The Film Commission of Greater Kansas City is pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted for the 2012 Robert Altman Emerging Filmmakers Fund Education Grants

The fund’s inaugural grants will award 10 filmmakers living within 50 miles of the greater Kansas City area. The goal is to give filmmakers the expert business knowledge needed to help turn their craft into a business, turn an existing project into a more fruitful venture or both.

“Much like the imagination of Robert Altman, the potential for these grants is unlimited,” said Justin Gardner, Film Commission board member and founder/director of the Robert Altman Emerging Filmmakers Fund. “Thanks to a generous grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the 10 selected filmmakers will be able to participate in the FastTrac® NewVenture™ program, which will give them knowledge about starting a company that they just don’t teach in film school. We’re excited to help put local artists on a path for creative business success.”

Applicants must have a business or project idea ready to bring to five full-day classes on consecutive Fridays from July 13 to Aug. 10 at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Small Business & Technology Development Center, 4747 Troost Ave., room 114. Grant winners will be notified by July 1.

The Kauffman Foundation grant will cover the $500 program fee for the FastTrac® NewVenture™ program for all 10 grant recipients. (Because of this subsidy, participants are required to attend all sessions, except for illness or emergency.)

To apply, go to KCFilm.com/AltmanGrants. The application fee is $10 and the deadline is 5 p.m. CST, June 1, 2012.

About Robert Altman
Legendary film director Robert Altman (1925-2006) was born in Kansas City, Mo. His distinctive movies, known for their ensemble acting and overlapping dialogue, include “M*A*S*H” (1970), “Nashville” (1975), “The Player” (1991), “Short Cuts” (1993) and “Kansas City” (1996), which he shot in his hometown.

About the Film Commission of Greater Kansas City
The Film Commission of Greater Kansas City supports the work of major and independent film companies and media production teams working on location in the Kansas City region. Visit us online at kcfilm.com.

About the Robert Altman Emerging Filmmakers Fund
With the blessing of the family of Robert Altman, the Film Commission established the Robert Altman Emerging Filmmakers Fund in 2011 to help local filmmakers better realize their cinematic visions and creative business pursuits.

About Kauffman FastTrac®
Kauffman FastTrac® is the leading provider of learning curricula that equip aspiring and existing entrepreneurs with the business skills and insights, tools, resources and network to start and grow successful businesses. Kauffman FastTrac® was created by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the largest foundation in the United States devoted to entrepreneurship. For more information about Kauffman FastTrac®, visit fasttrac.org and follow the organization on twitter.com/fasttrac, facebook.com/kauffmanfasttrac and fasttrac.org/linkedin.

About the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private nonpartisan foundation that works to harness the power of entrepreneurship and innovation to grow economies and improve human welfare. Through its research and other initiatives, the Kauffman Foundation aims to open people’s eyes to the possibility of entrepreneurship, promote entrepreneurship training and education, raise awareness of entrepreneurship-friendly policies and find alternative pathways for the commercialization of new knowledge and technologies. Founded by late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman, the Foundation is based in Kansas City, Mo., and has approximately $2 billion in assets. For more information, visit kauffman.org, and follow the Foundation on twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and facebook.com/kauffmanfdn.

About the UMKC Small Business & Technology Development Center
From concept to capital, the UMKC Small Business & Technology Development Center (SBTDC) provides a comprehensive entrepreneur and small business development program. They provide counseling, training and research for new ventures, existing small businesses and innovative technology companies, including technology counselors to provide more in-depth support and a variety of tools that help clients evaluate the direction of their technology, departmentalize concepts and chart strategic direction. For more information, go to sbtdc.umkc.edu or email at umkcsbtdc@umkc.edu. ###

The Kansas City Power & Light District or Power & Light District is a shopping and entertainment district in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, United States, developed by the Cordish Company of Baltimore, Maryland and designed by 360 Architecture. The district comprises nine blocks on the south side of the downtown loop. It is located between Baltimore Avenue to the west, Grand Boulevard to the east, 12th Street to the north, and Interstate 670 to the south.  The $850 million “mixed-use” district is one of the largest development projects in the Midwestern United States.  The Power & Light District is one of only a few places in the United States where possession and consumption of open containers of alcoholic beverages are allowed on the street, although they remain prohibited on the street throughout the rest of Kansas City.

River Market stretches north of the downtown Interstate 70 loop to the Missouri River, and is bordered by the Broadway Bridge on the west and the Heart of America Bridge on the east. The area encompasses the location in which Kansas City was first founded. The market name comes from its large open air farmers’ market, the southern section of which was the public square in the mid 1800s.

It derives its “Westport Landing” name because it was the dock on the Missouri River for the exchange of goods going to the community of Westport three miles to the south on higher ground that was operated by John Calvin McCoy. McCoy was to lead a group of settlers to created the “Town of Kansas” in the neighborhood in 1850 which in turn became the “City of Kansas” in 1853.

