The Museum of Kansas City is planning an exciting year ahead, including: new major exhibitions, new media interactives; World Cup activities celebrating Kansas City as a host city; and monthly public and educational programs for ongoing engagement with our community.
Recently, we announced these two exhibitions coming in March 2026:
- Homeland: The Osage in Missouri
- Voices Now: Contemporary Native American Art
In celebration of the United States’ 250th anniversary and in anticipation of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, The Museum of Kansas City will present two exhibitions that honor Indigenous history, cultural heritage, and art from Missouri and the surrounding region.
Homeland: The Osage in Missouri
Opening: March 21, 2026
The Missouri Humanities Council (MHC) has awarded a $25,000 grant to The Museum of Kansas City to support Homeland: The Osage in Missouri. The MHC is the only statewide agency in Missouri devoted exclusively to humanities education for citizens of all ages. It has served as a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities since 1971.
Curated by Jimmy Lee Beason II, a citizen of the Osage Nation and professor at Haskell Indian Nations University, Homeland: The Osage in Missouri explores the Osage Nation’s deep-rooted history and heritage in Missouri. Featuring materials from the Museum’s collection—including textiles, regalia, and art—and items loaned to the Museum, this exhibition centers the Osage culture and worldview while exploring how the Osage were affected by and adapted to European settlement and industrialization.
Homeland offers a vital lens through which visitors may deepen their understanding of the contributions and cultural continuity of Osage people.
Voices Now: Contemporary Native American Art
Opening: March 21, 2026
Kansas City’s Jedel Family Foundation has awarded a $100,000 grant to The Museum of Kansas City to present Voices Now. Established by well-known art collector and businessman, Harrison Jedel, the Foundation supports a wide range of educational, medical, and arts organizations in the Kansas City area and beyond.
Co-curated by Dr. Jami Powell, citizen of the Osage Nation and Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs at the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, and Bruce Hartman, independent curator and retired Founding Executive Director & Chief Curator of The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Voices Now: Contemporary Native American Art spotlights contemporary Native American artists with roots in the Kansas City region. While centered on artists from the Osage Nation (Wahzhazhe), the exhibition may also include work from artists of the Kanza (Kaw), Nutachi (Missouria), Jiwere (Otoe), Wandat (Wyandotte), Ponca, and Shawnee nations.
Featuring a dynamic array of artistic forms—including textiles, beadwork, ribbon work, painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography, jewelry, and video—Voices Now explores themes of kinship, identity, removal, erasure, memory, resilience, and self-representation. This groundbreaking exhibition marks the first contemporary Native art showcase of its kind in Kansas City, celebrating the living history, voices, and visions of Indigenous communities throughout the region.
Both exhibitions serve as cornerstone events in The Museum of Kansas City’s 2026 commemorative programming, offering visitors the opportunity to engage with America’s complex, layered histories through Indigenous storytelling, tradition, and artistic innovation.
Norman Akers, “Staying Afloat” (2025), oil on canvas, 50 x 46.” This work will be included in
Voices Now: Contemporary Native American Art.