Be a Champion for the Future of Arts, Culture, and Community in Lawrence, Kansas

Help launch the first year of our new five-year annual giving campaign.

At a time when so much of life feels increasingly divided, artificial, and disconnected, we believe local art and shared public spaces matter more than ever.

We can push back against disconnection by investing in the people, places, and creative experiences that bring us together—in our own community, with real artists, real music, real food, and real human connection.

Great Plains Emerging Arts Project is a Lawrence-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit working to build a more creative, welcoming, and connected future through two closely connected efforts:

The annual Great Plains Art, Food & Maker Festival

and

The Lawrence, Kansas Civic Amphitheater Project at Sesquicentennial Point Park

These are not separate dreams. They are two parts of one larger mission.

The festival brings the vision to life now. The amphitheater project works toward creating a permanent civic gathering place for generations to come.

We Are Launching the Next Five Years

Great Plains Emerging Arts Project has officially launched a new five-year annual giving campaign to strengthen the festival, expand our year-round work, and keep the civic amphitheater vision active, organized, visible, and moving forward.

The people who contribute now will be the early champions who help establish the foundation for everything that follows.

This is the moment to get involved.

Your support today helps give our organization the stability, momentum, and community backing needed to continue this work—not only for one festival or one season, but throughout the next five years.

Bringing People Together Through the Arts

For five years, the Great Plains Art, Food & Maker Festival has brought artists, makers, musicians, food entrepreneurs, families, and community members together at one of the most beautiful public spaces in Lawrence.

The festival offers something increasingly rare: a day when people can step away from screens and routines, experience original creativity, hear live music, support independent businesses, enjoy the outdoors, and connect with one another face to face.

What began as a local festival has grown into something larger.

Each year, the festival demonstrates what Sesquicentennial Point Park can become—a vibrant destination for art, music, culture, celebration, and community life.

Building Toward a Great Civic Gathering Place

We believe Lawrence deserves a beautiful outdoor venue capable of hosting:

Local and regional musicians
Arts and cultural festivals
School performances and graduations
Symphony, theater, and dance
Community celebrations
Nonprofit events and fundraisers
Civic ceremonies and gatherings
Memorable experiences for future generations

The Lawrence, Kansas Civic Amphitheater Project has been included in the City of Lawrence’s recommended Capital Improvement Plan process. The next phase is focused on feasibility, planning, design, public engagement, and building the public and private support necessary to determine how this vision can become a reality.

This is an important step—but it is only a beginning.

A civic project of this scale requires years of consistent advocacy, organization, fundraising, relationship-building, and community support. Great Plains Emerging Arts Project is committed to helping sustain that effort.

This Is About More Than Building a Stage

It is about creating a place where people can gather.

A place where a young musician can perform before a hometown audience.

A place where local artists and independent businesses can be discovered.

A place where families can attend an affordable festival together.

A place where our community can celebrate, remember, create, and feel connected to something larger than ourselves.

Great public places do not appear by accident. They are created because people believe in them early—and choose to help.

Your Donation Helps Us

Produce the annual Great Plains Art, Food & Maker Festival
Keep festival admission affordable for families
Support artists, makers, musicians, and creative small businesses
Build awareness and public support for the civic amphitheater vision
Continue planning, fundraising, advocacy, and community outreach
Develop more year-round arts programming and artist features
Strengthen the nonprofit organization behind both initiatives
Build the momentum needed to carry this work through the next five years

Become an Early Champion

You do not have to make a massive contribution to make a meaningful difference.

A gift of $10, $25, $50, $100, or more helps build the foundation beneath this work.

Your contribution tells artists that their creativity matters.

It tells local makers and musicians that our community wants them here.

It tells civic leaders that Lawrence believes in inspiring public spaces.

And it helps ensure that this vision continues moving forward during the years when early support matters most.

Please Donate Today

Do not wait until the amphitheater is built or the vision feels inevitable.

The people who step forward now are the people who help make it possible.

Join us as an early champion of the Great Plains Emerging Arts Project and help launch the next five years of art, culture, creativity, and community connection in Lawrence, Kansas.

Together, we can support what is real, local, human, and worth building.

Donate today and help create the future.

Become an Early Champion