Committee assignments for City Council members were announced last month, and I shared which committees I had been assigned to. Not a whole lot has happened so far in 2020, other than on Arts Council which is always rocking and rolling(!), but here is a quick synopsis:
Arts Council
So Arts Council never stops running. They have events, sometimes multiple, monthly, and so far in 2020, they’ve already had their Future of the Arts juried show, and they’ve hung their February gallery show with the artists’ reception happening this Friday.
- Future of the Arts (FOTA):
Our community celebrated the artistic creativity and talent of the children of Kansas City in ALL the arts at the “Future of the Arts.”
artspv.org
The Prairie Village Arts Council 6th annual month-long exhibit/competition was in January this year. It has grown in size again with almost 100 fine art submissions from children grades 1-12 including a record 8 Literary entries along with many repeat artists from past years.
The children’s Gala Celebration on Friday, January 10th brought a record crowd of almost almost 300 people despite the daunting weather. All ages enjoyed “Make-and-Take Art” fun, going on Scavenger Hunts, Spin Pizza and ice cream, while taking in ALL the fine arts. The gala featured several live literary and musical performances with an exciting awards presentation for each age group and fine art. They all received their award certificates and moment of accolades – and isn’t that what it’s all about!
We are pleased to announce the following winners:
Visual Artists:
• 1-3rd grades: Honorable mention: Nate Brown’s painting “Start of Winter,” and winner: Orion Seiz’s “The Spotted Hike”
• 4-6th grades: Aadi Malhotra’s spray-painting “Imagine”
• 7-9th grades: Nevaeh Dull’s Colored Pencil Drawing, “Sapphire”
• 10-12th grades: Honorable Mention: Sydni William’s “Unexpected Return” and winner Alysia Martinez’s mixed media Collage, ” Tranquility”
Literary Artists:
– 7-9th grades: Tie: Anna Golian for “One Mistake”, and Zahra Parsons for Dysfunctional
– 10-12th grades: Justice Thompson for “Relax”
Piano Performance, 4-6th grades: Conner Vickers playing “Thinking Out Loud”
Vocal Performance, 4-6th grades: Kara Parrett for writing, composing and singing, “Once Upon a Time”
With grateful thanks to our dedicated and talented judges:
Visual artist and teacher Abby Yemm, Social Justice Professional writer Kelly Flanagan, and local musician and vocalist Melissa Geffert.
- February Exhibition & Upcoming Artists’ Reception
The R.G. Endres Gallery is located in the Prairie Village Municipal Complex at 7700 Mission Road and is open Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.
artspv.org
Each month features a different Exhibition. Artist Receptions are held on the second Friday of each month at 6:00 pm.
This month we feature photographers Ken Sabatini, Wendy Delzeit and Laura Jackson.
Laura developed her eye for landscape and “perfect moment” photography during her journey through life as single mother and a dual cancer-survivor.
Wendy grew up in Prairie Village and is a local girl who made good with work posted on the internet and all over town. An interesting fact is that our Gallery benefactor Mr. R.G. Endres was her friend and mentor.
Ken leveraged his 30-year career as a commercial photographer to produce spectacular landscapes and images from throughout the world and for our show featured prints of our own Flint Hills.
Prairie Village Foundation
The first meeting of 2020 for the Foundation will be in March. I look forward to having information to share in April.
Statuary Committee
I’ve learned this committee only meets on an as-needed basis, and the next meeting will be in March.
BUT, thanks to Ward 3 resident Jessie Cartwright, I learned that the terracotta–hued statue we’re all familiar with at the 69th/Tomahawk and Mission intersection was a commission awarded to her mother in 1951! Here is a bit about it from the Post a few years ago:
A statue called “The Homesteaders” is located at the northwest corner of Mission and Tomahawk roads. In 1951, after viewing six plaster models of proposed statues, Prairie Village residents voted for this design submitted by Anna Belle Campbell [later Cartwright], then a student at the Kansas City Art Institute. Campbell and Prairie Village officials unveiled the completed sculpture the following year. Today the work stands as a monumental example of the statuary that J.C. Nichols placed at many sites throughout his developments in Kansas City and Johnson County.
Shawnee Mission Post, June 2, 2017
Image below from same article.
Finance Committee
This committee won’t start meeting until the 2021 Budget Calendar is presented and approved, which I anticipate being at the next City Council or Council Committee of the Whole (CCOW) meeting. The actual Finance committee meetings may not start until March or April, though.
If you have any questions about any of these committees and what they do, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. 🙂
As a reminder, Chairs of the other committees, in case you have questions or suggestions, are:
- Council President: Sheila Myers
- Parks & Rec: Courtney McFadden
- Insurance: Ron Nelson
- Environment: Jori Nelson
- VillageFest: Courtney McFadden
- JazzFest: Inga Selders
- Tree Board: Chad Herring
- Police Pension: Dan Runion
- Teen Council:
- Jori Nelson to finish 2019-2020 session
- Piper Reimer to Chair 2020-2021 session
- Finance: Chad Herring
- Planning Commission: Ian Graves
- School Board: Piper Reimer
- Statuary: Terrence Gallagher
- PV Foundation:
- Courtney McFadden (Council point of contact)
- Civic Center Ad Hoc: Sheila Myers
Councilmember emails can be found HERE.
Remember ALL committee meetings are open to the public, so you can attend, observe, and typically comment during a specific public participation portion. Check out the comprehensive schedule of meetings to find out when they typically meet.
👋
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