TKC MUST READ!!! KANSAS CITY OFFICE OF CULTURE & CREATIVE SERVICES HONCHO PENS FAREWELL NOTE!!!



The coronavirus pandemic has brought life in Kansas City to a near standstill and it seems like 200 years ago that this town was worried about local arts & culture.

Moving forward, promotion for cowtown talent probably won't enjoy much funding amid falling municipal revenues and the likely prospect of a horrific recession.

And so we remember a controversial city hall office that inspired a great deal of ire among 12th & Oak workers who were jealous of a cushy and artsy gig . . .

Remember that the Office of Culture and Creative Services (OCCS) was established in 2015 to lead cultural development efforts for the City of Kansas City, Missouri. The mission of the Office was to serve Kansas City residents by bolstering and catalyzing arts, culture and creativity and by leveraging the arts as a strategy for economic development, neighborhood revitalization, and cultural vitality for its citizens.

The main project of the OCCS was to organize OPEN SPACES -- A resounding flop of an art festival that left vendors unpaid and disappointed just about every local creative not on the payroll.

Of course TKC Readers were FIRST to report that OCCS was nixed following the departure of Mayor Sly James and the FAILED Jolie Justus power play.

Another perspective on the shut down: "The OCCS had been blamed for problems that arose from Open Spaces 2018, a visual and performing arts exhibition that occurred in Kansas City during the summer and fall of that year. The city contributed nearly $1 million to the exhibition, which lost money."

Accordingly, we share this tragic and bittersweet note that concludes the city hall artsy spending spree . . . 

In fairness, honcho Megan Crigger deserves the last word: 



"As many of you know, the Mayor and City Council of Kansas City, Missouri voted to eliminate the Office of Culture and Creative Services (OCCS). I want to thank all of you who reached out to voice support for the office, both personally, and to the Mayor and City Council at the public hearings in February and March.

"It’s been an honor to have served this City as the Director of Creative Services, to have worked with you, and to have grown to know the many talents and treasures of this City. I am proud of the work that our office has achieved in partnership with so many of you. Yet, there is still so much work to be done to realize the vision that this community articulated through the cultural planning process. The plan itself was a marker in time of priorities.

"The OCCS staff will be available through April 30, 2020, which is the end of the fiscal year. The Neighborhood Tourist Development Fund (NTDF) will continue to operate under the direction of the Neighborhoods and Housing Services Department after April 30, 2020."

Developing . . .

Comments

  1. Sly's legacy.

    Everybody who ever worked on one of his ideas ended up stranded out in the cold.

    Sad.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In theory open spaces wasn't such a horrible ideas. But in practice there was no way KC could keep on wasting that kind of money year after year.

      Delete
  2. She should have been shown the door the day after the "Open Spaces" fiasco failed and it became public that over $1 million of the taxpayers' money had been wasted.
    And she's leaving only now?
    And this should be just the beginning of a very long list of self-serving grifters who roam the halls at 12th and Oak looking for (and far too often, getting) funding for their grandiose dreams.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Democrats ruin stuff and run all the time no accountability due to no morals. How many abortions has this lady had ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As many as she wants. That is her right as a woman.

      Delete
    2. Still don't make it right jack off.

      Delete
    3. 6:12 & 8:59 ya both being asinine twits.

      Delete
    4. i can often be an asinine twit, but on different topics & different scenarios.

      Delete
  4. Another Creative Democrat liberal that couldn't rub two pennies together and still have one cent. Obviously not talented enough to keep business going, even when funds are throw to you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. @6:12, not as many as your Mother should have had!

    ReplyDelete
  6. TOP PHOTO -- BETWEEN SLY'S EARS

    QUESTION: What do you call Sylvester's tenure with Toy Trains, a boondoggle airport terminal, an unneeded convention center hotel, and empty Open Spaces in Swope Park?

    ANSWER: A resounding flop!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is the first positive thing to come from city hall in a minute. Did they finally manage to pay all the artists and performers ? I'm sure she got paid first.

    ReplyDelete
  8. ^^I don't know Maude, did you call them?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Democrats lied,

    Sleepy Joe Biden has died.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Republicans lied Dementia Donnie pissed himself in public again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. While you sit at home having delusional thoughts of which you have no proof of. Once upon a time freaks like you were placed in a mental hospital it's time we reopen those places and stick clowns like you and Funkhouser in them and get you misfits off the streets and away from the good people in this country.

      Delete
  11. Open Spaces was a complete failure for normal people. The only people who enjoyed it were homosexuals.

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  12. "Maude'? 10:01 You are showing your true age.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As well as intellect, which did not progress beyond junior high school.

      Delete
  13. The general idea in many parts of the City is that the Council takes tax money and spends it on pet projects in Certain areas of the city. Look at 18th and Vine, Jazz Museum, Linwood Grocery. At the same time, many parts of the city have been neglected and basic services such as road maintenance and public safety has been underfunded.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ^^^ EXCELLENT COMMENT!

      Right on the money and calls out the misguided spending perfectly!

      Delete
  14. We need to spend money on infrastructure not art!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Do not get confused with all the comments and excuses. Let us be honest and clear as to what caused the demise of the Office of Culture and Creative Services. It was the need to fill the $4 million shortfall created by the city’s contract with Mike Burke and Loews for the convention hotel. This never before discussed $4 million tax payer liability left a huge shortfall in the city budget and the Office of Culture and Creative Services was eliminated to fill the gap. The mayor and council have robbed Peter, killed him and paid Paul.

    Was this $4 million city obligation not evident in the Mike Burke and Loews contract handed out and distributed to the council members, including Mayor Quinton Lucas, while he was a council member, in the previous term?? He is a much celebrated contracts law professor at KU. He either did not read the contract or chose not to protest this $4 million tax payer payment to this private sector developer. He now owns the Loews convention hotel debacle. The KC tax payer has just been hoodwinked right out in the open for everyone to see.

    As far as the comment at 12:39pm, every one of those projects were legitimate attempts to spur economic development, but the council nor city staff know what the F they are doing.

    This includes the current council members who were around during the last term and approved (overlooked, ignored) this ridiculous $4 million hidden public payment to the privately owned Loews convention hotel.

    Current council members from the last term who approved the $4 million public payment to the private developer include:

    Quinton Lucas
    Katheryn Shields
    Teresa Loar
    Lee Barnes
    Heather Hall
    Dan Fowler
    Kevin McManus

    What a sorry bunch of dishonest fools.

    ReplyDelete
  16. @ 1:46 PM - Not so much dishonest just too stupid to know how to execute anything.

    ReplyDelete

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