KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As arts organizations from one coast to the other wrestle with cuts in grants and declines in ticket sales, an ambitious new performing arts center in the middle of the country is defying the trend.
The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, a $326 million concrete-and-glass clamshell overlooking downtown, will open Friday. It was designed by the prominent architect Moshe Safdie and paid for with private donations.
The building, people here say, reflects the willingness of Kansas City residents to open their wallets if it means raising the national profile of the city’s arts scene.
The opening, which will include a performance by Plácido Domingo, has captured attention elsewhere, too, given these lean times. Michael M. Kaiser, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, said the Kansas City structure, with an 1,800-seat theater for the ballet and opera companies and a 1,600-seat concert hall for the symphony, reflected an investment unseen of late in far larger cities.
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Author:A. G. SULZBERGER
