Signature Event Archive

Search the Signature Event Archive to discover past Library events. Watch videos, hear speaker interviews, and listen to audio recordings of previous presentations. Search by keyword (event title, subject, or presenter name), location or by date range.
Signature Event Video Video Signature Event Audio Audio Signature Event Interview Interviews
E.g., 2019/11/22
E.g., 2019/11/22

New Democracy Art: Women Creating Identity With Beads, Brushes, and Dung

Adrienne Walker Hoard

Adrienne Walker Hoard began her long relationship with South Africa’s Ndzundza Ndebele people in 1996. The country was settling into democratization, and she would observe over two decades of visits how it impacted the life and art of the Ndebeles' exceptionally creative women.

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Artist and UMKC professor emeritus Adrienne Walker Hoard discusses her trips to South Africa and experiences with its exceptionally creative Ndzundza Ndebele people. Their culture is spotlighted in the Library exhibit New Democracy Art: A South African Saga of Women, Art, and Identity.
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Reception: 
6 pm
Program: 
6:30 pm
Central Library
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Affordable Housing: A Status Report

Quinton Lucas, Tara Raghuveer, Stacey Johnson-Cosby, Sam Alpert, Tiana Caldwell, Nick Haines

Nearly two years after the Library and KCPT-Kansas City PBS launched an examination of affordable housing in the city, what has changed? Mayor Quinton Lucas, who campaigned on the issue, joins a panel discussion and assessment of where KC now stands and might be headed. KCPT’s Nick Haines moderates.

 

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Nearly two years after the Library and KCPT-Kansas City PBS launched an examination of affordable housing in the city, what has changed? Mayor Quinton Lucas, who campaigned on the issue, joins a panel discussion and assessment of where KC now stands and might be headed. KCPT’s Nick Haines moderates.
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Reception: 
6 pm
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch

A Conversation With John Freeman

John Freeman, Whitney Terrell
Writers at Work

There may be no more ardent disciple of literature today than John Freeman, founder of Freeman’s anthology of new writing and the former editor of Granta. In his new Dictionary of the Undoing, he takes exception to what he sees as a great affront in these agitated times—an assault on language that’s robbing words of the meanings they once had.

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Literary heavyweight John Freeman, founder of Freeman’s anthology of new writing and the former editor of Granta, joins local novelist and Writers at Work series organizer Whitney Terrell in a discussion of his new call-to-action book Dictionary of the Undoing.
Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Program: 
6:30 pm
Central Library
Event Audio

Censorship and Kansas City: The Star and the Great War

James J. Heiman
Missouri Valley Sundays

Censorship was an inescapable aspect of the American effort in World War I, applied not only to soldiers’ mail but also reports from war correspondents—including The Kansas City Star’s Otto P. Higgins.

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Historian James J. Heiman examines the issue of wartime censorship, spotlighting the experiences of a Kansas City Star correspondent in a discussion of his new book Front Lines to Headlines: The World War I Overseas Dispatches of Otto P. Higgins.
Sunday, November 17, 2019
Program: 
2:00 pm
Central Library
Event Audio

Circumstance

Erin Hamer-Beck
Girlhood and Cinema Series

The Library continues its film series showcasing the diverse roles of girls as cinematic storytellers with the Sundance Film Festival-winning drama Circumstance (2011; R; Persian with English subtitles). It follows a young, free-spirited Tehranian woman who falls in love with her best friend—in a repressive country that deems the relationship illicit.

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The Library continues a film series showcasing the diverse roles of girls as cinematic storytellers, screening the Sundance-winning drama Circumstance (2011; R; Persian with English subtitles). The University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Erin Hamer-Beck leads a subsequent discussion.
Sunday, November 17, 2019
Program: 
1:30 pm
Plaza Branch

Storytelling Spectacular

The 20th Annual Kansas City Storytelling Celebration features a lineup of lively stories, anecdotes, myths, legends, and lessons.

McCarty, Packer, Thomason, and Offutt return with the Michams for a grand musical and storytelling finale. Appropriate for ages 8 and up.

Co-sponsored by Metropolitan Community College-Maple Woods.

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Saturday, November 16, 2019
Program: 
7:00 pm
Plaza Branch

Family Storytelling Concert

Friday Night Family Fun

The 20th Annual Kansas City Storytelling Celebration features a lineup of lively stories, anecdotes, myths, legends, and lessons.

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The 20th Annual Kansas City Storytelling Celebration opens with a Friday Night Family Fun storytelling concert at 6:30 p.m., followed by a ghost-tales session at 7. There’s also music by Branson folklorists Mike and Nancee Micham. For ages 8 and up.
Friday, November 15, 2019
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch

The Inclusive Economy: How to Bring Wealth to America's Poor

Michael D. Tanner

Some 38 million people, nearly one in eight, live in poverty in today’s America as liberals and conservatives spar over solutions. Researcher and writer Michael Tanner wants to draw from both sides of the debate.

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Our country can solve the problem of poverty, Michael Tanner says. Not solely the liberal way. Not just the conservative way. In a discussion of his book The Inclusive Economy, the Cato Institute senior fellow and National Review columnist advocates drawing from both sides of the debate.
Thursday, November 14, 2019
Reception: 
6 pm
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch
Event Audio

Writers for Readers 2019

Kevin Willmott, Mitch Brian, Whitney Terrell

In this special fundraising event benefitting a new creative writing initiative from the Library and UMKC, Academy Award-winning screenwriter Kevin Willmott joins director and screenwriter Mitch Brian and author Whitney Terrell for a discussion of Willmott’s filmmaking career, including his work on BlacKkKlansman and other collaborations with director Spike Lee. 
 

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Writers for Readers 2019
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Program: 
6:30 pm
Event at Capacity

One Word of Advice

In conjunction with the opening of the new Library exhibit UpStart, a panel of Kansas City’s foremost entrepreneurs and business ecosystem leaders share their stories and provide single words of advice to those seeking their own success.

 

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In conjunction with the opening of the new Library exhibit UpStart, a panel of Kansas City’s foremost entrepreneurs and business ecosystem leaders share their stories and provide single words of advice to those seeking their own success.
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Reception: 
Networking Reception - 5:30 p.m.
Program: 
6:30 pm
Central Library
Event Audio

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