In Thursday’s (9/15) Kansas City Star, Steve Paul writes, “For years now, we’ve been watching the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts evolve like a slow-motion crustacean. … The project represents a $414 million investment in the cultural life of Kansas City, and it’s also seen as a catalyst for continuing the urban revival that has taken place in recent years almost all around it. With opening day upon us, patrons and the public will begin to evaluate how the complex will settle into and/or transform the community. Just what kind of an asset will the Kauffman Center be? ‘The coming of the performing arts center is a game changer for our region, not just downtown,’ said Bill Dietrich, president and CEO of the Downtown Council. ‘It’s going to set a new benchmark for performing spaces.’ Dietrich noted that the building of the center already has led to new office and related projects in the neighborhood for the Kansas City Symphony, the Kansas City Lyric Opera and the Kansas City Ballet. … Those with a stake in the functional life of the performing arts center are equally excited. ‘The city has no idea,’ Tim Jepson, the Kansas City Symphony’s timpanist, said recently. What he meant was that as bold, bulbous and gemlike as the center might be on the outside, the real experience and surprise will exist within.”
Posted September 15, 2011
