Bruce Branit’s bosses demand a lot. Don’t all bosses? His bosses may ask him to land a spaceship on a building one week, make a skyscraper disappear another, or make him raise an army of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Hollywood executives expect a lot.
Branit creates visual effects for major motion pictures, television and advertisements for his company, Branit FX, in the Crossroads Arts District. He opened his business in 2004 after working in Hollywood for 10 years, but Kansas City is his home and he wanted to come back here to raise a family. Branit grew up in Johnson County, graduated from Shawnee Mission East and earned an industrial design degree from the University of Kansas.
Randy Mason sits down with Branit to discuss the world of Hollywood special effects.
Here is a look at his short film 405. This 3 minute film, co-produced by Jeremy Hunt, shows a DC-10 airliner making a suspenseful emergency landing on a Los Angeles freeway.
Interested in finding out more about the KC Film Scene? Check out these links:
Nick Haines talks to Kansas City Zoo Director Randy Wisthoff about what’s in store for visitors this year and what people can look forward to seeing at the zoo in the near future.
The mission of the Kansas City Zoo is to conserve and provide access to wildlife to entertain and educate our visitors in order to instill a respect for nature. We will accomplish this by:
• Offering outstanding, year-round, affordable, high-quality guest experiences;
• Demonstrating the diversity of wildlife;
• Enhancing the care and survival of wildlife through research, education and conservation;
• Operating a financially sound zoological park;
• Offering our employees a fun, rewarding work environment;
• Contributing to the cultural life of the Kansas City community and region; and
• Achieving full community support.
Vision: To be the most family friendly Zoo in the country, anchoring Kansas City as the “edu-tainment” capital of the Midwest.
The Kansas City Zoo is …
• a private non-profit
• an accredited member of the AZA (American Zoo & Aquarium Association)
• operated in agreement with the Kansas City, Missouri, Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners.
After the encore has been played and the lights come up or the buzzer sounds and the fans go home, what goes on behind the scenes at The Independence Event Center? The Local Show takes a behind the scenes look at what has to happen to make the event experience a pleasant one for ticket-holders at the IEC.
“Let us amaze you” is the unofficial motto of the Independence Department of Tourism and the goal of the Independence Events Center. This state-of-the-art, multi-purpose facility features an intimate arena with 5,800 fixed seats, 25 suites, 2,200 paved parking spaces on site, a first-class grill and community ice facility.
For more information on events coming up at the Independence Events Center, click here.
This year’s Symphony in the Flint Hills takes place June 11 in the Fix Pasture, Volland, Kansas. If you haven’t got your tickets, you are out of luck. To give you a taste of what you can expect or what you will be missing, The Local Show now presents a look at last year’s performance featuring Lyle Lovett.
Jeffrey Owen Hanson, a 17-year-old who lives in the Kansas City area, was recently featured on an episode of public television’s Emmy Award-winning financial literacy series, Biz Kid$. The Local Show proudly presents viewers another chance to see the segment about Jeffrey.
Jeffrey, who is visually impaired due to neurofibromitosis, is an accomplished painter, stock market investor and philanthropist. He talks about how he started investing at age 14 and gives advice about how to choose stocks. Using his talents, he has generated charitable donations that exceed $311,000.
To find out how you can help Jeffrey’s charitable efforts, click here.
“What’s Up with the Stock Market?” is the fourth episode of the fourth season of Biz Kid$, public television’s fun, fast-paced series that teaches kids about money and business.
Other new episodes this season include a show about taxes, debt, big purchases, starting a business, how to make a million dollars, business scams, and the value of currency.
Created by the producers of “Bill Nye, the Science Guy,” Biz Kid$ features comedy sketches and movie spoofs that appeal to kids and adults alike. Each episode also includes profiles of young entrepreneurs and social philanthropists.
Airing on most public television stations across the country, the 52 thirty-minute episodes of Biz Kid$ are produced in high-definition. Each episode includes teacher-created, free curriculum that can be used in the classroom or at home. For more information, visit bizkids.com.
From 1914 to 1918, the world was at war. Thirty-six countries from six continents sent over 70 million military personnel into worldwide conflict. At the end, many returned to their countries scarred and wounded, many fell, never to return home.
