High lodging prices during World Cup keeping dance troupe from KC | Opinion
A dance company from Chicago called House of Dov needs our help, Kansas City. The group will be in town July 9-12 to participate in an annual cultural event known as the Queer Narratives Festival and is seeking housing for seven members of its 14-person traveling party.
Because of high lodging prices during that time — the FIFA World Cup 26 tournament hosted here concludes July 11 — House of Dov was forced to seek alternative housing for a few days. Seven of the 14 people scheduled to travel here have already found a place to stay thanks to the generosity of local families, founder and creative director Drew Lewis said.
“People are housing us free of charge,” he said.
However, seven other performers are still in need of somewhere to stay, Lewis said. He added the group is asking one to three families or homeowners in the metropolitan area to serve as hosts.
“We are counting on the generosity of the community,” Lewis said.
In a time when we have seen considerable attacks on cultural institutions and funding cuts to arts-related projects and organizations, I think it’s imperative that we step up to the collective plate and help our visitors from the north. Despite all the hoopla surrounding the massive international soccer tournament, life outside the World Cup does exist, as evidenced by this showcase.
The seventh annual Queer Narratives Festival kicks off a day before the last soccer match is scheduled in Kansas City.
“Unfortunately, it’s an incredibly busy weekend in Kansas City,” Lewis said.
House of Dov at Queer Narratives Festival
Hosted by No Divide KC, a local nonprofit arts studio located in the West Bottoms, the Queer Narratives Festival is described on the studio’s website as a multidisciplinary arts festival highlighting queer artists living and working in the region.
The troupe’s namesake is Benjamin Dov Lebowitz, Lewis’ ancestor who immigrated to Brooklyn, New York, from Russia in the early 1900s escaping persecution.
House of Dov will perform its live music and dance show Circle of Apathy at No Divide’s festival kickoff party July 10. The next day, the dance company partners with area nonprofit arts organization Charlotte Street Foundation for a performance there.
First, the crew needs to find additional housing and that’s where kind-hearted Kansas Citians who care about the arts can step in. Any family interested in hosting House of Dov members may email Lewis at drew@houseofdov.com
World Cup affects more than soccer
Much fuss has been made about the World Cup coming to Kansas City, and deservedly so. While the massive influx of visitors city officials expected may not materialize and hotel bookings are below initial projections, hosting such a high-level soccer tournament here could have a tremendous economic and cultural impact on the entire region.
However, events like the Queer Narratives Festival show the need for more affordable lodging options beginning next month. According to The Star, hotel rooms that would normally go for $200-$250 a night were, as early as December, being priced between $500-$700 a night.
More recently, rooms surrounding the first match day, June 16, were still available at some hotels for as low as $220 to as high as $413 per night, which is an expense a nonprofit arts organization like House of Dov could not afford, according to Lewis.
With taxes and other fees associated with hotel bookings, it’s not all that difficult to see why lodging would be an issue for the group.
“It became apparent to me that there was just no possible way that we were going to be able to do hotel accommodations so then we became reliant on home stays,” Lewis said. It just didn’t work out exactly as smoothly as I would have liked because people have out of town guests coming for the World Cup so that’s why we’re putting out a pretty wide call.”
Will Kansas City answer?
