Keystone Innovation District

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Keystone Innovation District

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The Keystone Innovation District is Kansas City’s front door for innovation.

It will be a welcoming environment for all to participate in and generate forward-thinking ideas.

10/12/2026

Keystone Sessions — Wednesday, October 14 | Doors at 4:30 PM

Three conversations on economics, culture, and the way we actually spend our attention.

5:00 PM | Can a Library Run Like a Business?
Featuring Aaron Mason and Abby Yellman

Public libraries operate on an economic model most people never think about, and it behaves nothing like a typical business. Aaron Mason and Abby Yellman offer a candid look at where the money actually comes from, why the costs behave strangely, and what tools a library has when revenues aren’t certain. A conversation about running an institution that has to serve everyone, stay open regardless of demand, and make the math work anyway.

6:00 PM | The Art of Curating: Shaping Culture Through Artists, Ideas & Community
Featuring Jessica S. Hong, Chief Curator, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

Join us for a fireside chat with Jessica S. Hong as she shares insights into her work in contemporary art, museums, and her overall curatorial approach. Jessica will discuss the process of bringing artists and ideas to audiences, the role of museums and cultural organizations in building community, and how artists can create new ways of thinking, connecting, and engaging with the world around us.

7:00 PM | Breaking the Traditional Rules of Balance
Featuring Clarissa Knighten

What if balance isn’t about giving everything equal time? What if it’s about giving the right thing your attention at the right time? Clarissa Knighten challenges the idea that a balanced life means an evenly divided one, and makes the case for a more honest approach to where your energy goes. A session for anyone who has ever felt like they are falling short on every front at once, and wants a better framework than trying harder.

October 14 | Doors at 4:30 PM | Keystone CoLAB
Register using the link bio!

10/05/2026

Keystone Sessions — Wednesday, October 7 | Doors at 4:30 PM

Three conversations on the energy, talent, and capital shaping what gets built next.

5:00 PM | Geologic Hydrogen in Kansas: Production, Storage & Potential
Featuring Brendan Bream, Kansas Geological Survey

As demand for clean energy continues to grow, Kansas has an opportunity to play a role in the future of geologic hydrogen. Brendan Bream explores the potential for geologic hydrogen production and storage across the state, including the opportunities, the challenges, and what the future could look like for this emerging energy source.

6:00 PM | Building the Next Generation of STEAM Talent: NASA Summer Camp 2026
Featuring Saaruj Khadka

The NASA MUREP PSI and USDA NIFA NextGen STEAM Summer Camp introduces high school students to emerging science and agriculture technologies, and to the education and career paths that connect them. Now in its fifth year, the program pairs classroom learning with field work, campus life, and professional development sessions in a single immersive week.

7:00 PM | Power of Capital
Featuring Rickey Leather Jr.

Power of Capital is an interactive, high-impact workshop built to help small business owners understand capital in a practical, confidence-building way. Participants leave knowing how to connect capital to business strategy, clarify what "ready for capital" really means operationally and financially, compare common funding options and the trade-offs owners often miss, and translate their goals into a funding game plan they can act on immediately.

Register using the link in our bio!

09/28/2026

Two conversations on building things that last, this Wednesday at Keystone Sessions.

5:00 PM | Leading with Purpose: Building Organizations That Create Lasting Impact
Featuring Tami Greenberg, CEO, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Kansas City

Join Tami Greenberg for a conversation on purpose-driven leadership, community impact, and building organizations that make a lasting difference. Drawing from her experience leading a 50+ person organization serving thousands of families each year, Tami shares insights on navigating leadership, growing mission-driven organizations, building strong teams, and creating meaningful impact in the community.

6:00 PM | CMC + KC: A Primer on Critical Materials Investing and Finance
Moderated by Katie Dixon, with Will Blankenship, Ashlynn Horras, and Evan Absher

Heard the words "critical materials" floating around Kansas City and wondered what it actually means in your life? This panel is for you. We open with the big-picture economics of the industry and how KC is playing a major part, then get into what a successful investment strategy looks like from a KC-based investor, financing the "missing middle," and the challenges and benefits of investing in hard assets. From venture capitalist to curious citizen, there is no prerequisite. We are making the hard parts make sense, no finance jargon left unexplained.

