Giant hearts will pop up around the city next month. Here’s five things to know about them
In the coming weeks, you’ll start to notice giant heart sculptures appearing around Kansas City. They’re all part of a new initiative called Parade of Hearts, a public art installation that aims to celebrate the Heart of America and benefit local neighborhoods, artists, small businesses and other groups facing hardship due to the pandemic.
Starting on March 6, the organization will place 154 uniquely decorated heart sculptures in locations around the greater metro area. All the hearts will be in public spaces and will be free to visit and admire. Here’s five things to know about how to find them and what they mean.
1. Despite the name, this isn’t an actual parade: it’s a public arts initiative.
These giant heart sculptures won’t be decorating parade floats. Instead, they’ll be installed in publicly accessible locations around the greater Kansas City area. Visitors will be welcome to visit any and all of them 24 hours a day.
Parade of Hearts will publish the hearts’ locations on their website in mid-March once all the sculptures are in place around the city. The group has also created a mobile app that will allow visitors to tour their local hearts and learn more about them and the artists that created them.
Co-director Jenn Nussbeck said she hopes that the project would bring people into neighborhoods they haven’t visited before.
“We encourage people to visit the neighborhoods around the hearts,” she said. “We hope that where these hearts are placed will also see an economic impact.”
2. The 154 heart sculptures were decorated by 123 local artists.
This project selected 123 artists to decorate the giant heart sculptures based on their design submissions. Some of them had two designs accepted for creation, bringing the total to 154 sculptures. All the artists have a connection to Kansas City: they either grew up here, went to school here or live here now.
The artists involved in the project each received a $2,000 stipend from Parade of Hearts to cover the cost of their labor and materials. They range in age from eight to 71 years old. Nussbeck estimated that around 60% of the artists are women, and added that they represent 70 different ZIP codes around the city.
“We let the artists submit [designs] at free rein, at their own inspiration,” she said. “The vast majority have pulled from either their heritage, from the inspiration of Kansas City, or the events of the last couple of years.”
3. They’ll be available for public viewing all spring— but if you want one for yourself, you can bid on it in June.
After the sculptures are placed around the city during the first few weeks of March, they will remain on display throughout the end of May. On June 1, Parade of Hearts will begin collecting the hearts from their locations around the city. The group will then sell them in an auction on June 17.
4. These hearts are huge.
They’re a perfect size for selfies, and you’ll see them from a distance. Each sculpture measures over five and a half feet tall and five feet wide, and weighs around 400 pounds. Parade of Hearts plans to use fleets of trucks and flatbed trailers to transport the hearts around the city: what Nussbeck calls a “complex matrix of logistics.”
5. The project supports local initiatives to help the city recover from the impacts of COVID-19.
The project will take in revenue from three main sources: corporate sponsors, the sale of merchandise featuring the decorated hearts, and an auction where the hearts themselves will be sold to bidders this June.
Revenue from the project will support five local initiatives:
Paying a stipend to the artists who decorated the hearts
Buying new machinery to help treat cardiac issues in long-term COVID-19 patients at The University of Kansas Health System
Helping the nonprofit Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) fund daycare and early childhood education positions so childcare centers in the area can reopen
Making grants to minority-owned businesses through the local lending group AltCAP
Donations to the Visit KC Foundation to help spots like restaurants and theaters recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic
“This is a true testament of the greater Kansas City region coming together to help those in need,” said Nussbeck. “I am in awe, but I’m not surprised.”
Do you have more questions about the arts in Kansas City? Ask our service journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.
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