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Category Archives: Art
Join Bourbon County Community Theatre And Have Fun at the 3rd Annual Adult Prom
Do you have an interest in portraying characters and using vocal expression in imaginary circumstances with others…also known as acting?
Consider the Bourbon County Community Theatre as an outlet.
“BCCT membership is open to anyone who is interested,” Angie Bin, publicity chairman for the group, said. “Anyone 18 and over can become a member by completing the form at https://forms.gle/
“The board plans all of the upcoming productions, events, and fundraisers; reports on all income and payments for the month; and analyzes past events,” she said.
There is an upcoming fundraiser on February 21: Adult Prom.
Melodrama auditions are April 27 and 28, and performances are June 5 and 6, a community musical with auditions in June and a performance in August, and the Voices from the Grave Tour on Oct. 24.
On October 24, the group will lead the Voice from the Grave Tour.
Bourbon County Community Theatre in Fort Scott hosts Mardi Gras Masquerade, an Adult Prom, as a fundraiser for future events and performances.
About Adult Prom
BCCT formed in 2023 and is holding its third annual prom for adults (age 18 and over), a night of fun, dancing, and community support, according to a press release.
This formal dance is from 8 p.m. to midnight on Feb. 21, 2026 on the upper floor of Sharky’s Pub and Grub, 16 N. National in Fort Scott. In addition to dancing to a live DJ, there will be non-alcoholic drinks and snacks included in the ticket price, as well as alcoholic beverages and meals available for purchase from the bar.
They hope to add to the fun (and success) of the night with some lighthearted music dueling. Attendees can pay $1.00 to request and/or dedicate a song, $5.00 to request a song NOT be played for an hour, or $10.00 for a song to be banned for the night.
Tickets can be purchased ahead of time at bcct.ludus.com or at the door on Feb. 21. Tickets are $40 per couple or $25 for a single ticket. Participants are encouraged to dress in their best formal or masquerade attire.
BCCT is accepting members. If you’d like to be a part of bringing community theatre back to Bourbon County, visit the Bourbon County Community Theatre Facebook page and complete the form to become a new member.
Currently, the group is made up of:
President: Matthew Wells
Vice President: Mark Bergmann
Secretary: Abby Starkey
Treasurer: Danette Popp
Publicity: Angie Bin
Production Coordinator: Katie Wells
At-large members: Eric Popp, Ben Self, Regen Wells
Call for Entries – Bourbon County Arts Council Fine Art Exhibit – 2026
The Bourbon County Arts Council announces its Call for Entries for the 34th Annual Fine Arts Competition and Exhibit, to be held at the Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center on the campus of Fort Scott Community College, Thursday, March 5th, through Saturday, March 14th.
The mixed media competition is open to artists of age 16 and older. Categories include Ceramics, Drawing and Graphics (Pencil, Pen, Ink), Fiber Art, Glasswork, Jewelry, Mixed Media, Painting (Oil & Acrylic), Pastel, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, and Watercolor.
A “Theme” category has been added; the theme this year is “Life Inspiring”. An artist may create a piece in any of the above media categories, as it relates to the theme.
Entry fees are $10.00 per piece for Bourbon County Arts Council members and $20.00 per piece for non-members.
PLEASE NOTE: In the past, artists were permitted to enter a total of five pieces, with 3 pieces allowed in any one category.
Due to space limitations and the growth of this exhibit, artists now may submit a total of FOUR pieces, with 3 of those allowed in a single category. Entry deadline and payment are due by February 27th, 2025.
Cash awards totaling greater than $3500.00 will be made, for Best of Show in 2D and 3D, First and Second Place winners in each category, and a Popular Vote winner.
Entry forms may be requested by contacting Deb Anderson at 620-224-8650 or [email protected], or Deb Halsey at 620-224-0684 or [email protected] .
PLEASE NOTE: We are no longer accepting pieces shipped to BCAC for entry into the exhibit.
The schedule for this year’s Exhibit is as follows: Entry forms and payment, as stated above, are due by February 27th.