September 30 | Doors at 4:30 PM | Keystone CoLAB
RSVP link in comments.

09/21/2026

Keystone Sessions — Wednesday, September 23 | Doors at 4:30 PM

5:00 PM | Open Networking
Come early and connect with the regional defense, industry, and innovation community before the panel kicks off.

6:00 PM | Modernizing America's Deterrent from the Heart of the Nation
Featuring Amir Bahadori and Michael Bonura, PhD

Kansas City is home to one of the most critical facilities in the entire U.S. nuclear security enterprise. The Kansas City National Security Campus produces over 80% of all non-nuclear components for the nation's nuclear stockpile. Just down the road, Whiteman Air Force Base houses the B-2 Spirit and is preparing for the B-21 Raider, the next generation of America's nuclear-capable strategic bomber. And across the NNSA enterprise, the largest sustained investment in nuclear modernization since the Cold War is underway.

This panel tells that story through a Kansas City lens: the manufacturing, the technology, the workforce, and the partnerships that make the nuclear deterrent possible.

The conversation will cover the state of nuclear modernization across the NNSA enterprise and why it matters, KCNSC's expanding role from 2,400 to 7,000+ employees supporting seven warhead modernization programs and the KC NExT expansion, what the B-21 transition at Whiteman AFB means for the region, advanced nuclear energy and microreactors for operational military resilience, and how the next generation of nuclear security professionals is being built right here.

Whether you're part of government, industry, academia, or simply interested in the future of defense innovation, this is a chance to hear from experts, expand your network, and engage with the regional defense community.

Register using the link in bio

09/14/2026

Keystone Sessions — Wednesday, September 16 | Doors at 4:30 PM

Three conversations on building careers and ventures rooted in craft, culture, and community.

5:00 PM | From Practice to Pedagogy: A Preview of Urban Housing Design at KU
Featuring Peter Zuroweste, Founding Principal, ZA (Zuroweste Architecture)

Peter Zuroweste is an architect, researcher, and educator whose work spans post-carbon and post-disaster design — most notably the Fushë-Krujë Micropolis, a 24-acre masterplan providing housing and community infrastructure to families displaced by Albania's 2019 earthquake. With prior experience at firms including Studio Gang and MVRDV, he brings a research-driven approach to architecture and urbanism. Peter walks through his professional trajectory before previewing his new research agenda and urban housing design studio at KU, focused on Kansas City.

6:00 PM | From Passion to Purpose: Building Ventures Rooted in Culture and Community
Featuring Suzanne Wanja Gunn, FNP-BC, Entrepreneur, Healthcare Leader & Cultural Curator

Suzanne Wanja Gunn has turned her passions for wellness, fashion, and culture into ventures that create meaningful community impact. From founding AuraMed Spa & Wellness and Tivona World to creating AfroKC and developing a Fashion & Beauty Innovation Campus, Suzanne discusses building businesses around purpose, honoring cultural identity, creating opportunities for underrepresented communities, and turning ideas into platforms that bring people together.

7:00 PM | From Kansas City to Hollywood: A Creative Career in Costume & Design
Featuring Paige Beltowski, Costume Designer & Owner, Cut & Sew Production KC

Paige Beltowski traces her journey from studying Fiber Arts at the Kansas City Art Institute to building a career in the entertainment industry. Having worked on major film and television productions and created custom looks for artists and performers, Paige offers a behind-the-scenes look at the creativity, craftsmanship, and business behind the industry — plus how she brought her expertise back to Kansas City.

Register using the link in bio!

09/08/2026

Keystone Sessions — Wednesday, September 9 | Doors at 4:30 PM

One conversation about building a business that changes a community — and one celebration of the space we built to help tell those stories.

