UMKC Conservatory Dean Courtney Crappell held an annual State of the Conservatory address in the Grant Recital Hall on Tuesday Sept. 17.
The address featured information about a major building upgrade and a new degree program that will be added to the department.
The building vision board has been made and a projected idea of the facility was on display. Funding is still in the works and the new building’s timeline is still unclear.
Even with transportation concerns for future students as the new build will be located in downtown KC, there is consistent support for its construction. This support comes from the voices of Dean Crappell, donors and Conservatory students like Grace Bowles, a 21 year old junior and music major with an emphasis in violin.
“I think this new facility could bring recognition to future conservatory students,” said Bowles. “Downtown Kansas City is an amazing place of opportunity for budding artists such as ourselves, so I do think the pros outweigh the cons.”
Along with the future projects, Crappell announced that the Conservatory added a new degree program to the school this academic year. The new Coordination for Arts Entrepreneurship and Arts Management major is a program collaboration between the Conservatory and the UMKC BLOCH School of Management.
Crappel followed this announcement with recognition for the Conservatory’s sponsors and donors, and then moved on to the topic of fundraising events. Events have a collaborative approach that combines dance, theater and music in performance.
“The integrated arts performance sounds really cool,” said freshman and studio arts major Annabelle Crappel. “I’ve been wanting to talk to a professor about getting involved in that with like the [studio] arts students as well, it sounds like a really cool program.”
Upcoming Conservatory events to look forward to are Night Shift on Oct. 24 and Crescendo on Nov. 9. Both performances will take place at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