No late entries will be accepted. Artwork will be received at the Ellis Fine Arts Center on Sunday March 1st, between 1 and 4 pm. Juror critique of the artwork will occur on Wednesday March 4th; this is closed to artists and the public
. Artists are invited to attend the Chamber Coffee hosted by the BCAC on Thursday March 5th at 8:00 am at the Ellis Cente.
A reception will be held that evening from 6:00-8:00pm for participating artists and the Juror; this reception is open to the public as well.
The Exhibit will be open for public viewing on Thursday March 5th and Friday March 6th, as well as Monday March 9th-Friday March 13th from noon until 7:00pm. It will also be open Saturdays March 7th and March 14th, from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm.
Artists may pick up their work on Saturday March 14th between 1:30 and 3:30pm. The Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center is located at 2108 Horton St., Fort Scott, Kansas.
Storytelling through Art Session: Access to Lesson Plans
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FSHS Thespians Present a Children’s Production of A Christmas Carol
The Fort Scott High School Thespians present A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, adapted by Kathryn Schultz Miller.
Performances are Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 13 at 2 and 7 p.m. at the Fort Scott High School Auditorium, 1005 S. Main, Fort Scott. Doors open 30 minutes prior to showtime.
The production involves 45 children in 1st through 8th grades. The role of Ebenezer Scrooge is portrayed by 8th grader Xavier Jeffrey. Other featured roles include Charles Dickens played by 7th grader Dylan Williams, Spirit of Christmas Past played by 7th grader Elsie Fields, and Spirit of Christmas Present portrayed by 8th grade student Claire Bower.
A Christmas Carol is produced by FSHS Theatre Director Angie Bin with direction and design by the FSHS Thespians. Senior Levi Fairchild serves as Director, Assistant Director is senior Chris Newman, and Music Director is senior Junie Fisher.
All tickets are reserved seating and are $5. Tickets can be purchased at fortscotthighschool.ludus.com or at the door, but seating is limited.
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Story Telling Through Art: December 10
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Downtown: New Signs Bring Color
A new sign brings life to the wall next to Sunshine Boutique in downtown Fort Scott depicting hometown legend Gordon Parks.
The sign was created by artist Cbabi Bayoc in honor of Parks and presented to the community during the Gordon Parks Celebration in October 2025.
Also new are the seasonal holiday signs installed by the Fort Scott Public Works Department on November 13.
Bourbon County Arts Council – Bad Art by Good People 2025 On November 13
The Bourbon County arts Council would like to invite you to join them in celebrating creativity in our community at this year’s “Bad Art by Good People” Fundraising Event and Auction, this Thursday November 13th, at 7 pm at the Ellis Family Fine Arts Center in Fort Scott.
The first “Bad Art” Event was held in 2013. This year’s auction will be the 7th of its kind, with 19 “artists” participating. Since that first auction, 145 community members have donated their time and creative energy (with a bit of humility) to this project, where individuals are given a canvas and asked to create an original piece of art. The BCAC provides “Mentoring Workshops” with the help of local artists, to provide inspiration and technical advice to those partaking.
This year’s artists include Thyra Babcock, Joshua Baseley, Carissa Bowman, Teresa Davenport, Vance Eden, Reverand Christopher Eshelman, Cassi Farmer, Carson Felt, Yolanda Gray Furman, Reverand Sarah Gengler, Britney Halsey, David McCord, Rita Schroeder, Angie Simon, Summer (Buerge) Timperley, Susan Townley, Kate Williams, Karen Wilterding, and Hunter Witt.
The event will begin at 7:00pm, with viewing and voting for this year’s “Best Bad Artist”. The winner of this award will receive a certificate for $50.00 in Chamber Bucks, which can be spent at any of over 60 local retailers. Auctioneer Marty Read will conduct the sale at 7:30, and hors d’oeuvres will be served.
