KC Chamber Announces New Small Business Specialty Award for Artists and Creatives

The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce has added a new award to its Small Business Celebration. The Luminary Arts and Creative Small Business Award is a specialty award designed to honor an entrepreneur who has put their artistic talent to work as a small business. The award will be announced at the KC Chamber’s annual Small Business Awards Luncheon in June along with four other specialty small business awards and the Mr. K Award/Small Business of the Year. 

The Luminary Arts and Creative Small Business Award was developed to celebrate the vibrancy and entrepreneurial ambitions in our regional arts and culture sector. The KC Chamber sought guidance from ArtsKC, Regional Art Council, and other key arts and creative businesses and organizations to gain an understanding of how the Chamber’s engagement can best serve for-profit arts and creative businesses in our region– one facet of our growing regional arts sector. This award is open to:

• Artist-founded and/or artist-run businesses that produce original work and products, whose owner maintains individual ownership of their intellectual property.
• An individual artist business with exceptional talent and creativity, in any discipline, whose small business has shown outstanding growth, innovation and artistic influence.
• A KC Chamber member with a profit-seeking business related to fine or creative art who is headquartered in the Kansas City metropolitan area and employs 1-250 people.

In addition to this specialty award, artists and creatives may also review the eligibility criteria and apply for the Mr. K/Small Business of the Year Award. 

The KC Chamber Small Business Celebration has been a business community mainstay for more than 35 years and is recognized as one of the largest Chamber small business celebrations in the United States. The Small Business of the Year receives the coveted Mr. K Award, named for Ewing Kauffman, who was an entrepreneur and philanthropist. To be named Small Business of the Year signifies that a company has shown growth or sustainability of its business with strong employee relations, a record of giving back to the community, and prioritizes diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Applications for the Small Business Celebration opened Tuesday, February 6. Submissions are due by March 20. Those with questions about the Luminary Arts and Creative Small Business Award should contact Vicky Kulikov, Small Business Director, at (816) 374-5458 or kulikov@kcchamber.com.