KCMETROPOLIS.org
Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

Last Friday, KCMetropolis.org Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder Marcy Chiasson was honored at Downtown Business Council’s Annual Luncheon as one of Kansas City’s Urban Heroes.

This year’s focus was on the arts and the Urban Hero awards recognize small businesses and individuals who are passionate about the arts and in making Downtown Kansas City a more vibrant place to live, work and play. The honorees are people and organizations that have improved the quality of life Downtown or made a positive difference in its arts and cultural communities. According to NEA Chairman and keynote speaker Rocco Landesman they make “Art Work” in Kansas City.

Click here to read more about the other honorees.

Chiasson moved to Kansas City in 1999 and has since been involved in the arts community as a marketer, fundraiser and entrepreneur.  She helped develop a new nonprofit department at UMB Bank, and then was Director of Marketing and PR with the Friends of Chamber Music for six years. In 2006–07 she was General Manager of the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival in Florida, before deciding to return to Kansas City.

“I missed the vibrant arts community in Kansas City. I missed home.” She recalls.

When asked how KCMetropolis.org came into existence, she explained:

“Over the past five or so years, I had become increasingly concerned about the decrease in coverage for the arts—specifically classical music—in the traditional media. Media coverage has such a direct impact on ticket sales.”

“It seemed as if the arts critics were being asked to cover more than one genre and therefore coverage was becoming more competitive. Column inches were shrinking drastically. And then they began laying those same critics off… and in 2008, suddenly newspapers and magazines were dying like plague victims.”

“I had been thinking about an online journal to cover all of the performing arts for several years. Websites were becoming more sophisticated and the thought of unlimited space—no column inch constraints—and easy access to archives was very attractive.”

In July of 2008, Chiasson had a long coffee at YJ’s Snack Bar with local entrepreneur/Sony recording artist/American Tenor Nathan Granner and KCMetropolis.org was conceived.

“We even came up with the name that night,” Chiasson says.

The two began socializing the idea out in the community and met with arts organizations and arts leaders. And they began meeting with web designers.

“We had a very clear idea of what KCMetropolis should do and what it should look like. However neither of us had the technical background to build it.”

Nor did they have the funding.

Granner suggested that they contact the publishers of Presentmagazine.com and “pick” their brains about the online publishing business.

“Pam (Taylor) and Pete (Dulin) were just great. They immediately saw the benefit of performing arts coverage—especially classical music. They were already covering some theatre and dance themselves, as well as the visual arts community. They invited us to be a part of their website. There KCM existed for the first six months until the current website was funded, built and launched in May 2009. I will be forever grateful to them for their kindness, support and encouragement.”

Chiasson also sent the word out into the community that she was looking for writers to contribute to KCMetropolis. The response was immediate and overwhelming.

“It occurred to me that there were untapped riches within our community. Artists, musicians, professors, professional writers, actors, etc. that had lots of experience and lots to say about their specific genres, but no platform for their informed voices. The one codicil was that contributing would have to be on a volunteer-basis because funding was almost nil. Regardless, the response was just wonderful.”

“We also have an excellent Board of Directors with a firm footing in this community. They come from music and theatre organizations, from social media agencies, from architectural firms that are part of the rehabbing of downtown and the legal field—and are all great champions for the arts and for KCM.” 

Now in the third season of covering the arts, KCMetropolis.org continues to grow in readership, and has just surpassed 11,000 individual readers monthly. The calendar, KC Events, is the most all-inclusive in the region and encompasses arts organizations in the metro area, Lawrence and Topeka, and has even attracted listings from St. Louis. Coverage of local events has nearly doubled since its inception.

And while funding continues to be constant concern, Chiasson remains optimistic. “There was a time last season when I was feeling pretty overwhelmed and discouraged about our future. But the writers drew together and said no, they weren’t going to let KCMetropolis fail. Several of them have taken on editor positions and we now operate with a ‘staff’ of five. I am very hopeful that 2011 will be the real turnaround for us financially.”  

When asked about her recent award from the Downtown Council, Chiasson expressed how proud she felt to be among the other awardees.

“The overwhelming feeling I had the entire day was pride. I was proud to be honored with such arts luminaries as David Hughes of the Charlotte Street Foundation, Paul Tyler of the Arts Council, Steve Paul of the Star and all the other folks. It made me feel great that KCM helps improve the life in Kansas City. These fine colleagues—and the numerous other artists and art supporters who proudly call Kansas City their home—truly make "Art Work" on a daily basis. But mainly I felt very honored be part of the greater Kansas City community and therefore a small part of the incredible and resilient Renaissance occurring here."

"Kansas City loves and supports the arts—and wants to know about it. There is a need to know. KCMetropolis grew out of this 'need-to-know' at a grass roots level, and has flourished on the passion and dedication of the many talented people that so generously donate their time. That is the secret to our continuity."

Top Photo by Jared and Tex of Star Base Projects.  For more information on their innovative photos visit http://www.starbaseprojects.com/

More Featured Articles