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Art in the Loop Highlighted on Tommi Laitio’s Policies for Convivencia Blog

Tommi Laitio is a Finnish social scientist primarily focused on promoting the term and policies for Convivencia. While he did not coin the term as Américo Castro did in 1948, he advocates for it through his work, speaking engagements, and website. At one of these talks, Ann Holliday, Art in the Loop’s Executive Director, and Donna Mandelbaum, Marketing and Communications Director of KC Streetcar attended and were inspired by his talk. Afterwards, they decided to make Convivencia the theme for 2024.

In one of Tommi’s blogs, he interviewed both Ann and one of the performers at the 2024 Kick-Off Event, Viva La Tinta.

Read the Blog Here: #7: Images of Convivencia

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artintheloop

Bringing temporary artwork, music and performances to Downtown KC and KC Streetcar

Art Talk Ep.1 with @bodaciousthang is now live on Art Talk Ep.1 with @bodaciousthang is now live on YouTube! 

Special thanks to @yeswaylive for recording, producing, and setting up the in-person interviews!
Introducing: Art Talk! A brand new videocast serie Introducing: Art Talk! A brand new videocast series featuring this year's visual and performing artists from the 2026 Art in the Loop project!

This year's interns, Frances Story and Jack Warner, will be talking with the artists about their creative process, how they discovered Art in the Loop, what home means to them, and so much more!

You can watch each episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PbqSjIsemg&list=PLDL3TcOO2cK8

Special thanks to @yeswaylive for recording, producing, and setting up the in-person interviews.
Thank you all so much! What an incredible evening Thank you all so much! What an incredible evening celebrating 816 Day and the @artintheloop performing artists! Thank you, to all who attended this event and supported in any capacity!

Special thanks to @kcstreetcar @citymarketkc and the @godowntownkc this wouldn’t have been possible without you! 

To all performers, you showed up and out! It 

was a beautiful celebration of your art, music, and dance. @bodaciousthang @thedynamitexperience and @fk_menace you all touched our hearts. 

I can’t forget to thank @ikeamerriam.marketmanager your collaboration with @theroyalchief was amazing!

One last thank you to @big_dudes_music for your support in bringing the sound. 

Thanks so much,

Art in the Loop Team

#artintheloop #kcstreetcar #citymarketkc #godowntownkc #kansascity
Join us this evening in the @citymarketkc or our 8 Join us this evening in the @citymarketkc or our 816 Day celebration for Art in the Loop in partnership with the @kcstreetcar 

We have the honor and pleasure of bringing you a performance from @theroyalchief the event kicks off at 6pm and we’d absolutely love to see you all there. 

The Royal Chief

The Royal Chief is a Kansas City based recording artist, DJ, and curator blending hip hop, performance, and community into one vision. Known for high energy records and cinematic storytelling, he creates music that feels both personal and larger than life. Beyond the mic, he builds experiences through events like OnWAX and Mainstreet Movie Club, bridging music, film, and culture. His work has connected with brands, sports teams, and local institutions, positioning him as both an artist and architect of moments. Whether on stage or behind the scenes, The Royal Chief moves with intention, turning ideas into impact.

This event is free and open to the public! 

Thanks so much for your support of these events!

Art in the Loop Team

#theroyalchief #artintheloop #citymarketkc #kansascity #816day
Join us this evening in the @citymarketkc or our 8 Join us this evening in the @citymarketkc or our 816 Day celebration for Art in the Loop in partnership with the @kcstreetcar 

We have the honor and pleasure of bringing you a performance from @fk_menace the event kicks off at 6pm and we’d absolutely love to see you all there!

FK Menace

FK MENACE is a Kansas City–based DJ, artist, and activist who performs open-format sets and organizes events in Kansas City and his hometown of San Antonio, TX. Coming from a family of luchadores dating back to the late 1960s, he honors the tradition by wearing a mask during performances. Known for his passion and genre-blending style, Menace mixes Cumbia, Hip-Hop, Texas sounds, and Latin/Afrobeat rhythms. He regularly plays or organizes events like Movidas at In The Lowest Ferns, On The Couch at Third Place Lounge, and First Fridays with Made Mobb, while also collaborating with Juan “The OG” Carlos with his duo Sin Tope and creating events in San Antonio with his crew Night Shift. 

This event is free and open to the public! 

Thanks so much for your support of these events!

