Empower

Proposal for a place of culture and exploration

by Vatsal Patel

Having the arts in young people’s lives is essential; we know that intuitively. Parents sing to their babies, dance with
their toddlers, and occupy children with crayons and paper. And there was a time in this country when schools did their parts:
bands, choruses, theatricals, and art studios used to fill the days alongside the 3 Rs, gym, social studies, science, and the rest.
But over the past four decades, budget pressures and an increasing focus on just reading and math have crowded the
arts out of too many school days. What’s lost? The chance for a child to express himself. The chance for the idiosyncratic child
who has not yet succeeded elsewhere to shine. A sense of play, of fun, of discovery.1
-Rocco Landesman
Chairman of National Endowment for the Arts

Overview of Northeast Kansas City
Today the Northeast Kansas City
neighborhoods are often associated with a high crime
rate and visibly blighted properties, but they can also
be associated with racial and ethnic diversity and a
sense of conviction to build a more cohesive Kansas
City subculture. In order to develop the area into a
source of pride, a modern version of its former glory,
a careful, close relationship between designers and
citizens is required.
How can art bring about such dramatic social
change?
The role of this proposal in social change
movements is to develop a cultural strategy to help
change the way youth think about their surroundings
and their place in Northeast Kansas City. To imagine
the capabilities, by the shift of focusing on individuals
and situations through their representations of
themselves, to explore what makes humans
complicated and interesting, and to uplift the hope
and resilience of communities they are a part of.
So where’s the art?
It lies in the youth who take part in it, the
actions they take, and the change they create. In
doing so, it becomes a social or political currency,
and creates the conditions for society to shift.
The report The Arts and Achievement in At
Risk Youth establishes a correlation between arts
activity among at risk youth and subsequent levels
of benefits in academic performance as well as civic
engagement.2 The proposal aims to provide a space
that provides youth and the community-at-large with
an arts program which may have the ability to change
a community’s values.
Site overview
The site for the proposal is located on the
St. John Avenue, in an empty lot on the corner. As
one approaches and looks around the site, different
patterns and texture are visible. The brick, metal
siding, lime stone church, and trees surrounding the
site contribute to the ambiance of the site.
Although the buildings around the site
offer distinctive features, it is in desperate need of
intervention especially due to its proximity to Budd
Park which currently has high crime rate. Vandalism
and drug peddlers are the major concerns of the
edge conditions of the Budd Park due to its inability
in breaking down the Park scale to more human level.
The results are spots of no visual public activities
leading to further crime.
The proximity of the site to other public
building and park allows for ease of expansion and
benefit from having eyes on the street. The new
center on site will act as the link between the Budd
Park, Northeast Kansas City community and City at
large by becoming a new destination.

1. Catterall, James S. “The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth: Findings from ...” Accessed December 15, 2019. https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/fi les/
Arts-At- Risk-Youth.pdf.
2. ibid.