16th Edgar Snow Symposium
October 16-18, 2014
Edgar Snow’s Kansas City: Where the Arts and Entrepreneurship Intersect
Program
In China, Kansas City is well-known as Edgar Snow’s birthplace. In 1936 his book Red Star Over China introduced Americans to the Red Army, fighting from caves in Yan’an county. Mary Clark and E. Grey Dimond founded Edgar Snow Memorial Foundation in 1974. Edgar Snow Symposia started in 1982, alternating biennially between Kansas City and Beijing, where they are organized by our partners, China Society for Peoples Friendship Studies.
The theme of our 16th Edgar Snow Symposium is "Edgar Snow’s Kansas City: Where the Arts and Entrepreneurship Intersect". We will be hosting 30+ dignitaries from China, Mayor Sly James will be signing a new Sister Cities partnership with the Mayor of Yan’an. The Gala Banquet at the Intercontinental Hotel October 16 features Jane Chu. President of the National Endowment for the Arts.
We are bringing together government officials, businessmen, and artists from China and Kansas City— with a common interest in art and, craftsmanship– to assess Kansas City’s cutting-edge approach to the arts, education, and entrepreneurship
Wednesday, October 15
5:00-8:00pm – Private reception for delegates and invited guests in rooftop bar Intercontinental Hotel
Thursday, October 16
9:30-11:15am – Opening Session at Intercontinental Hotel Conference Room
Theme: Edgar Snow, Kansas City, Entrepreneurship & the Arts
Presiding: John Phillips, UMKC Curator
Welcome by UMKC Chancellor Leo Morton
Greetings from PRC Consul General, Chicago Zhao Weiping
Robert Gamer, President of the Edgar Snow Memorial Foundation: Kansas City as hub of Railroads, Panama Canal, Jazz, Entrepreneurship, Education, the Arts Edgar Snow as a business manager; Snow and the Blue Bell Jazz Band; Working on Katy Line and riding the rails with Charlie White; Snow, Kermit Roosevelt, and the Panama Canal; Snow, education, and the arts.
China Society for Peoples Friendship Studies delegate: Edgar and Helen Snow's early years in China (journalism, friendships with writer, poets, artists, public theater at Yan'an)
11:45-1:45pm Lunch @ Rotary 13, The Gallery in Power and Light District
2:00-3:00pm Welcome reception for Chinese delegation in City Hall hosted by Kansas City Sister Cities Association
3:00-4:00pm Visit to City Council Chamber, 26th floor
Welcome by Mayor Sly James
Resolution by City Council
Tour of City Hall
4:00-6:00pm Hotel break for delegation at Intercontinental Hotel
6:30-730pm
Bobby Watson playing jazz inside the ballroom
7:00-9:30pm – Edgar Snow Symposium Gala Banquet in Intercontinental Ballroom
Theme: "The Vital Role of the Arts in the U.S. China Relationship"
Keynoters:
Jane Chu, President of the National Endowment for the Arts; Cai Wu, China’s Minister of Culture, or his deputy
UMKC Chancellor Leo Morton presents the
Chancellor’s Medal, the University’s highest non-academic award, to China Society for Peoples Friendship Studies – first time to an organization
Friday, October 17 **KANSAS CITY CIVIC DAY**
9:00-10:45am – Panel in Kauffman Foundation Town Hall
Theme: Arts & Entrepreneurship in Action in Kansas City
Welcome by Tom McDonnell, (CEO of Kauffman Foundation) on its role in promoting entrepreneurship and the arts
Presentation by Julie Dalgleish (Director, Charlotte Street Foundation), Paul Tyler (Grants Director, ArtsKC), Julián Zugazagoitia (Director, Nelson-Atkins Museum), and Zhang Beili, (Dean, Department of Arts Management, (Tianjin University),
11:00-11:30am – Panama Canal exhibit at Linda Hall Library, led by Eric Ward
11:45am–12:45pm – UMKC Bloch School Henry W. Bloch Executive Hall Room 218
Theme: UMKC, Edgar Snow, Collaboration with China on Entrepreneurship and the Arts
Big 5 Goal: Making Kansas City "America’s Most Entrepreneurial City"
Presiding: David Donnelly, Dean of the Bloch School of Management and Entrepreneurship
Presentation on entrepreneurship education in Kansas City
Edgar Snow Reading Room update by UMKC Dean of Libraries Bonnie Postlethwaite
4-minute film on Edgar Snow’s life for Reading Room interactive video
Panel: Peter Witte,
