Feeling supported in an artistic community and feeling like you are actually part of a thriving artistic community is one of the best things about KCAI.

I met my future husband at the Art Institute. I met my best friends at the Art Institute. I still communicate with a lot of my teachers, a few of them are actually friends now. I've gotten to China with one. So the relationship has been really good with the faculty and all my friends.

KCAI is community of artists really creates a brotherhood where you have studio mates with you and enduring the same problems ,and challenges that they're asking with their work. So eventually, you learn to live through your art and make connections through art. And that feeds exactly what you spend your day to days doing.

We benefit by being just down the road from the Crossroads Art District, which has very exciting First Friday Gallery Exhibitions. And our students actually have an opportunity to show their work at galleries in the arts district while they're still students. And that's a very unique aspect.

Right next to Kansas City Art Institute is the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, and on the other side of campus is the Kemper Museum of Art, and these two museums are free. There are wonderful areas to walk. There are wonderful neighborhoods nearby. The Plaza is within walking distance. So it's a very diverse and very active neighborhood, where students can really get pretty much anything they want, and also have a really small community space to relax in.