When a new neighbor comes into the community, it is cause for celebration! The Historic Lincoln Building opened its doors in March 2018 to welcome the Kansas City MLB Urban Youth Academy (UYA) to 18th & Vine. We partnered with ArtsTech to host a Pop-Up Art Show and Open House in Lincoln Building Atrium.
We hosted this event to cheer the much-anticipated Grand Opening celebrations of the new Urban Youth Academy and salute its mission to empower Kansas City’s underserved youth through baseball and softball, academic, and social opportunities to be the leaders of tomorrow.
We thought it would be a great “double play” of sorts to partner with ArtsTech for our event, especially given their mission to better the lives of underserved urban youth through the development of artistic, technical, health, and educational skills.
The Open House coincided with the UYA Grand Opening activities that took place:
- Community Day of Play and Open House that featured:
- UMKC Softball vs. New Mexico State
- Youth Baseball & Softball Instructional Stations
- Appearances by Sluggerrr and the Easter Bunny
- Family Fun, including Face Painters, Balloon Twister, Caricature Artist
As visitors walked around the 18th & Vine District that day, they were welcomed to come into the Lincoln Building Atrium from our 18th Street entrance on the north of the building for activities:
- Pop-Up Art Show provided by ArtsTech with multiple interactive art stations and art-making activities led by a trained ArtsTech instructor and multiple ArtsTech area youth.
- Pop-Up Shop with merchandise by ArtsTech with sales to benefit ArtsTech, a 501(c)(3).
ArtsTech accomplishes its mission by operating a center for youth enterprise that provides educational and health services as well as hands-on training in fine arts and digital literacy. Led by Executive Director David Sullivan, ArtsTech has a facility at 1522 Holmes St., and they strive to build and manage collaborative public/private partnerships such as this event that benefit the community.
Even as 18th & Vine is a cultural and historic entertainment district that is gaining new momentum in its redevelopment, it is also a very vibrant neighborhood and proud community with a rich history of black heritage, commerce, barbecue, baseball, and arts. The significance of 18th & Vine is deeply felt, and we were delighted to embrace this newest member of the team. We think the UYA’s presence in the District has really broken open the game for 18th & Vine.