Kauffman Center Celebrates Attendance Milestones And Community Impact

In December 2018, the Kauffman Center celebrates more than seven years of bringing extraordinary and diverse performing arts experiences to the Kansas City community. Since its 2011 grand opening, the Kauffman Center has hosted over 2,150 performances welcoming more than 3.2 million guests through its doors. Its wide range of programming continues to shine a spotlight on Kansas City's own vibrant arts community while attracting national and international talent from all genres. Resident companies the Kansas City Ballet, Kansas City Symphony, and Lyric Opera of Kansas City, along with numerous other community arts organizations continue to thrive in their Kauffman Center performance home.

The Kauffman Center's mission focuses on providing diverse and extraordinary performing arts experiences for audiences of all ages and interests. Kansas City's youngest arts enthusiasts from local schools enjoy dozens of performances at the Kauffman Center annually through the Center's educational outreach program Open Doors. More than 300,000 students have attended a matinee performance, and the Kauffman Center's Open Doors Transportation Fund provided bussing assistance for more than 150,000 of those students.

In addition to hosting more than 260 school matinees, the Kauffman Center provides community access to a wide range of public performances through the Open Doors Community Tickets program. "We continue to expand our programming offered to the community to ensure high-quality performing arts experiences are affordable and often free for many of Kansas City's most deserving citizens through our Open Doors Program initiatives," noted Paul Schofer, Kauffman Center President & CEO. Through a network of social service agencies, the Kauffman Center has provided more than 3,500 free tickets to underserved young people and families. In addition, the Open Doors Community Tickets program recently expanded to include ticket discounts for students, educators, veterans, and military service members.

The Kauffman Center also provides a wide range of free or low-cost programming to the general public, including the Kauffman Center's own Future Stages Festival. This annual free community event has welcomed more than 25,000 people and provided opportunities for 3,500 performers, mostly youth, to perform on stage since the event's inception in 2014. Audiences also have affordable access to performances with tickets priced as low as $15, such as the popular National Geographic Live series.

With more than 3 million visitors in its first seven years, the Kauffman Center eagerly continues to expand its reach in connecting the performing arts to the greater community. "The Kauffman Center stands as a cultural cornerstone for Kansas City's thriving and vibrant artistic community," reflected Schofer. "We are thrilled to offer a diverse array of performing arts experiences that will continue drawing millions of visitors and arts enthusiasts for many decades to come."

Kauffman Center Milestones at a Glance
- 3,200,000 guests have visited the Kauffman Center since opening in 2011
- 2,150 performances occurred
- 325,303 students and educators attended 262 school matinees
- 154,885 students received Open Doors bus transportation assistance to attend school matinees
- 3,574 individuals from social service agencies have been awarded free Community Tickets to Kauffman Center performances

Coming Soon to the Kauffman Center Presents Series:
- January 9: National Geographic Live - Ronan Donavan, Social by Nature
- January 12: Live from Here with Chris Thile
- March 13: Anoushka Shankar
- March 30: The Summit - The Manhattan Transfer Meets Take 6
- June 11: Snarky Puppy
- June 28: Napoleon Dynamite

New programs will be announced throughout the year. Visit kauffmancenter.org to learn more and sign up for email updates.