Connect2Culture

10/19/2026

Hear poetry from local poets in downtown Joplin tonight! Head to Joplin Avenue Coffee Company, grab a drink, and listen to featured readers Emma Blackburn and Robert L. Stephens during Downtown Poetry’s Poetry Reading and Open Mic.

10/19/2026

Mark your calendars and don’t miss the final First Friday event with VSM Joplin!

Join us for November: Our *Final* First Friday, on November 6th!

Yes, you read that right, it will be our final First Friday event for the foreseeable future, and we would be honored to see you there! 💛

If you've ever thought "Hey I want to go to that First Friday thing with live jazz and swing dancing!" and haven't been able to join us yet, you have ONE MORE CHANCE. ⚡

Mark your calendars, invite your favorite people, grab your tickets, and we'll see you there!

Hosted at: Joplin Avenue Coffee Company
Featured band: Jomo Jazz 🎶

All event details on our event page, linked at the top of this post. 👆🏼

10/18/2026

Get to know the artists performing in Owen/Cox Dance Group’s “Collective: Our Stories of Cancer” this Sunday, October 18th!

Neal D. Long is a versatile singer, pianist, educator, and arts administrator based in Kansas City.

Praised for his “spectacularly clear” tenor voice, Neal’s operatic and concert repertoire spans baroque to contemporary works. Favorite roles include Bénédict (“Béatrice et Bénédict”), Candide, and Lysander (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”). Passionate about new music, he premiered Hamm in Dale Ramsey’s “Mother Noah” and recorded the title role in Frank Nawrot’s “Don Henry.”

As a conductor and music director, Neal led Owen/Cox Dance Group’s 2023 production of Stacy Busch’s “She Breathes Fire” and co music-directed its 2024 workshop in New York City. He also guided the 2024 creation of three micro-operas for a fellowship with No Divide KC and Lyric Opera of Kansas City.

In his full-time role as Director of Learning at Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Neal carries out the organization’s mission of education and community engagement. Recent highlights of his work include commissioning and producing three operas for families—"Sketchbook for Ollie,” “The Haberdasher Prince,” and “Maya and the Magic Ring.” Neal was recognized by Gramophone for, “An upsurge in new initiatives, not least for families and children, integrating this conventionally ‘grown-up’ art form into the wider and younger communities in the area in engaging and even unexpected ways.”

A dedicated educator, Neal has taught at The University of Kansas and Missouri Western State University. He holds degrees from the University of Nevada, Reno (BM, piano) and The University of Kansas (MM, DMA, voice). He enjoys adventures with his husband, Steven.

Get tickets for this Connect2Culture show at connect2culture.org or (417) 621-9824. You can also buy tickets at our box office inside the Cornell Complex (Tue-Sat, 1-5pm).

10/18/2026

Today! Connect2Culture is thrilled to present Owen/Cox Dance Group’s “Collective: Our Stories of Cancer.” This moving performance explores the experiences of cancer patients, caregivers, and loved one through expressive choreography, original music, and powerful storytelling.

Get tickets at connect2culture.org or (417) 621-9824. You can also buy tickets at our box office inside the Cornell Complex (Tue-Sat, 1-5pm).

This Sunday, join Connect2Culture and Owen/Cox Dance Group for “Collective: Our Stories of Cancer,” which explores cancer experiences through dance, music, and spoken word.

Get tickets at connect2culture.org or (417) 621-9824. You can also buy tickets at our box office inside the Cornell Complex (Tue-Sat, 1-5pm).

10/17/2026

Get to know the artists performing in Owen/Cox Dance Group’s “Collective: Our Stories of Cancer” this Sunday, October 18th!

Emily Mushinski grew up in the Kansas City area and received training at American Dance Center under the instruction of Kristopher Estes-Brown and Jennifer Tierney. She graduated with her BFA in Dance from SUNY Purchase College in 2017. After graduating, Emily returned to Kansas City where she danced with Owen/Cox, performed as a freelance artist, and taught dance and yoga. Emily has had opportunities to train and perform nationally and internationally. She lived in Budapest, Hungary for a year in 2018 and worked with Budapest Dance Theater. In 2023, Emily received her Master's in Social Work from the University of Kansas, and she is currently a licensed social worker. She is thrilled to be back dancing with Owen/Cox.

Get tickets for this Connect2Culture show at connect2culture.org or (417) 621-9824. You can also buy tickets at our box office inside the Cornell Complex (Tue-Sat, 1-5pm).

10/17/2026

Get to know the artists behind Owen/Cox Dance Group’s “Collective: Our Stories of Cancer” this Sunday, October 18th!

Jennifer Owen is the Executive/Artistic Director of Owen/Cox Dance Group, an ensemble she co-founded with composer Brad Cox in 2007. She has choreographed over sixty new works for Owen/Cox Dance Group, including two commissions by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and works commissioned by Island Moving Co. of Newport, RI, Kansas City Dance Festival, Kansas City Baroque Consortium, and Kansas City Chamber Orchestra. She has also created nine new works for Kansas City Ballet's “In the Wings” choreographic workshop, and a winning entry for the 2006 Columbus Choreography Project. Owen is the recipient of a 2000 Princess Grace Honorarium.

Prior to founding Owen/Cox Dance Group, Owen enjoyed a 13-year international ballet career. After training with Pacific Northwest Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet School, School of American Ballet, and the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, she went on to dance with the Russian State Ballet, Moscow Renaissance Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet, BalletMet, and was a guest artist with the National Ballet of Turkmenistan. She has performed principal roles in Giselle, Don Quixote, George Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Serenade, and Donizetti Variations, and the central pas de deux in Todd Bolender's Arena.

Get tickets for this Connect2Culture show at connect2culture.org or (417) 621-9824. You can also buy tickets at our box office inside the Cornell Complex (Tue-Sat, 1-5pm).

10/16/2026

Get to know the artists performing in Owen/Cox Dance Group’s “Collective: Our Stories of Cancer” this Sunday, October 18th!

Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Christopher is the Founding Co-Artistic Director of NU-World Contemporary Danse Theatre. He received his formal dance training from the Center of Creative Arts and the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

With a background that spans both theater and concert dance, his journey as a performing artist has taken him across the globe, gracing stages with renowned dance companies such as the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, Dianne McIntyre Group, and the Owen/Cox Dance Group, as well as notable theatre companies such as the Fulton Theatre, Mastervoices, Maine State Music Theatre, and the St. Louis Black Repertory Theatre Company.

As a choreographer in concert dance, his choreographic work has been performed by Chapman University, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, Davis Contemporary Dance Company, Dance Lab New York, Grand Valley State University, and the Presenting Denver Dance Festival as well as for theatre companies, having had the privilege of directing/choreographing theatrical works such as “Lady Day At Emerson's Bar And Grill” (Arvada Center), “1776” (Maine State Music Theatre), “Life Doesn't Frighten Me” (Metro Theater Company), “The Wiz” (Short North Stage), and “Raisin” (Town Hall Arts Center). He has served as the Associate Choreographer for the Off-Broadway premiere of “Triple Threat.”

His choreography has been presented nationally at festivals such as the Battery Dance Festival, Dumbo Dance Festival, the International Association of Blacks In Dance Conference, and the Presenting Denver Dance Festival. "On the shoulders of my ancestors, I dance!"

Get tickets for this Connect2Culture show at connect2culture.org or (417) 621-9824. You can also buy tickets at our box office inside the Cornell Complex (Tue-Sat, 1-5pm).