Art in the Loop Team

#fkmenace #artintheloop #citymarketkc #kansascity #816day
Join us this evening in the @citymarketkc or our 8 Join us this evening in the @citymarketkc or our 816 Day celebration for Art in the Loop in partnership with the @kcstreetcar 

We have the honor and pleasure of bringing you a performance from @bodaciousthang the event kicks off at 6pm and we’d absolutely love to see you all there. 

BodaciousThang

BodaciousThang is a North Carolina-born and now Kansas City-based singer, songwriter, and electrifying live performer known for her raw vocals, versatility, and magnetic stage presence. Artistically shaped in Kansas City and Los Angeles, she has built a career that spans both screen and stage. Her music has been featured across major TV and media platforms, including Netflix, the NFL, and BET, while her live shows have earned attention through club dates, showcase performances, and music-driven event appearances in Los Angeles and beyond.

This event is free and open to the public! 

Thanks so much for your support of these events!

Art in the Loop Team

#bodaciousthang #artintheloop #citymarketkc #kansascity #816day
Join us this evening in the @citymarketkc or our 8 Join us this evening in the @citymarketkc or our 816 Day celebration for Art in the Loop in partnership with the @kcstreetcar 

We have the honor and pleasure of bringing you a performance from @thedynamitexperience the event kicks off at 6pm and we’d absolutely love to see you all there. 

The Dynamite Experience 

The DynamitExperience, a contemporary dance company founded in 2019 by Dynamite and partner, Latra Wilson, has been commissioned by Arts KC (MO), KCFAA (MO), JPAC (Jamaica Performing Arts Center, NYC), JACK Arts (NYC), ReVenue (NYC), Earl Mosley Institute of the Arts (NY), Dance Institute of Washington (DC); and presented at: the SHED (NYC), Music Theater Heritage Kansas City (MO), The Mark O’Donnell Theater (NYC), Manhattan Movement & Arts Center (NYC), Voices and Visions of Ailey (NYC), Dance Adelphi (NY), DanceWave (NYC), The Dairy Arts Center (CO), among many others. TDE serves as a platform for creative investigations and community engagement; the company creates work aiming to impact their community.

This event is free and open to the public! 

Thanks so much for your support of these events!

Art in the Loop Team

#dynamiteexperience #artintheloop #citymarketkc #kansascity #816day
A Girl & Zu have turned around and are officially A Girl & Zu have turned around and are officially heading Southbound!
🧶🚋🍦

First stop: River Market West at Delaware, where Zu and the pups visited Abuelita’s Kitchen is Home by Vania Soto @artista_vaniasoto the only hand-painted @kcstreetcar shelter in the Art in the Loop series.

Vania’s work begins with a deeply personal idea: home isn’t always a place. Sometimes, it’s what we carry with us.

🏡❤️‍🔥🍲

Vania’s found that even as geography, language, and familiar surroundings changed from country to country, state to state, her grandmother’s kitchen remained a constant through the recipes, traditions, prayers, superstitions, and stories passed down through her family.

Abuelita’s Kitchen is Home transforms those memories into public art, honoring the ways food, storytelling, ritual, and care can keep us connected to the people and places that shaped us even after they’re gone.

And because no tour of the River Market is complete without a little treat, Zu and our tiny tourists wandered down the block afterward for ice cream at @bettyraes 🍦🐾

Then it was back aboard the @kcstreetcar for the next stop on their Southbound @artintheloop adventure.

✨A Girl & creates handmade crocheted creatures and leaves them around the city as FREE ART. Finders are invited to photograph their discovery, take it home and keep it, or pass it along to someone who could use a little joy.✨

Until these two find their permanent homes, Zu 
is still generously volunteering as their teenage tour guide.

What food, recipe, or kitchen immediately feels like home to you?
A Girl & Zu have officially reached the end of the A Girl & Zu have officially reached the end of the Northbound line!

🧶🚋🏡

For Stop No. 4, Zu and the pups headed to the Riverfront KC Streetcar stop to see Home is Imagination by Kansas City illustrator and designer Kai Johnson @kaistoodios 

In Home is Imagination, Kai looks back to their younger self and the world they created growing up in their grandmother’s pink house— a place where paper, tape, band-aids, and a big imagination could become just about anything.

🏡✂️💭

The piece is a reminder that home isn’t always something we find outside ourselves. Sometimes it’s the inner world we build, return to, and carry with us.

