The Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art

Founded in 1991, as a stand-alone, 501c3 non-profit, the purpose of the Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art (KCJMCA) is to provide innovative art exhibitions and related programming that engage seniors and diverse audiences from all segments of the community to enrich lives and celebrate our common humanity through art. KCJMCA achieves this mission through a cooperative partnership with Village Shalom, which houses KCJMCA’s Epsten Gallery exhibition program. Additionally, KCJM is affiliated with museums throughout the United States and Canada through its membership in the National Council of American Jewish Museums (CAJM) under the auspices of the National Foundation of Jewish Culture. Through this relationship, KCJM establishes an ever-expanding sphere of awareness with other venues by facilitating participation in its Museum Without Walls outreach program to share cultural, educational and exhibition resources.

The Epsten Gallery represents a strategic partnership between KCJMCA and the Village Shalom continuum-care campus that dates to May 2000, when KCJMCA launched this gallery concurrent with the opening of Village Shalom in Overland Park, KS. Located near the Missouri-Kansas state line, the Epsten Gallery draws more than 7,200 local, regional and national visitors, annually, and both Village Shalom residents and the community-at-large enjoy it's museum-quality exhibitions and social and educational programs. KCJMCA is for everyone, and the Epsten Gallery’s focus encompasses traditional and contemporary art and a strong commitment to intergenerational and multicultural learning and enrichment.

The Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art is also affiliated with the National Foundation for Jewish Culture as a longstanding member of the Council of American Jewish Museums, an international association of similar cultural institutions through which KCJMCA creates and maintains additional partnerships. Within this local-to-global network, KCJMCA has established an ever-expanding sphere of awareness for its programs and access to its Museum Without Walls outreach program. Established by KCJMCA in 1991, the Museum Without Walls program fosters collaborative partnerships with other local, regional, national and international venues to share cultural, intellectual and collection resources and to develop site-specific and traveling exhibitions, programs and cultural events of original and thematic content.