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., 2019/07/20
E.g., 2019/07/20

HEAR Now: The Audio Fiction and Arts Festival

The four-day HEAR Now Festival returns to Kansas City to celebrate storytelling in all forms. Leading off Thursday evening: a discussion of Perception and Storytelling by renowned neuroscientist Beau Lotto, who specializes in the biology and psychology of perception.

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The four-day HEAR Now Festival returns to Kansas City to celebrate storytelling in all forms. Leading off Thursday evening: a discussion of Perception and Storytelling by renowned neuroscientist Beau Lotto, who specializes in the biology and psychology of perception.
Thursday, June 6, 2019
Program: 
7:00 pm
Plaza Branch
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D-Day: The Innovation, Problem-Solving, and Physics Behind the 'Great Crusade'

Seventy-five years later, the world still marvels at the audacity and epic scope of D-Day. Some 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily fortified French coastline, surprising and ultimately overrunning Nazi troops on the beaches of Normandy.

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On the 75th anniversary of D-Day, military historian Christopher Johnson of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College looks at the massive logistics – the carefully planned buildup and transport of supplies, vehicles, and hundreds of thousands of troops – behind Dwight Eisenhower’s “great crusade.”
Thursday, June 6, 2019
Reception: 
6 pm
Program: 
6:30 pm
Central Library
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Kickoff: 2019 Art in the Loop Project

As the 2019 Art in the Loop Project: Make/Believe begins its nearly five-month run in and around downtown Kansas City, meet its lineup of artists and performers and get a peek at their featured works.

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As the 2019 Art in the Loop Project: Make/Believe begins its nearly five-month run in and around downtown Kansas City, meet its lineup of artists and performers and get a peek at their featured works.
Wednesday, June 5, 2019
Reception: 
6 pm
Program: 
6:30 pm
Central Library
Event Audio

Summer Reading Kickoff Party: Dare to Discover

Help kick off the Library’s annual Summer Reading Program, Dare to Discover, a celebration of reading about space, science, exploration, and discovery in places near and far. Enjoy games, crafts, music, and a special presentation by Mad Science of Greater Kansas City about the first manned moon landing—50 years ago this summer.

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Help kick off the Library’s annual Summer Reading Program, Dare to Discover, a celebration of reading about space, science, exploration, and discovery in places near and far. Enjoy games, crafts, music, and a special presentation by Mad Science of Greater Kansas City about the first manned moon landing 50 years ago this summer.
Friday, May 31, 2019
Program: 
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Plaza Branch

Boys: A Sex Trafficking Documentary

The number of human trafficking victims is staggering, reaching into the hundreds of thousands in the United States and tens of millions worldwide. While awareness is growing, it tends to focus on the young women and girls who are sexually exploited. Male victims are often overlooked.

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Wednesday, May 29, 2019
Program: 
6:30 pm to 8:00 pm
Plaza Branch
Event Canceled

Sustaining KC's Parks and Boulevards

Susan Rademacher, a leader in the nationwide parks conservancy movement for three decades, examines the challenge of keeping Kansas City’s signature system of parks and boulevards relevant and sustainable in the latest entry in the Making a Great City series.
 
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Susan Rademacher, a leader in the nationwide parks conservancy movement for three decades, examines the challenge of keeping Kansas City’s signature system of parks and boulevards relevant and sustainable.
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
Reception: 
6 pm
Program: 
6:30 pm
Plaza Branch
Event Audio

The Road to Abilene

Tim Rives, supervisory archivist and deputy director of the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, and Curator William Snyder look at the multi-million-dollar redesign of the museum in Abilene and lead an interactive discussion of the function and importance of presidential libraries there and across America.
 
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Tim Rives, supervisory archivist and deputy director of the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, and Curator William Snyder look at the multi-million-dollar redesign of the museum in Abilene and lead an interactive discussion of the function and importance of presidential libraries there and across America.
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Reception: 
6 pm
Program: 
6:30 pm
Central Library
Event Audio

Overcharged: Why Americans Pay Too Much for Health Care

The U.S. spends far more than other developed nations on health care—a projected $3.8 trillion this year—yet lags in performance and customer satisfaction. Latest polling showed that 70 percent of respondents see our system “in  a state of crisis” or having “major problems,” with cost and dysfunction among the major issues.

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David Hyman, who directs the University of Illinois’ Epstein Program in Health Law and Policy, and University of Texas law professor Charles Silver examine the flaws of – and remedies for – our high-dollar health care system in a discussion of their book Overcharged: Why Americans Pay Too Much for Health Care.
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Reception: 
6 pm
Program: 
6:30 pm
Central Library
Event Audio

Kansas City's Guadalupe Centers: A Century of Serving the Latino Community

Missouri Valley Sundays

Mexican immigrants who settled in Kansas City’s westside community in the early 1900s faced discrimination, poverty, and a lack of social services. In response in 1919, the Guadalupe Center became one of the nation’s first social service agencies for Latinos.

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Marking the centennial of the founding of Kansas City’s westside Guadalupe Center, scholars Sandra Enríquez, Valerie Mendoza, and Theresa Torres discuss the social, cultural, and educational contributions of one of the nation’s first social service agencies for Latinos.
Sunday, May 19, 2019
Program: 
2:00 pm
Central Library
Event Audio

Spaceballs (1987)

2019 Off-the-Wall Film Series: Well (Multi)versed
The fate of the galaxy is at stake in Mel Brooks’ classic Star Wars parody. Reluctant hero Lone Starr (Bill Pullman) teams up with trusty sidekick Barf (John Candy), Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga), and robot Dot Matrix (Joan Rivers) to fight the ineptly evil forces of Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis). May the Schwartz be with them.

Doors open: 8 p.m.  •  Program: 8:45 p.m.
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The Library launches a new series of summer rooftop film screenings with Mel Brooks’ classic Star Wars parody Spaceballs (1987, PG, 96 min.). Pitch a blanket or folding chair. There’s free popcorn, and you can sample local brews courtesy of KC Bier Co.
Friday, May 17, 2019
Program: 
8:00 pm
Central Library

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