Our Story

The Next Chapter - 824 Meyer

In early August of 2021, The Arts Asylum made the decision to cease operations at 1000 E 9th street and make the move to Brookside East in to The A to Z Theatrical Campus at 824 Meyer Blvd.

Meyer will bring together a new collective of partners who will drive our programming and theatrical endeavors under the guidance of Korey Childs, Artistic Director. The Arts Asylum along with Faust Theatre, The City of Fountains Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and Pop Culture Sculptures will produce shows, events, and programs that will continue enriching our communities the same way we always have.

New building
New PArtners
New Works
same mission

Continuing our current partnerships at The South Kansas City Performing Arts Academy, ArtsBlock, Craft & Sage Financial Partners, School of Economics and The Real World Learning Initiative, programs like theatre classes, artist critiques, gallery displays, curation guidance, and community engagement is the backbone of our mission.

With the addition of programs such as Drag Queen Story Time, , Parallels: A docu-series, production support of local playwrights and many more in the works, The Arts Asylum will create a more robust foundation on which to support our mission and theatrical works.

The First Chapter - 9th and Harrison

The Arts Asylum was created to provide space and assistance to artists of all varieties. This was primarily accomplished through the offering of space to both create and share at affordable rates. At 9th and Harrison we were honored to house more than 90 artists within our studio program, 30 performance groups and hundreds of events in our first decade.

Together with the help of the Kansas City arts community, The Arts Asylum came to enrich the Paseo West neighborhood, downtown and arts community as a whole at 1000 E 9th street. Though a number of programs and partnerships, The Arts Asylum provided public art engagement, classes, performances, studio space, and professional development with a focus on underserved communities.

In March of 2020, the world came to a collective halt with the COVID-19 pandemic. Artists all across the world paused and shifted their focus to virtual performances, exhibitions and shows. The Arts Asylum would retreat into what came to be known as “the long intermission”, along with the global performance communities. Our classes with Crossroads Preparatory Academy, programs with ArtsBlock, and many of our theatre partners remained virtual for more than 15 months before returning back to the stage in August of 2021.

On December 10, 2021, exactly 10 years from our first public audience, the lights will go down on 9th street for our final performance.