The Quay name was applied to the neighborhood in the 1970s by developer Marion A. Trozzolo to capitalize on the neighborhood’s early French connections as a fur trading post operated by François Chouteau of the powerful Chouteau clan starting in 1821. Trozzolo’s vision was to make this neighborhood a destination for restaurants and bohemian shops. A mob war developed and three establishments burned or were blown up and several mobsters were killed. The war was part of an overall mob war that ultimately resulted in the mob being pushed out of influence of the Las Vegas casinos that was highlighted in the movie Casino.

The Country Club Plaza (often referred to as the Plaza) is an upscale shopping district and residential neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. It was the first shopping center in the world designed to accommodate shoppers arriving by automobile.  The 55 acre (223,000 m²) site is about four miles (6.44 km) south of downtown, between 45th and 51st streets to the north and south and between Broadway and Madison Street to the east and west. The Kansas state line is one mile (1.6 km) to the west. Established in 1923 by J. C. Nichols and designed architecturally after Seville, Spain, the Plaza comprises high-end retail establishments, restaurants, and entertainment venues, as well as offices. The neighborhoods surrounding the Plaza consist of apartment buildings and upscale houses, especially those of the Country Club District built along Ward Parkway on the Plaza’s southern and southwestern side. The Country Club Plaza is named in the Project for Public Spaces’ list 60 of the World’s Great Places.

The World Wildlife Fund has designated the Flint Hills as an ecoregion, distinct from other grasslands of the Great Plains.  Explorer Zebulon Pike first coined the name the Flint Hills in 1806 when he entered into his journal, “passed very ruff flint hills”.

Regions of Kansas and Oklahoma, showing the Flint HillsThe Flint Hills were created approximately 250 million years ago during the Permian Period. During this time much of the Midwest, including Kansas and Oklahoma, were covered with shallow seas. As a result, much of the Flint Hills are composed of limestone and shale with plentiful fossils of prehistoric sea creatures. The most notable layer of chert-bearing limestone is the Florence Limestone Member. It is approximately 45 feet thick; numerous roadcuts of the Florence Member are prominent along Interstate 70 in Riley County, Kansas. Many of the honey-colored limestones have been used for building blocks. The non-chert-bearing limetones are best for this, since the chert is extremely hard to cut, yet it can fracture quite easily.

Beginning in the mid-1800s homesteaders replaced the American Indian in the Flint Hills. Due to shallow outcroppings of limestone and chert, farming was not practical over much of the area, and cattle ranching became the main agricultural activity in the region. Still sparsely developed, the Flint Hills represent the last expanse of tallgrass prairie in the nation. There are four tallgrass prairie preserves in the Flint Hills, the largest of which, the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, near Pawhuska, Oklahoma, also boasts the largest population of bison in Oklahoma. The other preserves, all located in Kansas, are the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Flint Hills Tallgrass Prairie Preserve and the Konza Prairie Biological Research Station.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Elmwood Cemetery is rich in history through the stories of the lives of many of Kansas City’s early founders. A large number of them helped shaped what Kansas City has become today. Many had great impact nationally.

Elmwood is the final resting place for twelve former Kansas City mayors, over 2,000 veterans (including 800 from the Civil War), and scores of civic and business leaders.

Elmwood is also the final resting place for over 36,000 souls whose stories have, before now, been remembered only by their families and close friends.

Additionally, the cemetery was recently featured in the film Last Will and shots of it can be found in the trailer at the movie’s website

Here are some photos of this gorgeous, historic location:

For more information, please visit the Elmwood Cemetery Society’s website.

Sprint Center is a large, multi-use indoor arena in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. [1] The building is located at 14th Street and Grand Boulevard, on the east side of the Power & Light District. The arena’s naming rights partner is the telecommunications company Sprint, whose world headquarters is in nearby Overland Park, Kansas.

The Crossroads Arts District is an historic neighborhood near downtown Kansas City, Missouri, USA, centered at approximately 19th Street and Baltimore Avenue, between Downtown’s Central Business District and Crown Center. It is the city’s main art gallery district and center for the visual arts. Dozens of galleries are located in its renovated warehouses and industrial buildings. It is also home to numerous restaurants (including one operated by Lidia Bastianich), housewares shops, architects, designers, and other visual artists. As well, the district has several live music venues.

Numerous buildings in the neighborhood are on the National Register of Historic Places including the TWA Corporate Headquarters’ Building and the Western Auto Building.

Art galleries generally open new shows on the first Friday of each month from 6 to 9 pm. This has become one of the region’s most popular regular events as thousands of people flock to the Crossroads for gallery “open houses” amidst the Crossroads’s unique atmosphere.

There are over 60 galleries in the Crossroad’s district, making it one of the five largest arts districts in the US.

Kansas City, Missouri, is often abbreviated as “KCMO”, or simply “KC” (both abbreviations often refer to the metro area). It is officially nicknamed the City of Fountains. With over 200 fountains, the city claims to have the second most in the world, just behind Rome.