And since this was the final stop on the Northbound tour, A Girl & pups and Zu decided to stroll @berkleyriverfront and grab a bite to eat and a little skee-ball at @twobirdsonestonekc before hopping back aboard the @kcstreetcar 

🎯🍴🚋

Next up: the Southbound art tour.

**A Girl & creates handmade crocheted creatures and leaves them around the city as FREE ART. Finders are invited to photograph their discovery, take it home and keep it, or pass it along to someone who could use a little joy.

Until these two find their permanent homes, Zu is still generously volunteering as their teenage tour guide.

Tag @artintheloop when you visit Home is Imagination!
A Girl & Zu are back on the @kcstreetcar and our t A Girl & Zu are back on the @kcstreetcar and our tiny tourists have officially made it to Stop No. 3!

🧶🚋🥁

This time, Zu and the pups are at the River Market Northbound KC Streetcar stop to see Carried By Sound by Nigerian-born Kansas City artist Anjola Ayodele @anjola.ay @jolastudiosart 

Inspired by Highlife, Afrobeats, and the Nigerian talking drum, Carried By Sound explores the idea that sound carries identity—connecting us across migration, distance, generations, and the places we call home.

🥁🎶🥁

At the center of the piece, a musician plays the talking drum while layers of color, pattern, and movement travel through the artwork like sound itself. For Anjola, music remains one of her strongest connections to Nigeria and a way of carrying culture and memory forward.

After taking it all in Zu & our tiny tourists hopped back aboard the @kcstreetcar to continue their journey through @artintheloop’s public art installations.

🐾🎨🐾

A Girl & creates handmade crocheted creatures and leaves them around the city as FREE ART. Finders are invited to photograph their discovery, take it home and keep it, or pass it along to someone who could use a little joy.
Until these two find their permanent homes, Zu is still generously volunteering as their teenage tour guide.

Have you visited Carried By Sound yet or found one of A Girl &’s creations somewhere in the wild?
EPISODE II A Girl & Zu are back on the @kcstreet EPISODE II 

A Girl & Zu are back on the @kcstreetcar and our tiny tourists have officially made it to Stop No. 2! 

🧶🚋🏀

This time, Zu and the crocheted balloon dogs are heading to the Library Northbound KC Streetcar stop to see Blossoming Origins by Michelle Briggs @michelle_mike_robin 

After carefully studying the installation, posing for the camera, and waiting patiently for their ride, the dogs hopped back aboard the streetcar to continue their tour of @artintheloop ‘s public art installations throughout Downtown Kansas City.

🐾🎨🐾

A Girl & creates handmade crocheted creatures and leaves them around the city as FREE ART. Finders are invited to photograph their discovery, take it home and keep it or pass it along to someone who could use a little joy. 

🎨🐾🎨

Until these two find their permanent homes, Zu is generously volunteering as their teenage tour guide. 

Have you visited Blossoming Origins yet or found one of A Girl &’s creations somewhere in the wild?
We are excited to announce Art in the Loop celebra We are excited to announce Art in the Loop celebrates 816 Day at the @citymarketkc Sunday, August 16th at 6pm. 

Join us for performances from @thedynamitexperience @bodaciousthang @fk_menace and @theroyalchief with a special collaboration with @ikea 

This will be a wonderful opportunity to enjoy one of the many events that celebrate our wonderful city, culture, and art. We would also like to encourage everyone to get out and support @theofficial816day and events they have curated around the city! 

Our hope is that this day brings people together to celebrate all of the wonderful art, music, and culture our amazing city has to offer.

We looking forward to this and seeing everyone!

Thanks so much to the City Market, @kcstreetcar and @godowntownkc for your support and helping bring this all together for our Art in the Loop Artists.

Art in the Loop Team

#artintheloop #kcstreetcar #citymarketkc #godowntownkc #kansascity
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Contact Us

Art in the Loop
1000 Walnut, Suite 200
Kansas City, Missouri 64106

(816) 421-1539
www.artintheloop.com
Link to: An Interview with Zach Frazier an Artist Behind “Welcome to Soakie’s” Link to: An Interview with Zach Frazier an Artist Behind “Welcome to Soakie’s” An Interview with Zach Frazier an Artist Behind “Welcome to Soakie... Link to: An Interview with Jamogi Bridges Link to: An Interview with Jamogi Bridges An Interview with Jamogi Bridges
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