‘This is a Black art movement’: 18th & Vine Arts Festival is a first for Kansas City
September is filled with festivals and art fairs — the huge events in the Country Club Plaza and Westport, to name two — but Black art is seldom seen at those gatherings.
Now comes the first 18th and Vine Art Festival, organized by Quez Presents, the Troost Market Collective and Troostapalooza, bringing together over 50 Black artists.
“I have gone to the fairs, and there is not a lot of representation for Black art,” says Marquez Beasley, one of the organizers. “I think everyone who is involved with putting this together wanted to make a place where we see ourselves in the art at these places for once.”
The inaugural weekend will run Friday to Sunday with artists’ booths lined along The Paseo, from 17th Street to Truman Road.
In addition to the artists of all styles and mediums, each day will offer entertainment: a fashion show on Friday, local Black musicians Saturday and youth artists on Sunday.
“This is something that has never been done,” says Beasley, who also organizes a monthly brunch series in the Jazz District and the Pride on the Vine celebrating Black LGBTQIA culture in June. “This hasn’t happened in the past because we never had Black artists and creatives coming together to create a place for Black art, music, business and fashion.”
Beasley and his team decided to charge admission to the festival, eliminating the traditional booth rents, which many Black artists say are too expensive.
Warren Harvey, a full-time painter, has seen a boom in the local Black art scene over the past few years. The KC native has had his own recent success with artwork displayed in the Peacock TV show “Bel-Air” and his own gallery in the 2000 Vine building.
“It is up to us as Black artists to create our own markets for Black art,” says Harvey. “The growth in our community is expanding what is possible, and I feel like it is powerful.”
Harvey, who sells pieces priced from hundreds to thousands of dollars, thinks it is important to dispel the myth that Black people don’t value art.
“For previous generations, buying art was looked at as more of a luxury,” says the 36-year-old artist. “Now we are starting to see it as more of an investment, and it is encouraging to see Black art start to gain this amount of support in the city.”
Lynell Diggs, another local Black artist featured at the festival, thinks the event will become a yearly staple.
“This will allow a lot of Black artists to showcase their work on a bigger platform than they may usually get a chance to,” says Diggs. “There has been this shift in the Black art scene lately, and we are seeing the community get excited for Black art.”
Diggs, who specializes in paintings of Black people using photo realism and vibrant colors, got into art as a child. He, like Harvey has never participated in any of the bigger annual art fairs.
“I think a lot of artists are excited about this opportunity to be showing their work for the first time on this scale,” says the 41-year-old Ruskin High School graduate. “It is about being patient and timing but also making a place change when needed.”
Most of the artists are local, but some will be traveling from as far as Texas. Beasley says hundreds of tickets are already sold, and he hopes to see thousands attend.
“I have no doubt this is going to be big because the city has been wanting this and waiting on this,” says Beasley. “This is bigger than a Black art festival, this is a Black art movement.”
18th and Vine Festival
The festival runs from 5 to 10 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.
Single-day tickets cost $10, and tickets for the weekend cost $20 via 18thandvineartsfest.com. Tickets sold at the gate will be $15 for one day and $30 for the weekend.
This story was originally published September 28, 2023 at 12:16 PM.
