Kansas City Artists Coalition

Kansas City Artists Coalition (KCAC) is a Kansas City nonprofit that promotes visual-arts awareness across the metro and supports artists’ professional growth, running two galleries at 3200 Gillham Road (just southeast of the Crossroads, in the Longfellow area). Founded in 1976, it is one of KC’s longest-running artist-support organizations, having presented 600-plus exhibitions and shown thousands of artists.

Description

The Kansas City Artists Coalition (KCAC) is a metro-wide nonprofit that promotes visual-arts awareness and supports the professional growth of artists, operating two galleries at 3200 Gillham Road — just southeast of the Crossroads Arts District, in the Longfellow neighborhood.¹² Across roughly 1,200 square feet of exhibition space it has presented more than 600 exhibitions featuring over 5,300 artists.¹

Ownership and history

KCAC traces to a March 5, 1975 gathering of local artists in the studio of Philomene Bennett and Lou Marak to discuss “how the artist can benefit from centralization”; the coalition was incorporated in August 1976.¹ It began by lobbying for professional venues for local artists and mounting exhibitions in empty commercial spaces, was home in the River Market from 1986 to 2019, and moved to its present Gillham Road location in 2019.¹ It is an independent, member-serving nonprofit.

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