Bad Art by Good People is one way that the BCAC attempts to fulfill its mission to “foster, promote and increase the knowledge, appreciation and practice of the arts” in our community. The funds raised are used to support local students, by donating annually to “Project Art” at Fort Scott Middle School and providing scholarships to high school seniors in Bourbon County who will be pursuing art related majors in college. This year, the BCAC provided scholarships for the Children’s Camp at the Artificers Gallery and contributed to the Gordon Parks Celebration; they also hosted three Patio Concerts at Crooners and their Membership Drive Concert featuring Barnaby Bright at the Liberty Theater. The BCAC will host its 34th Annual Fine Arts Exhibit, for local and regional artists, from March 5th through the 14th 2026 at the Ellis Family Fine arts Center.
The Bourbon County Arts Council is comprised of the following Board members: Deb Halsey, President, Lucy Gladbach, Vice-President, Terri Floyd, Treasurer, and Steve Floyd, Secretary, as well as former President Deb Anderson, Sheryl Bloomfield, Elaine Buerge, Trent Freeman, Kelly Nelson, Ron Query, and Robin Whitlock.
Again, come out and enjoy an evening of original art, and cast your vote for this year’s “Best Bad Artist”!
Organ Recital Featuring Devon Turner TODAY at 7p.m.
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Bourbon County Community Theatre Presents Annual Voices from the Grave Tour
Oct. 14, 2025
Bourbon County Community Theatre, LLC presents their annual Voices from the Grave Tour in downtown Fort Scott.
Voices from the Grave takes place from 7-9 p.m. on Oct. 25 in downtown Fort Scott, KS. Guests will enjoy a guided walking tour of short acting vignettes centering around stories of murder and mayhem in Fort Scott. Scenes were written by members of the BBCO Community Theatre Board and are based off of stories from local authors.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for students and are available from bcct.ludus.com or from the Chamber of Commerce in Fort Scott. Tour times must be pre-scheduled and tours will meet at the former St. Andrew’s Chapel located at the northeast corner of National and 2nd Street. Tours will travel north to the Fort Scott National Historic Site and return back to the chapel. Parents must accompany children under the age of 14.
New this year, tour participants can purchase spirits along the route of the tour. Businesses providing drinks include Main Street Vintage & Co. at 23 S. Main, Cohn’s Cafe at 110 S. Main, and La Hacienda at 24 N. Main in Fort Scott.
More information can be found on the Bourbon County Community Theatre Facebook page or by contacting Regen Wells at 620-215-3510.
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2025 Gordon Parks Celebration Poetry Contest Winners Named
Fort Scott, Kan. — Winners of the Gordon Parks Museum Poetry Contest sponsored by Helen Townsend and
Trabar Associates, have been selected.
The theme was “What Does Your Heart See?”
A record 41 entries were received. The winner of First Place was Angele Martinez, Nevada. MO, with the poem
titled, “Shot Photo of the Heart”. Second Place was Liam-Warren Acaeron, Chicago, IL with the poem, “The
Stern of You and Me”. And Third Place was Corine Gaston. Tulsa, OK with the poem, “For Evelyn”.
There were four Honorable Mentions named:
Marissa Byers, Indianapolis, IN, with the poem titled ” Searching Seeing” Tracey Seals, Fort Scott, KS, with the poem titled, “What My Heart Sees” Aaliyah Teague, Wichita, KS with the poem titled, “The Middle Child” Raegan Neufeld, Pittsburg, KS with the poem titled, “My Home On the Prairie”
First, Second, and Third place winners received cash prizes of $200, $150, and $100 respectively.
This poetry contest is inspired by a quote from Gordon Parks, “I feel it is the heart, not the eye, that
should determine the content of the photograph. What the eye sees is its own. What the heart can
perceive is a very different matter.”
Poets were invited to capture the essence of the theme.
Judges for the photo contest were Annette Hope-Billings and Poet, Cash Hollistah.
The poetry exhibit will be
on display on the Gordon Parks Museum facebook page facebook.com/fsccgpmuseum/ and the museum’s
website gordonparkscenter.org.
Angele Martinez, Nevada. MO, with the poem
titled, “Shot Photo of the Heart”
SHOT PHOTO OF THE HEART
Click.
Not to own.
To listen.
Listen to what beats.
Silence…
then a burst !