5:00 PM | Building a Business That Builds Up a Community
Featuring Chris Goode, Founder, Ruby Jean's Juicery

Chris Goode didn't set out to open a juice bar. He set out to give people the options his grandmother never even had the awareness to choose. Chris traces the path from losing her to a reborn Kansas City block, and the belief that scaling deep matters more than scaling high. He'll walk through the choices — some small, some controversial — that turned Ruby Jean's Juicery into the first 100% health-conscious food business on KC's east side, and connect the dots between a bottle of juice and the 18-year life expectancy gap that still divides this city.

6:00–8:00 PM | Keystone Studios Launch Event

Keystone Studios is ready for its next chapter. After renovating our podcast and content studio, we're opening the doors to the community — an evening to experience the new space, meet the people helping bring it to life, and see what's possible when the tools to tell your story live right down the street. Whether you're working on a podcast, a campaign, or a creative project still taking shape, come find out how the studio can support what you're building.

Register using the link in bio

09/04/2026

Kansas City, your next idea needs a place to come to life.

On Wednesday, September 9 from 6:00–8:00 p.m., join us for the Keystone Studios Grand Opening at Keystone CoLAB.

Tour the new studio, explore what is possible across podcasting, video, photography, branding, design, digital products, and AI—and meet the creative partners who can help take your idea from concept to ex*****on.

Meet our featured launch-night partners:
- FiredUp Studios
- Can Do Company
- Associated Humanity
- Camino

Together, they bring expertise across storytelling, content production, brand systems, web design, product design, engineering, strategy, and agentic AI.

Whether you have a project ready to launch, are looking for the right creative collaborator, or simply want to experience the new space, this night is for you.

Come see the space. Meet the people. Imagine what you could create here.

- Wednesday, September 9
- 6:00–8:00 p.m.
- Keystone CoLAB | 800 E. 18th St., Kansas City, MO
- Reserve your spot: https://keynect.ai/e/studios

09/01/2026

Your startup does not need another conversation about AI. It needs the time, guidance, and hands-on support to start building with it.

OnRamp Start is a four-week Founder AI Bootcamp powered by Google and hosted at Keystone Innovation District. Founders will learn how to use AI as real business infrastructure—then apply it directly by building practical workflows, agents, and tools for their startups.

📅 September 8–October 1, 2026
🕕 Tuesdays and Thursdays | 6:00–8:00 p.m.

Participation is included for Keystone CoFoundry members. Not a member? You can still participate by paying the program fee.

Build AI into your startup and leave with more than ideas.

Register now: keynect.ai/onramp-start-fall

08/31/2026

Keystone Sessions — Wednesday, September 2nd | Doors at 4:30 PM

From aging infrastructure to cutting-edge construction technology — this week at Keystone Sessions, two conversations on how we build, strengthen, and reimagine the physical world around us.

5:00 PM | Inside the Structural Engineering Laboratory at UMKC: Research, Testing, and Innovation for the Future of Infrastructure
Featuring Dr. Mohanad M. Abdulazeez, Assistant Professor of Structural Engineering & Director of the Structural Engineering Laboratory, UMKC

How do we repair, strengthen, and extend the life of our aging infrastructure? Dr. Abdulazeez takes us inside UMKC's Structural Engineering Laboratory — where large-scale testing, extreme-event testing, advanced computational modeling, and innovative composite materials come together to develop new retrofit and strengthening techniques for bridges, buildings, and infrastructure systems. The vision: make infrastructure safer, stronger, more resilient, and more sustainable while extending the service life of what we already have.

6:00 PM | Building Smarter: Inside JE Dunn's Design and Construction Tech
Featuring Evan Fox, Principal Architect & Dylan Lowder, Virtual Design and Construction Director, JE Dunn

Join Evan Fox and Dylan Lowder for a look at how one of the country's largest builders uses modeling, VDC, and AI tools to take a project from concept to concrete. They'll walk through what virtual design and construction actually looks like on a real job, where new technology is paying off and where it's still overhyped, and what anyone building something complicated can learn from an industry that adopts tech under real cost pressure. Bring your questions.

Register using the link in bio

Address

Kansas City, MO
64108

Website

http://www.keystonedistrict.org/

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Asian Culture And Education Society USA

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