Music, Dance, Art, Drama, and the Occasional Sword Fight.

Six million children! That’s how many kids Kansas City Young Audiences (KCYA) have served in more than 60 years. Since 2009, Martin English has been executive director.

WHAT IS THE MISSION OF KCYA?

I’m passionate about students getting the opportunity to experience a wide array of the arts but also to help teachers integrate the arts into what they do every day. Showing a fourth-grade science teacher how to help students understand the water cycle through movement or weather patterns through dance. Doing that makes the material stickier. Some students really connect with being able to get up, to move, to act it out, to write a scene. Great stuff like that!

For example, one teaching artist worked with second graders who were learning phases of the moon. He took an old Bob Dylan song, and they worked on the lyrics together about the phases of the moon. They learned it and performed it for the first graders and the kindergarteners. I guarantee you that a lot of those students will always remember that song and the phases of the moon.

WHERE DOES THE MONEY COME FROM TO KEEP ALL OF THIS ALIVE?

About 50 percent of our funding is contributed, and 50 percent is earned through school programs and various classes we teach here in our space on Main Street. Pre-pandemic we were reaching over 100-thousand students in around 20 school districts from Topeka to St. Joe to KC to Springfield. We are working our way back to those numbers.

YOU HAD A SUCCESSFUL CAREER AS AN ACTOR BEFORE COMING TO KCYA, AT THE REP AND THE AMERICAN HEARTLAND, AND MANY OTHER VENUES. WERE YOU THE KID PUTTING ON A SHOW IN THE LIVING ROOM?

I enjoyed it from the time I was very small. I did a lot of church musicals and plays growing up. In junior high I wanted to be a lawyer. Then, in high school, I took a drama class, did some scene work, and got a couple plays. That’s when the theater bug bit me.

YOU ALSO SERVED AS ENTERTAINMENT DIRECTOR FOR THE KANSAS CITY RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL.

It is a totally different animal. There are doctors, lawyers, dentists, out there on site being completely different characters. This is who they are for eight weeks, and you’d never know it. What a great thing!

I also do fight choreography. Every year I do the fights for the Shakespeare Festival. It’s like dance choreography. You learn a whole bunch of basic moves, this cut, that parry. Then, you mix them up, put them together and you’ve created a fight. For me, it’s about getting the actors so well prepared that it’s second nature and they don’t have to think about the fight. They can act.

In college I had this fantasy that I’d be walking home from rehearsal and get to my vehicle when somebody jumps out with a switchblade and says, “Give me all your money.” I’d reach into my car, pull out a broadsword, and say, “I see your six inches and raise you thirty-two.”

You started here as the pandemic was really taking hold. That must have presented special challenges right from the start.

There was an opportunity even during the pandemic. It makes me think of the seasons. We need the winter because there are things happening beneath the soil. Things being seeded that will burst when the spring comes. I think that happened with the pandemic. There was a lot of opportunity to grow, to incubate. In fact, we opened up our Jazz Incubator for the musician community, which had a tough time in the pandemic, a space for them to come in, play, learn, and get resources.

What role does the American Jazz Museum play in keeping this important music alive?

This is a hybrid institution. We’ve got the museum element for daily visitors to come in and learn about the history; but we also have a working jazz club in the Blue Room, and we’ve got the Gem Theater across the street. We shepherd them into an experience where they can really see and feel the effects of being in a live environment.

WHAT’S IT LIKE TO SEE A CREATIVE LIGHT GO ON FOR A CHILD WHO MAY NEVER HAVE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY BEFORE?

Twenty-five years ago, I was a teaching artist here. I was getting two girls and a boy that we had chosen at random from the assembly ready to do a scene from “Little House on the Prairie.” I had about 45 seconds to do that. I was putting the bonnets on the girls and the boy kept grabbing my shirt saying, “Hey, Mister!” I said, “Just a second, please.” But he wouldn’t stop. I turned

I’ve always been at the intersection of arts education, of nonprofit business, and of culture. I live in this matrix. It really allows me to work hard and play hard at the same time. I love what I do and, you know, our staff loves what we all do. It’s a work of passion.

About The Author

It has been a quarter of century since the American Jazz Museum opened its doors. I know you have so much planned starting with the “In The Yard” celebration the weekend before the August 29th birthday of Charlie Parker. Then, in September, a beautiful new exhibit honoring 25 years at 18th and Vine. But, you are always looking forward, to the next 25.

to him and said, “What?” The boy said, “Thank you for picking me.” It was an epiphany. This is the kid who never gets chosen for anything and this was his big moment.

Recently, a couple kids were doing a scene with a teaching artist, and he looked over and saw a teacher in tears. He sidled up and asked if everything was okay. The teacher pointed at the stage and said, “You see that kid right there? He hasn’t said a word all semester.” There he was on stage performing.

It’s important for us to continue to anchor the neighborhood. Our community depends on that. This was a vision that was started 25 years ago but it’s got to grow. It’s got to grow in a way that’s authentic and genuine. I think it’s really a wonderful opportunity.

People need to come here and really understand the roots of this town. What’s in the soil. What’s in the sidewalks. Appreciate the authentic and genuine culture that contributed to much of Kansas City history. Eighteenth and Vine. The American Jazz Museum. It’s the heartbeat of the city.

What we’re doing is so important. Communication. Collaboration. Cooperation. Problem solving. Things that employers are looking for. Our young people may never play the violin or perform on stage, but the skills we’re giving them will help them in whatever they do in life.

Joel Nichols has been interviewing fascinating people from Kansas City and around the nation for 35 years. Today, he does freelance work for a number of area organizations, as well as emcee events in our town. Please, visit Joel Nichols Communications, online.