Jazz museum needs new leader’s skills

The American Jazz Museum will gain new energy and perspective, along with badly needed fundraising expertise, when Cheptoo Kositany-Buckner takes over in March as its executive director.

The museum, with 25 full-time employees in the 18th and Vine Jazz District, needs Kositany-Buckner’s talents. She succeeds Greg Carroll, who resigned in July after eight years on the job.

The city provides about 37 percent of the museum’s annual budget of about $2 million, which is down from 60 percent when it opened in 1997. The city’s share is expected to continue to decrease, pushing the jazz museum to depend more on revenue-producing events and corporate and philanthropic donations.

Museum board Chairman C.S. “Trey” Runnion III said Kositany-Buckner’s knowledge of Kansas City and her money-raising skill will lead to a successful balance of city and philanthropic funding for the museum.

Kositany-Buckner plans to boost attendance by “aggressively promoting what’s going on at 18th and Vine.”

“The key is to look at the entire 18th and Vine as the cradle of African American history,” said Kositany-Buckner, who is leaving the Kansas City Public Library, where she served as deputy director of strategic services.

The museum also operates the Gem Theater and the Blue Room jazz club. It shares a building with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Its neighbors include the Black Archives of Mid-America and the Mutual Musicians Foundation in the historic black musicians union building. All the institutions would benefit from collaboration, joint marketing and better links to downtown assets. Kositany-Buckner has ideas, including connecting 18th and Vine to First Friday in the Crossroads with buses featuring rolling jazz performances and collaborating with other area arts institutions.

“We want to make the jazz museum a destination for people living in Kansas City,” she said.

Kositany-Buckner, who has received awards for her work connecting low-income families to the Internet, wants to upgrade the museum’s website and modernize exhibits.

She also wants to launch a membership drive, increase programs to draw people to the under-achieving district and boost fund-raising activities.

Her optimism and drive will be important as the district gears up to celebrate its 20th anniversary next year with events commemorating 100 years of Kansas City’s jazz greats.

This story was originally published January 25, 2016 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Jazz museum needs new leader’s skills."