Fountain City Performing Arts was established in 2018 with an initial focus on youth development through arts and culture. The organizations' first programs…SingOUTKC youth chorus and PerformOUTKC youth performance art successfully engaged with more than 150 youth and teens from around the metropolitan community, partnering and meeting at Synergy Services' youth resiliency center. Later in 2022 the board and staff wanted to meet the moment and create a choral movement for ALL voices to change hearts and minds during the civil unrest and many injustices happening throughout the country. FCPA will celebrate its' 5th Year "Sapphire" Anniversary with a renewed focus on justice music-making.
By Winter of 2022, Fountain City Performing Arts launched a new choral program, OUTside VoicesKC (OVKC), dedicated to using our voices for justice and equality. In 2023, we presented our inaugural concert season, with performances in February and June. Both concerts featured OVKC singing beautifully, but also included opportunities for everyone in attendance to sing together, raising our voices as one for equality. This past year OVKC continued using their voices in the community – singing at welcoming church services, appearing at rallies and marches, and sang the national anthem at the Kansas City Current's PRIDE Night. It has been a powerful and successful first season for OVKC and we are grateful to all who supported us.
We are extremely excited about our 2024 season with an important and necessary focus on community collaborations. OUTside VoicesKC will present two main-stage concerts. In Winter, OVKC will offer the Kansas City premier of Steve Milloy’s Bayard Rustin: The Man Behind the Dream. This work is designed for SATB chorus, two actor / story-guides, and instruments honoring the life and work of openly gay African American civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, who was a mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This performance features an exciting collaboration with the 28-year, prominent Kansas City Boys and Girls Choir; in addition to two special vocalists Lee Langston and KCBC & KCGC executive director, Mia Ramsey.
Our second concert: Free to Be shines a light on the experience of trans and non-binary people. OVKC partners with other trans and non-binary singers who will share their powerful journey through songs and stories. This empowering and inspiring concert is planned at the beginning of July and shortly after, the OUTside VoicesKC Chorus will travel to Minneapolis to attend the GALA Choruses International Choral Festival.
In addition to the exciting work that OUTside VoicesKC is doing, Fountain City Performing Arts is thrilled to soon announce new and reimagined youth programming with SingOUTKC and PerformOUTKC. FCPAKC is bringing on innovative and dynamic artistic associates to help us achieve our mission: Creating artistry through aspiration and activism towards social justice.
Joe