The Local Show now presents five brief stories of individuals from all over the world who participated in the great war. Their photos and memorabilia can be found at the National World War One Museum at Liberty Memorial.
The Junior League of Kansas City, Missouri is pleased to launch Healthy U, the League’s new Community Impact signature program.
The Healthy U program includes several layers of programming focused on Nutrition and Undernourishment, Healthy Choices, Eating on a Budget and Fitness programming – all focused on building a healthier Kansas City Community.
Through the League’s Healthy U program, the Junior League of Kansas City, Missouri is adopting University Academy in conjunction with our new impact area of Children’s Nutrition & Fitness.
University Academy is a K-12 college preparatory public charter academy that emphasizes college preparation, career development, community service and leadership.
The signature project will bring layers of programming focused through one school community over the next five years. The Junior League’s programs will focus on fighting food insecurity, student nutrition education, parent nutrition and cooking education, obesity prevention programming and fitness programming at all levels of the University Academy.
The Junior League of Kansas City, Missouri (JLKCMO) is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. Its purpose is exclusively educational and charitable.
JLKCMO will accomplish their mission by:
Providing a motivating and supportive environment that stimulates members.
Participation increasing their impact in the Kansas City community by effectively coordinating our resources with community needs.
Maintaining financial stability through their endowed funds and fundraising events.
Providing comprehensive training opportunities to develop volunteers to better serve the community.
Communicating and promoting the organization’s mission and historical significance to their membership and the community.
Additionally, the Junior League of Kansas City, Missouri has a vision to be a visible group of active volunteers focused on improving the quality of life in our community.
America: Now and Here is a cross-country journey of art and ideas. Through art created by 150 of this country’s most celebrated artists – visual artists, musicians, playwrights, poets, and filmmakers – Americans are invited to come together for timely dialogues about America, now and here.
America: Now and Here will launch it’s inaugural journey, The America Show, in 2011 with installations in Kansas City, Detroit and Chicago.
In 2012, the tour will begin a cross-country journey on a convoy of trucks, spending six weeks in each of eight different regions. We are currently securing partner regions for this tour.
Proposed schedule for America: Now and Here regional tour:
At every destination, the tour will spend:
2 weeks in the CITY CENTER
1 week each in 2 SMALLER TOWNS
1 week at a STATE OR COMMUNITY COLLEGE
1 week at a MILITARY BASE
Following the inaugural America: Now and Here tour, new shows and programs will be organized to explore America and timely ideas and important issues. America: Now and Here will continues its journey for years to come.
In May of 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives and endured savage beatings and imprisonment for simply traveling together on buses as they journeyed through the deep south.
KCPT marks the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Rides with a landmark documentary that retells their story. Monday night, May 16 at 8 p.m. on KCPT, veteran filmmaker Stanley Nelson presents the Freedom Riders, the first feature length film about this courageous band of citizens.
Recently, KCPT gathered almost two hundred people at Kansas City’s Plaza library for a citizen conversation to ask where they might take a freedom ride today?
The Local Show presents an extended excerpt of the documentary as well as highlights from the recent citizen conversation.
Samaritan’s Feet is on a quest to put shoes on the feet of 10,000 impoverished children in our own backyard. What compels hundreds of volunteers from churches in rural Missouri to join together to bring new sneakers to students at Martin Luther King Elementary School in the Kansas City, Missouri School District? While they live only about an hour apart, there is a world of difference. They discovered they all shared one unique experience and a gift that was much more than shoes.
This video report was compiled for The Local Show by Bryan Shepard, a video producer for the Local Investment Commission. LINC is a Kansas City based organization supporting under-served families and children in the metro.
Finally this week, an update on one of the most talked about new art projects in the metro. In January, Randy Mason traveled to upstate New York for a sneak preview of a 56 foot tall sculpture destined for the lawn at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. In April, Roxy Paine’s “Ferment” was installed and dedicated and we were there. We’ll give you a much more detailed look at the amazing process on the Local Show in June, but for now here’s a “condensed” version of what went down with Kansas City’s brand new “dendroid.”
The Local Show tags along with The Roasterie’s Danny O’Neill on a recent trip to Costa Rica to build relationships with local coffee farmers.
