Art in the Loop is 501c(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to commissioning public art for downtown Kansas City. Our mission is to contribute to the visual identity, enrichment, and revitalization of Downtown Kansas City, create new opportunities for artistic development, and expand public interaction with new art of excellence.
Use the Site Directory (left) to navigate Art in the Loop pages
Art in the Loop seeks to play a proactive role in bringing further attention to Kansas City as a place where exciting and accomplished contemporary art is not just happening but is, in fact, helping to define the city’s identity. A component of Art in the Loop‘s mission to broaden artistic and educational opportunities for Kansas City Art Institute-affiliated artists and increase recognition for the Kansas City Art Institute’s longstanding contributions to our city.
Art in the Loop is a partnership of the Downtown Council, the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, the Kansas City Art Institute, and the Kansas City Municipal Art Commission. This innovative program grew from these entites' shared interests in the downtown area and cultural life of the city, and a belief in the potential for artists to meaningfully contribute to the public realm and urban revitalization.
In 2005, Art in the Loop commissioned, Uplifted Arms, by Kansas City artists, Davin Watne and Dylan Mortimer (see photo above). This site-specific installation located at the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority Transit Plaza at 10th and Main, includes seven sculptures of steel and colored glass.
In 2006, Art in the Loop installed the ARTwall, a 36-by-72 foot billboard custom designed to exhibit "super-sized" art. Debuting with Blue Room by arist Ross Sawyers (see photo below), the ARTwall is located on the south side of the Town Pavilion Parking Garage at 13th and Grand, and will rotate commissioned artwork approximately every nine months.
In 2007-08 Art in the Loop commissioned local artist Laura DeAngelis with Davison Architecture and Urban Design to creat a public art and design project for Oppenstein Brothers Memorial Park, a green pocket-park located at 12th and Walnut. The project, titled Celestial Flyways, transformed the site with new public art, raingardens, park design and landscaping. At the heart of the park is an interactive Star Disk sculpture, the largest modern recreation of an anaphoric clock which maps the stars directly overhead the park.
For more information see our project's press release.
