New Ambassador Celebrates a Legacy of Remembering

Date: March 25, 2009

Author: Kauffman Center

Mary Beth Hershey has at least three great reasons to be passionate about the Kauffman Center.  And it doesn’t take much to get this new Ambassador started on the subject.

“I’m already a walking, talking commercial for the Kauffman Center,” Mary Beth laughs, admitting that she often brings up this topic at cocktail and dinner parties.   “I’m just making it official by joining the Ambassadors.”

Not only has she trained to be a member of the Speakers Bureau, but she’s organizing spring luncheons to get her friends onboard as well. 

“Downtown Kansas City should not be a foreign object to people,” says new Ambassador Mary Beth Hershey, who lives in south Johnson County.  And Mary Beth doesn’t just make bold statements like this.  She puts her energy behind her passion for the Ballet—and the Kauffman Center.

This spring she plans to host several luncheons at Webster House, where guests get one of the best  views possible of the Kauffman Center construction site.  “I hope to take them on a Hard Hat Tour, too.  When you get inside you can truly envision what it’s going to be like.  You can almost feel the magic starting up,” Mary Beth says.

Plus, Mary Beth and her husband Hank are contributing to the Kauffman Center’s operating endowment by donating a seat within one of the halls.    What’s behind her multi-faceted advocacy?

First, there’s her own family’s long involvement in dance, theater and music.   Mary Beth danced many seasons at Shawnee Mission’s Theater in the Park.  She’s been involved in the Kansas City Ballet Guild, chairing both the Sugar Plum Fairy Luncheon and the Ballet Ball.

When her three children came along, Mary Beth was intentional about exposing them to a variety of art forms.  Her oldest son became involved in theater, while her younger son and daughter played viola, piano and cello in school.  “The Kauffman Center will give students and their teachers an amazing new way to learn about the arts in Kansas City,” Mary Beth says. 

Mary Beth says that a turning point in her interest and involvement in the Kauffman Center came during the groundbreaking activities in the Crossroads District in October, 2006.  As she and her husband watched their daughter play cello with the KC Youth Symphony they realized that Yasu Toyota, the Kauffman Center’s acoustician, was standing right next to them.  “We struck up quite a conversation.  When he shared some great comparisons about the Kauffman Center and other halls around the world, I realized that Kansas City was about to change forever.”

Another attraction to the Kauffman Center comes through her father’s work as an architect.  On any vacation trip to a new city, Mary Beth says, he would take the family to see architecturally significant buildings and discuss them with her and her three siblings. 

“Because of this I know how important the structure itself will be for Kansas City.  People will visit just to see the building, created by our really top-notch design team,” Hershey shares.  “I want my friends and neighbors to get involved now, so they can be as excited as I am.”

Going back even further, Mary Beth remembers her grandmother’s close friendship with Muriel McBrien Kauffman.  “Muriel and my grandmother, Beth Hites, were ‘gal pals.’  That’s another great connection for me,”   Mary Beth shares. 

As a result of all this, Mary Beth refers to her Kauffman Center contributions as “a legacy of remembering.”

For more on the Kauffman Center Ambassadors:
    - Read several Ambassador Stories 
    - Meet President Lisa Hickok 
   - Join the Ambassadors