Why the Black Movie Hall of Fame won’t open in Kansas City this winter
The opening of the Black Movie Hall of Fame inside Kansas City’s historic Boone Theater has been delayed after construction crews encountered additional work while renovating the century-old building and navigating simultaneous streetscape construction in the 18th and Vine Historic Jazz District.
Shawn Edwards, the Kansas City film critic leading the creative direction for the Hall of Fame, said the project expected complications because the Boone is more than 100 years old and has been vacant for decades.
“Going into the project, we were well aware of how the timeline would play out,” Edwards said. “It’s a 100-year-old-plus building and you kind of know going in when you’re renovating a building that old that hadn’t been occupied since the ’70s that they were going to discover some things.”
The original construction schedule discussed publicly at the groundbreaking shaped how the Hall of Fame planned its launch, he said. The project broke ground officially in October of 2024 and according to Edwards they projected for construction to be finished by October of 2025.
The Hall of Fame initially planned a formal launch gala for late February to align with Black History Month, targeting Feb. 28. The event was postponed after it became clear the building and exhibits would not be ready.
“We were probably overly ambitious,” Edwards said. “We were under the philosophy that you only get one time to make a first impression.”
The Hall of Fame still plans to open to the public in 2026, with the major gala now scheduled for February 2027. Black Movie Hall of Fame hopes the gala will become a national-scale event that includes invitations to film industry leaders and well-known guests.
“When we do our grand gala, I wanted it to kind of be on the same scale as the Celebration of Black Cinema produced in Los Angeles,” Edwards said. “So we were going to invite a few A-list movie stars … people who run a couple of movie studios and streamers and some prominent film critics as well.”
Edwards says he was not given a full list of construction issues, but described factors that have been shared with him. One involved structural work that expanded beyond initial expectations with some of the steel structuring needing to be replaced in the front of the building.
He also pointed to the street and pedestrian mall work happening alongside the Boone redevelopment, which he said is a separate project but has affected access and work conditions around the site.
“I do think that the new pedestrian mall that they’re simultaneously putting in … has caused some snafus as well,” Edwards said.
There were incidents during streetscape work in which gas mains were damaged, stopping work for the day, he said. Street closures also limited access to the building during construction.
Once the building is ready for turnover, Edwards said the Hall of Fame will need additional time to install exhibits and prepare for visitors.
“I’m hoping that we can get everything turned around in 90 days,” the Kansas City film critic said.
Exhibit preparation has continued during the delay, including collecting materials and curating displays. Funding remains part of the timeline, he said.
He said the Hall of Fame’s placement in the district is tied to its role alongside other cultural institutions, including the American Jazz Museum and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
“The Black Movie Hall of Fame will sort of be like the missing link in terms of Kansas City Black history,” Edwards said. “By becoming the third component, it really makes that area one of the richest areas of Black history in the world.”