Danny O’Neill is the Bean Baron at The Roasterie—a specialty coffee-roasting company that services espresso bars, coffeehouses, fine restaurants, high-end grocers, offices and retail accounts. Danny started The Roasterie in the basement of his Brookside home in November 1993.
It all began during his last year of high school when Danny spent the year in Costa Rica as an exchange student. While visiting, he spent several weeks picking coffee beans, and it was at this time that his passion for coffee ignited. Since then, Danny has made hundreds of trips touring different segments of the coffee industry and locating premier coffee-bean estates.
Since The Roasterie’s inception, Danny has become a sought-after expert in the ever-growing coffee industry. He has judged cupping and barista competitions all around the world since 1995. In April 2001, he was awarded Super Taster status on the Specialty Coffee Institute Sensory Aptitude Test.
Danny’s previous business experience includes 10 years in varied sales and marketing positions, spending the last seven of those years with a large multinational corporation. In his final position, Danny was responsible for an entire industry segment, with sales in excess of $80 million. Danny serves on a number of advisory boards for various local companies and associations and is currently on the Board of Trustees at Park University, Board of Regents at Rockhurst University, Board of Directors for FastTrac and is a past President of the Specialty Coffee Association of America.
KCPT hops along with 12th Street Jump, KCUR’s jumpin’ jazz and blues comedy hour. This dynamic radio show toasts the careers of famous jazz players each week with trivia, comedy and musical offerings from their renowned house band, with added musical styling’s from featured guest artists. You can catch the show live, in person at the Downtown Marriott or over the airwaves every Saturday night at midnight on KCUR.
The Kansas City Missouri School District is still trying to figure out what on earth it’s going to do with the more than 20 schools it decided to shutter as part of a contentious school closing plan last year. There are concerns the buildings will end up as neighborhood eyesores and magnets for criminal activity. What to do with large public buildings that have outlived their usefulness is a problem many communities have to deal with. Three years ago, the city of Independence was faced with that challenge when the hospital chain HCA closed Independence Regional Medical Center, a city landmark and an economic and emotional anchor in northwest Independence since 1909. Would it be simply padlocked and left to decay? Well thanks to economic development leaders in the city, a space once used to treat the sick is now making entrepreneurs out of people who may never have had a shot at starting their own business.
The Independence Regional Ennovation Center is a mixed use business incubator which focuses on three core areas for the development of new businesses…..bio-tech, kitchen/culinary, and business & technology.
Located in Independence, Missouri, the Ennovation Center has transformed the former Independence Regional Medical Center into a launching pad for entrepreneurs with the necessary facilities and support services to assist successful start up businesses in a collaborative environment which fosters collaboration.
The Land Institute in Salina, Ks is looking to revolutionize the agriculture industry by developing perennial crops with the same or greater yield than current systems. Here is a look at their history and mission:
The Land Institute has worked for over 30 years on the problem of agriculture. Our purpose is to develop an agricultural system with the ecological stability of the prairie and a grain yield comparable to that from annual crops. We have researched, published in refereed scientific journals, given hundreds of public presentations here and abroad, and hosted countless intellectuals and scientists. Our work is frequently cited, most recently in Science andNature, the most prestigious scientific journals. We are now assembling a team of advisors which includes members of the National Academy of Sciences. These scientists understand our work and stand ready to endorse the feasibility of what we have come to call Natural Systems Agriculture.
Our strategy now is to collaborate with public institutions in order to direct more research in the direction of Natural Systems Agriculture. We are seeking funds to construct and operate a research center devoted to Natural Systems Agriculture and to underwrite scientists elsewhere who will engage with us in such research. We estimate the research cost to be $5 million a year for 25 years, which is a small fraction of one percent of the nation’s annual agricultural research investment.
Important questions have been answered and crucial principles explored to the point that we feel comfortable in saying that we have demonstrated the scientific feasibility of our proposal for a Natural Systems Agriculture. Because this work deals with basic biological questions and principles, the implications are applicable worldwide. If Natural Systems Agriculture were fully adopted, we could one day see the end of agricultural scientists from industrialized societies delivering agronomic methods and technologies from their fossil fuel-intensive infrastructures into developing countries and thereby saddling them with brittle economies.
