Artists as activists: Meet the KC group whose creative approach to advocacy needs little interpretation

A Kansas City nonprofit is training local artists on the intersection of art and public policy, hoping to create a generation of creatives ready to advocate for their communities.

Heartland Arts KC aims to position Kansas City as a hub of local arts activism, said Logan Stacer, executive artistic director.

“I want Kansas City to be the city where it’s so obvious that all these artists have strong relationships with their legislators,” Stacer said. “What will that do? What kind of art will that inspire, and what conversations will that start?”

To reach that point, Heartland Arts KC operates an annual 12-week fellowship program, selecting six area artists — including musicians, poets, playwrights, actors, and comedians — to use their creative skills to highlight an issue affecting the local community.

The fellowship program culminates with workshops from industry professionals and an artist showcase, during which the six artists perform the original content they’ve created in front of a live audience.

The 2023 cohort focused on Kansas City’s Climate Protection and Resiliency Plan, while the inaugural 2022 cohort tackled the homelessness crisis in the city. The 2024 cohort will address juvenile justice, according to Stacer.

“We’re always on the lookout for what is being transformed in the city, because Kansas City is rapidly changing … and as more people start to come to the city, there are going to be more voices pulling in that direction,” Stacer said.

Keeping an issue as specific as possible and bringing new topics to the forefront each year are key to the organization’s mission, Stacer said.

“What we’re trying to do is reach the community and say, ‘This is the full picture of Kansas City,’ year after year,” Stacer said. “‘If you didn’t like what we were talking about last year, you’re gonna like this year.’ That way, we’re able to bring more people into the conversation and get more people to participate in democracy.”

Logan Stacer, Heartland Arts KC

Empowered with politics

Creating art rooted in policy is personal for Stacer, who earned a master’s degree in arts politics from New York University in 2019.

After graduation, he took a group of Kansas City-based artists to Atlanta for a three-day workshop focused on voter suppression, partnering with the ACLU and former Georgia state Rep. Stacey Abrams.

COVID-19 disrupted plans for another event in Chicago, and Stacer moved back to his hometown, determined to reshape the local creative scene, he said.

“I wanted to step in and find like-minded creatives to be bold about what’s happening in the city,” Stacer said. “Rooting that in policy, specifically, I thought was important because policy ultimately is the manifestation of any advocacy.”

Empowering artists with that political understanding establishes their credibility, Stacer added, allowing them to convey their message to more audiences.

“Starting with what is real and tangible informs the art more, but also makes it feel more real to the audiences,” he said. “We’re not just a bunch of rowdy 20-somethings who want things to be better. We understand policy; we understand the legislative process; we understand the language. We’re going to translate that to get you to engage in local politics, and also to engage in the arts, because there’s a bridge there.”

More voices, greater context

The fellowship program intentionally welcomes artists from different creative backgrounds and with varied lived experiences, Stacer said, so that cohort members can challenge and learn from each other.

Marley Kay Lowe

Marley Kay Lowe — a storyteller, speaker and actor who participated in the 2022 cohort — said that blend of perspectives leads to a more informed performance with a wider appeal.

“By integrating all these different artists with all these different backgrounds, you have such a mass pool of perspectives to inform the presentation,” Lowe said. “So often, a lot of the art that we consume is so sanitized because it has to be to make it to the stage, the TV, or the box office.”

That’s not the case with Heartland Arts KC, Lowe added, because so many voices are given space to add context, and to approach an issue using their unique artistic talents.

“There is so much potential by having such a mass array of artists actually sit in the same space,” they said. “That can connect to such a wider audience.”

Alanzo McIntosh Jr.

The artists benefit from those connections, too, said Alanzo McIntosh Jr., a 2023 cohort participant and singer who performs under the name Alanzo.

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Learning new skills like performing skits and writing songs on the spot initially left McIntosh feeling “mortified,” he admitted, though he’s come to appreciate being pushed outside his comfort zone.

“It was just cool being able to learn from all of those different artists, and how they interpret messages, and how they work,” McIntosh said.

Lowe agreed, noting that Heartland Arts KC fellowship graduates leave the program armed with more creative and policy knowledge.

“By the end of the cohort, you’re very familiar with new things that you can do — that you are competent and capable — and you learn something that’s very valuable, systemically and politically,” Lowe said.

McIntosh said he now feels more empowered to get involved locally, and has begun to approach his day-to-day decisions through a new lens.

“As an advocate and as a citizen, it definitely woke me up,” McIntosh said. “Having those other artists explain the issue in a way that my brain could comprehend was super helpful. It’s definitely changed the way that I live and I move in the world now.”

Rally behind ‘sports team of the arts’

With two fellowship cohorts graduated back into the local community, Heartland Arts KC now hopes to expand its reach, Stacer said.

That includes creating more digital content available to people outside Kansas City, he shared, as well as some programming focused on local youth.

Logan Stacer, Heartland Arts KC

Heartland High School and Heartland University both aim to teach emerging artists the skills needed to hone their crafts, Stacer said, with the ultimate goal of keeping talent at home in Kansas City.

“So much of our talent leaves, and I want to keep people here,” Stacer said. “With the high schoolers, my real focus is, ‘This is how you can get good at the thing you want to do.’”

The nonprofit currently hopes to pilot a program with the Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts this fall semester, but still needs $25,000 in additional grant funding to make that possible, according to Stacer.

The time to build cohesion, artistically and politically, has never been more urgent, Stacer said, as Kansas City prepares to welcome the world as a 2026 World Cup host city.

“We all live in Kansas City, and we all love this city,” Stacer said. “The whole world is going to love our city in 2026, so I want Heartland to be the facilitator of how artists keep their seats at the table, and how artists help inform and communicate the vision.”

Eventually, Stacer hopes that Heartland Arts KC can become that unifying force for the city, especially in the arts scene.

“I want Heartland to be our sports team of the arts,” he said. “I want people to rock the jersey. … I think Kansas City has a bit of, ‘Theater is over here; ballet is over here; jazz is over here; recording artists are over here.’ There’s a ton of talent, but they’re not always sitting together and working together. Heartland is trying to be that place.”