Federal arts funding cuts hit AMERI’KANA festival in KC’s northeast; organizer says the show will go on

Creating space for healing and connection in Kansas City’s historic northeast is too critical to abandon, said Enrique Chi, whose nonprofit — and a popular music and arts festival — faces federal funding cuts targeting heritage-related initiatives that don’t align with the priorities of President Trump.

Enrique Chi performs with Making Movies at the 2024 Celebrate AMERI’KANA Music and Arts Festival; courtesy photo

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) recently rescinded $85,000 in funding for Art as Mentorship and its Celebrate AMERI’KANA Music and Arts Festival. Both the nonprofit and event work to amplify young musicians from underrepresented communities.

Set for noon to 8 p.m. July 26 at Concourse Park in the Northeast, the free festival is expected to continue this summer as planned — with Chi and other organizers leaning on years of growth and community support to help fill the gaps.

“It makes sense to keep investing in this,” said Chi, founder of Art as Mentorship and the lead singer of the Latin Grammy-nominated indie rock band Making Movies. “We’ve just got to focus on celebrating and keeping the joy and the focus on having a great time, not the things that we can’t control.”

The Celebrate AMERI’KANA event had been allotted $20,000 of the $85,000 in NEA funding. To make up for the loss, $12,000 in matching funds have already been raised and community partners have come together to help, said Chi.

“We’re being creative,” he explained. “You’ve got to be grateful for the community saying, ‘You know what? This is important. Let’s keep lifting this up.’”

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Now in its fourth year, Celebrate AMERI’KANA showcases the myriad backgrounds, cultures, languages, and sounds that have shaped American music, bringing Grammy-winning artists to Kansas City to perform at the free festival alongside youth performers from the organization’s year-round mentorship programs.

Indigenous American performers at the 2024bCelebrate AMERI’KANA Music and Arts Festival; courtesy photo

More than a festival, Chi noted, Celebrate AMERI’KANA is a reminder of the transcendent power of music and an exploration of the question: What makes American music? And who gets to tell that story? 

“We misspelled the word ‘Americana’ in the way you phonetically pronounce it in Spanish,” explained Chi, who is from Panama. “Not to represent just Spanish-speaking people in the United States, but all the contributions that emerge from the United States and the Americas.”

“Even the arts and culture the United States fundamentally takes pride in has a global story,” he added. “It’s impossible to tell that story correctly without speaking to this broader picture of community. Something like New Orleans jazz — which then influenced Kansas City jazz — is academically known and celebrated as being a big mix of Caribbean cultures clashing into each other in New Orleans.”

The Salvation Choir performs at the 2023 Celebrate AMERI’KANA Music and Arts Festival; courtesy photo

Healing through music

Headlined by sets from Making Movies, Salvation Choir, and Grammy-winning artist La Lulu, the festival is expected to feature activities for kids, a vendor fair with local artists and makers, and food trucks.

Enrique Chi, founder of Art as Mentorship, Celebrate AMERI’KANA Music and Arts Festival; photo by Tommy Felts, Startland News

“The goal is just to continue making a joyful expression and bringing community together, healing the isolation and the disenfranchisement of different communities — healing them in a way that music can do and bringing folks together through art and cultural experiences,” Chi said.

For the first time, young artists from Art as Mentorship will also perform a special set celebrating songs co-created by Kansas City artists, such as “Disturbia” (Rihanna), “16 Carriages” (Beyoncé), and “Tightrope” (Janelle Monáe).

“There’s all these songs in pop culture that somebody from Kansas City had a part in,” Chi explained. “So I want to start creating that sense of pride and place for the young artists who are like, ‘Oh, I know making a life of music is tough,’ which it is. And it’s tough in Kansas City to do it. But if you don’t know it’s possible, if you have not heard stories of other people doing it, then you don’t believe it.”

From the archives: Music moves young minds, says singer-turned-nonprofit leader; festival to showcase how diversity of song shapes community

Chi also hopes the festival shines a spotlight on and uplifts the historic Northeast — a neighborhood that’s home to more than 55 languages and the Art as Mentorship organization. Through the course of Kansas City’s history, the neighborhood has been a first stop for new Americans, as well as welcoming newcomers from across the North and South American continents.

