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The Kansas City Museum has a small but mighty staff consisting of seven full-time and five part-time employees. As the Museum strategically expands its hours of operations and offerings over time, it will increase its staff with a goal of creating a model workforce development program for youth with paid internships and jobs. Often, workforce development programs for youth are focused on employment in corporations and the for-profit sector. However, the Kansas City Museum aims to engage youth, ages 16 – 21, in both real-life learning opportunities and viable career pathways specifically in the museum field—both nonprofit and public sector—and arts and culture in general.

While the museum field has made great strides in creating more inclusive and equitable institutions, it continues to struggle with a deeply ingrained history of exclusivity and is slow to hire racially and ethnically diverse staff in leadership positions (especially at larger institutions). The Kansas City Museum believes that the only way to create systemic and sustained change in the museum field is by developing relevant and meaningful internships and employment for youth.

The Kansas City Museum is interested in how it can support generational leadership, ensuring that future museum leaders come from a variety of disciplines, experiences, and perspectives. To that end, the Kansas City Museum is interested in collaborating with organizations in Kansas City to create a replicable workforce development program that invests in mentorship and fosters competencies and capacities in numerous roles in the museum field including operations, education, interpretation, retail, community engagement, and more. If you are already invested in workforce development for youth and would like to connect, email Deputy Director Chiluba Musonda at cmusonda@kansascitymuseum.org.

The Kansas City Museum is located at 3218 Gladstone Blvd., Kansas City, Missouri, 64123.

Hours are: Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.; Friday and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; and Sunday from Noon to 5:00 p.m. General admission is free.

For more information about the Kansas City Museum, visit kansascitymuseum.org.