend classes at the Kauffman Foundation. “We are providing the opportunity, space and community that may just greatly increase an artist’s success. It is about the journey and the partnerships.”Arts Incubator
115 West. 18th St.
Kansas City, MO 64108
http://www.artsincubatorkc.org
