The Kansas City Art Institute is one of the oldest and most respected art schools in the United States, founded in 1885. Its alumni roster includes filmmaker Robert Altman, illustrators who shaped American visual culture, and generations of designers who went to work for nearby Hallmark Cards. The campus is in the Midtown arts district, adjacent to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
The institute maintains a gallery open to the public with rotating exhibitions of student and faculty work. The campus buildings include some fine examples of arts-and-crafts architecture. The proximity to the Nelson-Atkins means a visit to one flows naturally into a visit to the other. For visitors interested in American art education and its relationship to commercial culture — particularly the Hallmark connection — the KCAI is a meaningful stop.