What's happening at The SHOUT: Gallery exhibitions celebrate our second anniversary

I’m standing in the middle of CityArts’ main gallery and feeling emotional. 

To celebrate the second anniversary of The SHOUT, we curated two exhibitions that are on view in the first floor galleries of Wichita’s municipal art center. Each bring a slice of our coverage to life.

Meet 16 Kansas artists in “The Work of Art: Two Years’ of Stories from The SHOUT.” In “The Art of Criticism: Selections from The SHOUT,” art hangs next to text from a review by one of our contributing critics. Both exhibitions are on view through May 31, and a First Friday reception takes place from 5-8 p.m. May 1.

The shows includes the work of 81(!) artists, organizations, writers, critics, photographers, and editors — just a fraction of the total represented in our coverage over the past 24 months. 

Our editorial assistant Taylor Waller and I scrolled through our posts and made a long list. A very long list.

We needed a constraint, so — while we’re proud that our coverage extends across the state of Kansas — I limited the subjects to artists who live in or have close ties to the Wichita area. We wanted to highlight the breadth of our coverage — artists of all ages working in traditions of all kinds, in institutions large and small. These are community members with solid reputations, but my hope is that each gallery visitor finds new creative practices to discover.

While I made the final decisions about what went in the galleries, the shows represent the work of many people, not least the writers, editors, and photographers who created the original coverage for The SHOUT. Three of them are (regrettably) not formally recognized in the exhibition, yet their contributions are essential to our newsroom: Genevieve Waller, who has been our visual arts editor since April 2024; Anne Welsbacher, performing arts editor since January 2026; and Taylor Waller, editorial assistant since July 2025. 

SHOUT co-founder Teri Mott’s writing is included in the exhibitions, to which she also leant her editing skills and all-around support.

Jenny Venn of Studio JenVenn is responsible for the designed elements in the shows. She created broadside-sized posters that mimic The SHOUT’s website design and set the type for artist quotes installed in vinyl. Jenny also helped with critical outreach and organization.

Gallery manager Caitlin Waugh and the whole team at CityArts have been a dream to work with: truly paragons of patience and helpfulness. Caitlin did an excellent job with the installation, and we love that our shows are on view six days a week for six whole weeks. 

We’re not the first publication to organize a gallery exhibition. I was inspired by Makeda Easter of the art rebellion, who created an installation based on her reporting for the Artist Pay Project. I also drew from my experience in photography professor Jennifer Ray’s documentary class at Wichita State, which I took when I worked at the art and design school.

Finally, our work — including this exhibition — is supported by the generosity of our readers and Press Forward Wichita. 

The process of bringing this show to life has been exciting and generative. And the positive feedback we’ve received so far, from both our contributors and the featured artists, has been incredibly gratifying. 

It makes me excited for what we can accomplish in the next two years — two decades, even — if we stay ambitious, open to collaboration, and let ourselves be inspired. 

Co-founding and working on The SHOUT has been joyful and anxiety-ridden, exciting and exhausting. Sometimes it feels like we barely have time to take a breath and appreciate what we’ve built. 

But when I’m standing in that big gallery in Old Town Square — man, I really feel it. 

I'll end with gratitude to all the artists who are brave enough to share their work with the world and their stories with us. You make our work possible.

The Details

"The Work of Art: Two Years of Artists' Stories from The SHOUT" and "The Art of Criticism: Selections from The SHOUT"
April 20-May 31, 2026, at CityArts, 334 N. Mead St. in Wichita

A free First Friday reception will take place from 5-8 p.m. May 1 at CityArts. Also on view: Greg Turner and Lauren Fitzgerald in the Balcony Gallery and Brian Gray in the Board Room Gallery.

CityArts galleries are free and open to the public six days a week: 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Fridays, and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays.

"The Work of Art" features Clark Britton, Trish Dool, Wayne Gottstine, Jessie Gray, Sara and Charity Harmon, Leif Jonker, Zainab Farah Kahn, Manasi Kulkarni, David Lord, Lindsay Lion Lord, Sontia Mason, Misty Maynard, Autumn Noire, Rodrick Pocowatchit, and Joseph Urick.

Institutions represented in the show include Eric Fisher Salon, Fisch Haus, Flying Pig Improv, Islamic Society of Wichita, Kalakrit School of Dance, Kechi Playhouse, the Orpheum Theatre, Mid-America All-Indian Museum, Tallgrass Film Festival, Wichita Art Museum, the Wichita State School of Art, Design and Creative Industries, and the WSU School of Performing Arts.

And writing and photography by SHOUT contributors Masara Al-Sharieh, Emily Christensen, Kendra Cremin, Jason Crile, Hannah Crickman, TyJuan Davis, Cecilia Green, Jacinda Hall, Wade Hampton, Lou Hebert, Kevin Kinder, Teri Mott, Kevin Rabas, and Lena Wilson.

"The Art of Criticism" features Doug Billings, Rachel Curtis, Geraldine Craig, Sheldon Draper, Dani Echo, Simon Hill, Lydia Humphreys, Jesse Koza, Giana Martinez, Patrick Joseph O’Connor, Adrian Ornelas, Dustin Parker, Jordan Slusher, Casey TZ Smith, Nelson Smith, Suspicious Glaze, and Joe Worley.

Institutions represented in the show include CityArts, Gallery 12, Harvester Arts, Mark Arts, Mulberry Art Gallery, Opera Kansas, Reuben Saunders Gallery, and the Smoky Valley Arts & Folklife Center.

And criticism by Anna Andersen, Emily Christensen, Ksenya Gurshtein, Sam Jack, Kevin Kelly, Connie Kachel White, Kevin Kinder, Laine Schawe, and Jeromiah Taylor.

Emily Christensen is one of the co-founders of The SHOUT. She is a past fellow of the National Critics Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and a recipient of an Arts Writing Grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation. Send her a message: emily@shoutwichita.com. 

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