Justus West plays the Celebrating Ameri'kana stage in 2024 at Concourse Park; courtesy photo

Celebrate Ameri'kana festival-goers hit the pit at Concourse Park in 2024; courtesy photo

About half of Celebrate AMERI’KANA festival-goers come from outside the neighborhood, Chi said, offering an opportunity to see a at-times-misunderstood part of the city firsthand. 

“There’s beautiful infrastructure, but there are still some wrinkles in this neighborhood’s fabric,” he acknowledged. “There’s a lot of poverty if you go a few blocks away and that comes with some systemic issues, like gun violence. So there are some founded reasons for why people have an opinion on this neighborhood.”

“But most of the people in the Northeast — like most of the people anywhere on the planet — are just trying to live their life and have nice families,” he added, “and there’s more and more of that present.”

Enrique Chi, founder of Art as Mentorship, Celebrate AMERI’KANA Music and Arts Festival; photo by Tommy Felts, Startland News

Collective ‘friendraiser’

Now in its fourth year, the seeds for Celebrate AMERI’KANA were planted a decade ago when he started a music camp in the neighborhood, Chi shared.

That effort eventually evolved into Art as Mentorship, giving youth artists a platform to perform. It started in the parking lot of the Mattie Rhodes Center before moving to Knuckleheads. 

“In that time, my band, Making Movies, went from being a local act to getting national attention,” Chi explained. “We had gotten an NPR Tiny Desk concert. We started touring with Los Lobos. So we had started to make some friends in the world and were like, ‘Oh, we could bring them to Kansas City for the kids’ performance.’”

“It became the ethos that was baked in,” he continued. “Fast forward over 10 years, it’s kind of the same thing: Who are the collective network of influential people and musicians and artists that can — either donate or at the very low expense — come and make the free concert really special?”

Members of the Sass-a-brass street parade band perform through the grounds at Concourse Park during the 2024 Celebrate AMERI’KANA Music and Arts Festival; courtesy photo

Last year’s festival — which Chi referred to as a “friendraiser” — drew about 2,000 people to Concourse Park, which sits just outside Art as Mentorship’s office and studio space.

“It doesn’t really raise money, but it raises awareness for the programs,” he explained. “Then it’s a platform for other community organizations like Mattie Rhodes that can have a table and booth. We have had a vendor fair with over 50 makers and artists, and they can sell their work.”

 

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Scaling back potential

The NEA funding cuts don’t just affect Celebrate AMERI’KANA, Chi emphasized. Art as Mentorship also lost $65,000 of a two-year capacity building grant that would have helped the nonprofit to hire a full-time program director.

Isabella White, a student within the Art as Mentorship program, practices with rock performer Malek Azrael, off camera, at the Art as Mentorship office in Kansas City’s northeast; photo by Tommy Felts, Startland News

“It’s hamstringing the ability to deploy free services to youth because it is directly attacking organizations that are serving communities like this one,” he explained, noting Art as Mentorship had not received a specific reason for why its awarded funding had been rescinded.

NPR reported a general email detailing the organization’s new grant priorities following the inauguration of President Trump, who has sought to reshape the federal funding process for the arts, public broadcasting, colleges and universities, health agencies, science-related organizations, and other grantees or prospective grantees.

“The NEA is updating its grantmaking policy priorities to focus funding on projects that reflect the nation’s rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the President,” the email, several copies of which have been shared with NPR, stated in part. “Consequently, we are terminating awards that fall outside these new priorities.”

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The $85,000 in NEA funding marked the first time Art as Mentorship had received two grants from the organization, Chi noted, though he’d been collaborating with NEA for years.

“We’ve had a lovely relationship with the National Endowment for the Arts for the last three or four years,” he said. “They’ve been a part of helping us grow. At that time, a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts was as big of a grant as we’d gotten. That was a big deal for us.”

 

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And while Celebrate AMERI’KANA can recover from the cuts with community support, Chi acknowledged, the nonprofit’s growth is greatly hampered by its inability to expand programming as planned.

“The Rebel Song Academy has scaled to 12 different partnerships in the metro area, charter schools, alternative schools, a pilot with Kansas City, Kansas, School District, the teenage house at Synergy Services, activations with Big Brothers, Big Sisters,” he explained. “It’s still a business that has to grow and figure out how to keep providing this free service to youth.”

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