Previous Special Events

Educator Michelle Rhee joins Library Director Crosby Kemper III for a public conversation about her new book Radical: Fighting to Put Students First and explains her ideas for improving public education by ensuring that laws, leaders, and politics are making students – not adults – their top priority.

Interest in the public conversation with Michelle Rhee has exceeded our expectations. There are now over 1,000 RSVPs for this program. The Library anticipates that anyone arriving after 6 p.m. will likely have to stand. Parking in the Library’s garage may be full as early as 5:30 p.m. If you RSVP’d prior to 10 a.m. on May 6, 2013, you will be given a ticket upon check-in that grants access to the auditorium. Please note that a ticket does not guarantee a reserved seat.

There’s no shortage of time management systems aimed at busy business executives. But most are so complex that just learning them eats up more time than could possibly be saved. In his book Perfect Timing executive coach Dan Chiodo offers a system of simple techniques for creating a personal roadmap for time management success.

The first to graduate after the events of 9/11, the midshipmen of the U.S. Naval Academy’s Class of 2002 have faced nothing but war ever since. Katherine Kranz, herself a member of that class, presents their stories in In the Shadow of Greatness: Voices of Leadership, Sacrifice, and Service from America’s Longest War.

Twenty Films Essential to Cinema Literacy

Think you’re film literate? Not until you’ve experienced the masterpieces of world cinema presented as part of this new series. Former Kansas City Star film critic Robert W. Butler (now a member of the Library’s Public Affairs staff) provides opening and closing remarks.

Join Kansas City writer Rhiannon Ross for an afternoon of Vietnamese poetry, performance art, live and recorded music, video, fashion, dance, and visual art, featuring Vi Tran, performance artist and musician, and Phong Nguyen, poet and assistant professor of English at the University of Central Missouri. Following the presentations, sample a variety of Vietnamese cuisine. The program and post-event reception is presented by the Vox Narro project that pairs writers with immigrant communities to give voice to the voiceless.

The Library kicks off this year’s summer film series of comedies starring Kansas City native Paul Rudd with this tale of energy drink salesmen (Rudd, Seann William Scott) who must perform community service as mentors to two young boys after a road rage incident. This title is recommended for adult audiences only.

Films are screened outside on the Rooftop Terrace. Filmgoers are welcome to bring blankets and folding chairs. In cases of inclement weather, screenings will be moved indoors to Helzberg Auditorium.

Celebrate the winners of the Children’s Book Week Bookmark Contest with a performance by drummer Brandon Draper.

Draper teaches percussion instruments at the University of Kansas and UMKC. He is also percussion director at Shawnee Mission West High School and music director at Kansas City Academy.

The program is appropriate for all ages.

Poetry duo Ezhno Martin and Jeanette Powers headline an evening of al fresco art and musical entertainment on the Central Library’s Rooftop Terrace as part of rises Zora, a multi-venue visual and performance arts project.

The Library event includes experimental acts by Kansas City-based composers, musicians, and sound artists.

rises Zora is sponsored by the Charlotte Street Foundation and organized by its curator-in-residence, Jamilee Polson Lacy.

Library Director Crosby Kemper III conducts a public conversation with Roshann Parris, president and CEO of the award-winning public relations firm Parris Communications Inc.

From Anne Hutchinson, whose doctrinal disputes with the Puritan clergy led to her expulsion from colonial Massachusetts, to Rosa Parks, who became a Civil Rights icon by refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus, women have helped shape the American experience.