Kansas City Art Institute

Who are the people you serve with your mission?

Ethnicities represented within KCAI’s student body are as follows: White/Non-Hispanic 62%; Hispanic/Latino 15%; Black 7%; Two or More Races 7%; Asian or Pacific Islander 5%; Not Reported/Unknown 2%; Resident Alien 2%; American Indian or Alaskan Native <1%. Approximately 23% of KCAI students are male, and 77% are female. On average, over 98% of KCAI students have high financial need, and 42% are Pell Grant eligible. The Artspace and KCAI Gallery track the number of visiting artists at various career levels exhibiting in the respective spaces. In FY 21, there were 598 student and early-career artists; 17 mid-career artists; and 338 established artists brought to the KCAI campus for the benefit of the entire community.

How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups

What significant change resulted from feedback?

KCAI formally surveys its alumni and students. The feedback is used to develop new programs. Recent alumni feedback indicated there was a high degree of interest for students to graduate with more business acumen. As a result, in FY 19, KCAI developed and launched two new academic programs – a major in Product Design and a minor in Entrepreneurial Studies in Art and Design. Students recently shared concerns with KCAI administration. The students advocated for increased diversity, social justice, and equity in KCAI’s programs, curriculum, policies, and procedures. KCAI formed an advisory council tasked making actionable recommendations to the senior leadership and board. The students’ concerns were met with a written plan for immediate changes, and changes that will occur over time.

Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback

What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection