Mid-America Arts Alliance

Mid-America presents our summer
performing arts series LIVE! in the Crossroads
Join us during First Fridays for live Jazz music.

Click the LIVE! logo for more information.
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Achieving $1 Million
in Annual Contributions
Mid-America Arts Alliance has topped $1 million in contributed income for the 2008 fiscal year that ends June 30, according to Brent Caswell, director of development. Mid-America’s 2008 annual operating budget was $3.2 million.

It is Mid-America’s largest annual fundraising total in the organization’s 36 years of existence.

"This is a fantastic achievement for Mid-America Arts Alliance,” says Mary Kennedy McCabe, executive director. “It means our programs are benefiting the communities in our region as well as nationally, and people are taking notice."
Click here for program information.
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Mid-America Arts Alliance Executive Director Mary Kennedy McCabe testifies for the IMLS
On March 12, 2008, Mary Kennedy McCabe was one of 11 civic and arts/cultural leaders who were invited to give testimony for the Institute of Museum and Library Services. These testimonies are a part of the ongoing IMLS effort to better understand how to deliver public funding to museums and how public funding affects the quality of museum services. Kansas City was one of 3 locations nationwide.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas.
To read her testimony please click here.
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Mid-America Arts Alliance Awarded $100,000
from Missouri Arts Council

Mid-America Arts Alliance has been awarded $100,000 from the Missouri Arts Council to help provide governance training for the staff and trustees of 20 small, rural Missouri museums through the Hands-On Experiential Learning Project (HELP). MAC support will be matched with $100,000 received earlier this year from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

“Small, rural museums constitute three-in-five of all Missouri museums, yet they typically have the poorest access to professional resources and training opportunities,” says Mary Kennedy McCabe, executive director of Mid-America Arts Alliance. “They know that serving their community in the best way possible means developing their leadership skills and organizational capacity.”
more...
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For the Love of the Sport:
Linedrives and Lipstick Exhibition Offers History, Surprises

In contrast to the depiction of women’s baseball as a short-lived phenomenon of the 1940s, America’s national pastime has included women players from baseball’s beginning in the 1860s. Their impact on thegame and American society is brought clearly to light in Linedrives and Lipstick: The Untold Story of Women in Baseball, a Mid-America Arts Alliance-toured exhibition. The exhibition’s first Kansas City-area venue is at the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame, Wichita.

“This exhibition traces women’s love of the sport going back to the
mid-1800s,” says Dee Harris, director of visual arts and humanities at Mid-America Arts Alliance. “It’s much more than a history lesson. It’s a message about determination and achievement in which everyone, especially young women, will discover encouragement for their hopes and dreams.”
more...

Click here for tour dates, locations, and sample content.
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