Dean of UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance; UMKC Conservatory Professors Zhou Long and Chen Yi; Xu Changjun, President, and Zhang Beili, Dean, of Tianjin Conservatory of Music discuss their new partnership Snow symposium 2014
12:45-1:45pm Lunch for delegates & invited guests, Henry W. Bloch Executive Hall
2:00-3:15pm Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce Boardroom at Union Station
Theme: Kansas City’s Expanding Exchanges with its Pacific Partners
Presiding: Peter deSilva, COO of UMB
Remarks by former Governor Bob Holden
Remarks by Councilman Scott Wagner and CJ Wei, President Kansas City US-Midwest China Chamber, introducing:
World Trade Center
Kansas and Missouri trade delegations
Midwest US-China Chamber of Commerce
Medical exchanges – Sheena Spielberg
Xian Marathon exchange
Sister Cities activities
Signing of Yan’an-Kansas City Sister City agreement by Mayor Sly James and the Mayor of Yan’an
Sheree Willis, Executive Director, KU Confucius Institute leads tour of
Shanghai Jewish Internment Ghetto exhibition in Union Station waiting room Snow symposium 2014
3:45-5:15pm Kauffman Performing Arts Center, Helzberg Concert Hall
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Theme: Architecture, Entrepreneurs, and Developing Vibrant Arts Outreach
Moderating: Jim Heeter, President and CEO of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce
They could have built conventional buildings. Instead:
In 2007, Time magazine ranked the museum's new Bloch Building number one on its list of "The 10 Best (New and Upcoming) Architectural Marvels" which considered candidates from around the globe.
BNIM and Moore Ruble Yudell …informed a design approach that brought a commitment to creating places that nurture community, collaboration, and creativity and celebrate the culture of the institution.
Moshe Safti: Kauffman Center…he theater of the public realm, where the celebrating public are visible to the southern sweep of the city…nd downtown..
"How 3 iconic buildings came into being: the Bloch addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum, the Henry W. Bloch Executive Hall, and the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts."
A panel with Henry W. Bloch, Tom Bloch, Tan Teng-Kee, and Steve McDowell, Principal in BNIM Architects.
Big 5 Goal: "Moving UMKC’s World Class Arts Program to a New Downtown Location."
A panel with UMKC Chancellor Leo Morton; Crosby Kemper III, Director of KC Public Libraries; Dean Peter Witte, UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance; Jeffrey Bentley (tentative), Executive Director, Kansas City Ballet Snow symposium 2014
Snow residence 3925 Charlotte
Norman School
6:15-7:30pm – Dinner for delegates & invited guests at Diastole, 2501 Holmes Street
Theme: Remembering E. Grey & Mary Clark Dimond: Creative Artists, Grand Builders, Friends of China
8:00-10:00pm Concert: UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance in Collaboration with Tianjin Conservatory of Music at Folly Theater
Theme: Two Distinguished Conservatories Premiering a Musical Partnership
Portions of UMKC Professors
Zhou Long’s Pulitzer Prize winning "Madam White Snake,"& Chen Yi’s "Ge Xu;" "Rhapfest" by Xu Changjun, President of the Tianjin Conservatory of Music; Aaron Copland," Appalachian Spring." Orchestra .Robert Olson, solo
Saturday, October 18
Morning tour of Edgar Snow sites – homes, schools, arts, adventure
Snow symposium 2014
2:00-5:00pm – Nelson Atkins Museum
Theme: How We Do Great Things: Visual Culture, Creativity, Entrepreneurship in KC
Panels in Atkins Auditorium on why creativity is vital in business:
2:30-3:30 – Senior executives in LMV Automotive Systems, Populous Sports Architecture, & Zahner Architectural Metal discuss the creative process in their businesses
3:45-4:45 – Senior Curator of Chinese Art Colin Mackenzie & designers reveal the secrets of organizing special exhibitions
China photograph exhibit by Michael Cherney
Exhibit preview: Jade in the Middle Kingdom
Exhibit tour: "The Plains Indians: Artists of Earth and Sky"
Music by KC Chinese Music Ensemble
5:15-6:00pm – private reception in Lens 2, Nelson-Atkins Museum
7:00-9:00pm – Farewell dinner for Chinese delegates at Leedy-Voulkos Gallery with Valentine District neighborhood group, artists, and supporters