Mission Statement:
When people, land, and community are as one,
all three members prosper;
when they relate not as members
but as competing interests,
all three are exploited.
By consulting Nature as the source
and measure of that membership,
The Land Institute seeks to develop an agriculture
that will save soil from being lost or poisoned
while promoting a community life at once
prosperous and enduring.
Much of the history of Kansas City can be told by looking into the stories of those people buried in the Elmwood Cemetery. Bruce Mathews, DJ Hyde Matheny and Anne Sutton Canfield collaborated on the new book, Elmwood Cemetery: Stories of Kansas City, that captures some of the rich history that can be traced to the cemetery. Mathews and Canfield join Randy Mason for a quick sampling of the amazing stories.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places,Elmwood Cemetery opened in 1872. Its beautiful grounds were designed by renowned landscape architect George Kessler, the creator of Kansas City’s famed parks and boulevard system. Elmwood encompasses 43 acres in the heart of Kansas City and is the final resting place for over 36,000 souls from all walks of life, including many of Kansas City’s founders.
The mission of the Elmwood Cemetery Society is simple: Perpetuate the life stories of all who have chosen Elmwood as their final resting place, while maintaining a place of dignity and respect where their loved ones will find comfort in visiting, time and time again.
Jake Wagner and Scott Lane from the Historic Kansas City Foundation discuss the value of preserving the history of Kansas City by saving endangered buildings. Here is a look at the buildings the foundation is currently focused on:
KC’s MOST ENDANGERED HISTORIC PLACES
Historic Kansas City Foundation announces the 2010 Most Endangered Historic Places in Kansas City:
The Historic Country Club Plaza and District, KCMO
The Holy Name Church, 23rd and Benton Blvd. KCMO
Cosby Hotel, KCMO
Wheatley Provident Hospital, KCMO
Savoy Hotel
Hawthorne Building
Satchel Paige and Buck O’Neil Residences, 2626 E. 28th and 3049 E. 32nd St.
Gumbel Building, 801 Walnut
Knickerbocker Apartments,
Janssen Place Entry Columns
Leona Pouncey Thurman Law Office Building, 1505 E. 18th St.
Donaldson House, KC Art Institute
9842 Aberdeen, Overland Park, KC (Case Study House)
Disney Building (Laugh-a-gram) East 31st St. (at Forest)
Watch List
18th and Vine Historic District
Kansas City Missouri School Buildings
Breuer House 67 + Belinder, Mission Hills, KS
Since its founding in 1974, Historic Kansas City Foundation (HKCF) has been the only Greater Kansas City nonprofit corporation dedicated to the preservation of the area’s architectural heritage. HKCF is a major advocate for, and participant in, the thoughtful and meaningful preservation and rehabilitation of historic buildings, landscapes, and neighborhoods. Through advocacy, public policy, outreach and educational programming, HKCF demonstrates the proven economic and cultural benefits of historic preservation.
Jacob A. Wagner, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Design in the Department of Architecture, Urban Planning and Design at UMKC. He is Vice President of the Board of the Historic Kansas City Foundation and has served on the board of directors since 2006. Since December 2005 he has been active in the recovery of New Orleans following the disaster of Hurricane Katrina. In Kansas City he has worked with the Washington Wheatley Neighborhood, the Green Impact Zone and the Mid America Regional Council on a variety of projects related to historic preservation, neighborhood stabilization and community planning.
Scott Lane is a Vice-President and Managing Broker with Reece and Nichols Realtors since 1984. He is a Director for the Kansas Association of Realtors as well as involved in Professional Standards with the Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors. He is President of the Board of Historic Kansas City Foundation. In 2004 he co-founded KCModern an education and advocacy group promoting architecture, design, etc. of the recent past.
Submissions to The Local Show
If you have a suggestion for a Local Show interview, video segment or if you have some interesting HD video you would like to share, please contact us at thelocalshow@kcpt.org.
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Branit creates visual effects for major motion pictures, television and advertisements for his company, Branit FX, in the Crossroads Arts District. He opened his business in 2004 after working in Hollywood for 10 years, but Kansas City is his home and he wanted to come back here to raise a family. Branit grew up in Johnson County, graduated from Shawnee Mission East and earned an industrial design degree from the University of Kansas. 
