Kansas City Celebrates as Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts Breaks Ground on Landmark Facility

Kansas City Celebrates as Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts Breaks Ground on Landmark Facility

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Symbolic shovels will break ground today at the downtown Kansas City site of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. The celebration includes performances from numerous Kansas City artists and entertainers and a sense of optimism about the power of the performing arts to transform and enhance the economic, cultural, and educational landscape of the entire Kansas City region.

The shovels soon will give way to heavy equipment, as work begins to build one of the world's finest, most advanced performing arts centers, scheduled to open its doors in late 2009.

"The entire Kansas City region is coming alive, and the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts will truly be the crown jewel of a city that has been reborn, thanks to the hard work and investment of the entire community," said Mayor Kay Barnes. "Today's groundbreaking formally begins the next phase in the construction of a world-class facility. This event also symbolically demonstrates the ability of Kansas Citians to set a goal, realize a vision, and create something that will serve generations to come."

The groundbreaking will be held this afternoon at 4 p.m. Several hundred people are expected to attend the ceremony, which will be followed by a public celebration, during which visitors will be able to enjoy public performances by the Kansas City Symphony, Lyric Opera, Kansas City Ballet, as well as local artists and performance groups.

"Today, we celebrate the spirit of Kansas City and the ability of this community to come together behind a vision to achieve something spectacular," added Julia Irene Kauffman, Chairman of the Board of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and Chairman/CEO of the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation. "I envision a day when every person -- young and old, from every walk of life and every corner of this region -- will be able to walk through the doors of this majestic building, experience an incredible connection to the arts, and realize that, together, we built something that cannot only enhance our community, but truly change lives for the better."

The Center includes a 1,800 seat hall for the Lyric Opera and the Kansas City Ballet and a 1,600 seat concert hall that will be the new home to the Kansas City Symphony. These facilities also will play host to performances, major concerts, and top local, regional, national, and international artists and performers. Celebration Hall is a multi-use venue available for performances, meetings, group gatherings, and special events. It will be used for educational purposes, as well as be available to smaller performing arts groups. It will hold 250 seats for performances and 400 seats for banquets and special events. The facility is being designed by a world-renowned team, including architect Moshe Safdie, chief acoustician Yasu Toyota of Nagata Acoustics, and theatre designer Richard Pilbrow of Theatre Projects Consultants. As the architect-of-record, Kansas City-based BNIM Architects is working closely with Safdie and the contractors to lead the construction documentation process. Kansas City-based J.E. Dunn Construction Company is the General Contractor.

To date, the Center has secured approximately 80 percent of its funding. The Center is turning to the Kansas City community to maintain this momentum and to achieve its overall fundraising objective (a total of $326 million for the project, including a $40 million operating endowment).

About the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is a project with one overriding goal -- to bring artists and audiences together. Ten years of collective research, planning, and design have brought into focus our vision for the mission of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. A world-class technical team of architects, acousticians, and other theater designers has been selected, and significant public and private funding has been secured. The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts was incorporated in October 1999, at which time a separate board of directors was established. In January 2000, the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts received notification from the IRS it was approved as an independent 501(c)(3) public charity.

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Source: Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

CONTACT: Alex Wendel of Fleishman-Hillard Inc. for Kauffman Center for
the Performing Arts, +1-816-512-2323, alex.wendel@fleishman.com

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