Signature Event Archive

Search the Signature Event Archive to discover past Library events. Watch videos, hear speaker interviews, and listen to audio recordings of previous presentations. Search by keyword (event title, subject, or presenter name), location or by date range.
Signature Event Video Video Signature Event Audio Audio
E.g., 2023/06/09
E.g., 2023/06/09

Restrengthening Democracy

Valerie Lemmie
Valerie Lemmie, director of exploratory research for the Kettering Foundation in Dayton, Ohio, discusses today’s national and local threats to democracy and offers strategies for tackling them: ways a community can hold onto what it values, how to be better citizens, and creating and building trust.
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image of Valerie Lemmie
Thursday, June 8, 2023 - 6:00pm
Reception: 
5:30pm
Plaza Branch
In Person Event
Online Event

Turning Point at Vicksburg: Lessons Learned in the Pursuit of Victory

Angela M. Riotto
Turning Points
Military historian and Civil War authority Angela M. Riotto looks back on the pivotal Union victory at Vicksburg in 1863 – finally achieved after several failed attempts by Ulysses S. Grant and his troops – and the important lessons it brought. Her presentation is part of the Library’s Turning Points series in partnership with the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.
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Tuesday, June 6, 2023 - 6:00pm
Plaza Branch
In Person Event
Online Event

A Rabid Sense of Hope: From the Artists’ Perspective

Amy Cousins, Ruben Castillo

Philadelphia artist Amy Cousins and Kansas City educator and printmaker Ruben Castillo talk to the Library's Anne Kniggendorf about their work and their collaboration on the Kansas City Public Library exhibition All Modes are Open to Us, which is on display in the Central Library’s Guldner Gallery through August 12, 2023.

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A Rabid Sense of Hope
Saturday, June 3, 2023 - 6:00pm
Reception: 
5:30pm
Central Library
In Person Event

This Is Why We Quilt: Stitching Along the Rivers West

Barbara Brackman
Barbara Brackman – quilter, quilting historian, and author – examines quilt making in Missouri with a Kentucky connection and 19th-century African American quilts stitched in Kentucky and Tennessee. She then joins the Library’s Anne Kniggendorf in a conversation about the historic and modern significance of quilting. 
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blue and quilted background with text This is Why We Quilt Stitching Along the Rivers West
Tuesday, May 23, 2023 - 6:00pm
Reception: 
5:30pm
Plaza Branch
In Person Event
Event Audio

Walking with Sam: A Father, a Son, and Five Hundred Miles Across Spain

Andrew McCarthy

Andrew McCarthy may be best known for his membership in Hollywood’s Brat Pack and roles in classic films including St. Elmo's Fire, Pretty in Pink, and Weekend at Bernie’s. Also a writer and author, he discusses his latest book, Walking with Sam: A Father, a Son, and Five Hundred Miles Across Spain, recounting a five-week, relationship-altering pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago with his young adult son Sam.  

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AT CAPACITY marker placed over banner of father and son
Monday, May 22, 2023 - 6:00pm
Plaza Branch
In Person Event
Online Event
Event at Capacity
Event Videos

The Spirit of the West Bottoms

Alex Lindsey
Missouri Valley Sundays

West Bottoms Whiskey Co. founder Alex Lindsey examines a captivating element in the rich history of Kansas City’s West Bottoms: the distillation, distribution, and consumption of liquor. A master distiller, he discusses the pre-Prohibition era that influences and inspires his own whiskey making. 

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Missouri Valley Sundays The Spirits of the West Bottoms - whiskey barrels in the background
Sunday, May 21, 2023 - 2:00pm
Central Library
In Person Event
Online Event
Event Videos

IDEAL Entrepreneurship

Jackie Nguyen

Jackie Nguyen, founder of Café Cà Phê, highlights the second installment of the Library’s four-part series on how to make entrepreneurship in Kansas City more inclusive, diverse, equitable, accessible, and liberating – more IDEAL for all. 

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dark blue background with image of Jackie Nguyen title reads: IDEAL Entrepreneurship
Thursday, May 18, 2023 - 6:00pm
Reception: 
5:30pm
Central Library
In Person Event
Online Event
Event Videos

Free-Form Collage Workshop

Craig Auge
Drop in anytime between 1 and 3 p.m. at the Rocky and Gabriella Mountain Gallery for a collage workshop overseen by artist and Library Exhibits Specialist Craig Auge. Take inspiration from 94 works on the walls around you, part of the National Collage Society’s annual Small-Format Exhibition. The workshop is open to both beginning and experienced artists of any age. All materials are provided. 
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Free Form Collage Workshop title that looks cut and paste from a magazine in collage style
Saturday, May 13, 2023 - 1:00pm
Central Library
In Person Event

Adventures in Journalism: Reports from a Field

Jay Nordlinger

Jay Nordlinger has gained a reputation for open-mindedness in writing about politics, foreign affairs, and the arts, among other subjects, for National Review. He takes stock of journalism today, examining the roles of reporters, columnists, and editors and the practice of straight vs. opinion journalism. What’s good and bad? And how does one navigate this media environment? 

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photo of Jau Nordlinger with title Adventures in Journalism
Wednesday, May 10, 2023 - 6:00pm
Reception: 
5:30pm
Central Library
In Person Event
Event Audio

Xi Jinping and Taiwan: Where Is China Headed, and Why?

Geoff Babb, John Modinger, David C. McCaughrin
Conflict and Crisis

In the latest installment of the Library’s Conflict and Crisis series, a panel of military historians and experts from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College examines the biggest and most dangerous concern in Sino-American relations today: Taiwan and the threat of forced reunification with its neighboring giant, China. 

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Chinese, American and Taiwan flags
Tuesday, May 9, 2023 - 6:00pm
Central Library
In Person Event
Online Event
Event Videos

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