The heart opening :
It’s the camera lens.
To look ?
No. To feel.
Before shape,
Before contour,
Before the world even knows
It exists !
The eye may take
But it is the heart that receives !
Receives what we feel,
Echoing everywhere.
Where ?
Everywhere !
In streets,
In shadows,
In faces.
To catch the ephemeral
Which is only ephemeral in the moment
Because the message itself is powerful !
To capture the world
until it passes through us !
The world,
Not seen
But touched,
Then leaving…
More complex,
More real,
Carrying the moment away.
Liam-Warren Acaeron, Chicago, IL with the poem, “The
Stern of You and Me”
THE STERN OF U & ME
From the bleak of my now, I make a U-
turn, to see what my life of art must have navigated—
like 1996, when I used to palm a K1000,
strapped around my neck, lens dangling over my chest—
my art must have eyed all the better wearer of jeans,
must have zoomed into my guitar case a few feet away
a slice of the strap that held my dad’s yashica,
my art must still see the old crevices where
plaque was once pastries and pepsi, see
the chest that bounded when I heard Dad
is dead.
my art must still see this chest that caved in and out,
late at night, when I walked to the edge of the lake waters,
I can’t swim, I walked on, my body underwater, neck above surface,
until
my feet touched sand no more. Must still see this chest
that was pushed by a mysterious wave, back to the shore, and
I lived
to change my mind about unliving.
Must still see a microcosmically bent chest from a punch
at my homeless shelter, because
I have a lot of torn power, bold or be a bell, just
compressed when I wheezed in winter from a mild pneumonia,
my life of art eyes a stable ribcage from carrying fifty-pound
groceries from pantry to Mom, unmindful
of my spine, tapped of so much burden,
crimson blood to burgundy when it was 92 degrees
of walking miles from my Skokie Village to Howard train station.
Just now, I heart that there were once chiefs who met eagles
just to raid the future for a bow.
Just now, a goose and a car honk before the oncoming traffic
of snowstorm, to oversee this memo
that I am still a hull, for better shots,
between my stern and your meadow.
Corine Gaston,Tulsa, OK with the poem, “For Evelyn”.
For Evelyn
We used to walk and say hello to the trees,
the creeping phlox, the rockpools
She taught me how to hold my thumb
as a perch for the monarchs
Migrating through the pine barrens
and on and on over the tea-colored lake
I see a picture of the park with the chain-link fence
She points: I chased off boys
Throwing their shoes over the powerlines
And the forest is falling through me again.
Then one summer, she lay in hospice
and called out to god, her thin body all pain.
She held my hand tight in her grip
and when she was ready to go, she let go.
The morning light shined on
like it was any other day.
There was moss on the magnolia.
Clouded moonlight lifting its cloth from the tide
It brought me to my knees–my grandmother’s body
without my grandmother.
We buried her in a box and
slid the coffin into a granite wall.
She loved butterflies and dogwoods,
Dipping one hand in the rockpool
Watching the seaplanes through a lens–
Watching a single star bleeding white against blue
As if she said I’ve had enough of this earth.
Let me be reborn with one foot on the sky.
Fremar Foundation Annual Concert Event: Nov. 2 in Leawood
This concert will feature former Fort Scott musicians, composers, and the Fort Scott Chamber Ensemble conducted by Carson Felt and featuring Mayson Lane, as soloist.
The concert will feature the popular group Vivant! a swing/pop/tango mixed ensemble that includes former Fort Scott residents, Julie Gettler Silfverberg, Mayson Lane, and Karen Fremar, as well as five additional KC musicians.
Also featured will be music composed and/or arranged by Fort Scott composers, Ben Clinesmith (son of former Fort Scott Orchestra Director Carl Clinesmith ), organist Gordon Young (son of former Presbyterian minister B. W. Young), and Karen Fremar (daughter of Margie and Fred Fremar, directors of the former Fremar Music Studio in Fort Scott).
The concert is free.
Donations are welcome for our scholarship program, which recognizes and offers scholarship support to outstanding musicians and artists who are graduating from Fort Scott area high schools.