KANSAS CITY, MO.- A pair of podcasts from The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City will each launch second seasons in 2026. The new year brings 10 fresh episodes of Art Bytes, and A Frame of Mind drops its new season in February to coincide with Black History Month. Season 2 of A Frame of Mind, about one man, one museum, and the places that have shaped both of their identities, deepens its look at race in America through the lens of the Nelson-Atkins.
“In this volatile and rapidly changing world, Glenn North and his guests ground listeners in the possibilities that museums hold and how they help connect us to one another, and to the promise of better futures’” said Adina Duke, Manager, Public Programs and Creative Practice.
Since the launch of the first season of A Frame of Mind, seismic social, political, and economic shifts continue to reverberate across communities.
Hosted by poet and community leader Glenn North, Season 2 will take a pulse on what has changed and what’s on the minds of Kansas Citians. Over five episodes, North takes listeners on a journey grounded in community voices that examine belonging, ownership, migration, identity, and homeland woven together through the Nelson-Atkins collection and poetry by North. A Frame of Mind looks at how art can help make sense of complicated histories and how museums can inspire discoveries about ourselves, our relationships to one another, and navigating the complexities of our world.
"Art has the power to open up difficult conversations about race, identity, and justice in ways statistics and headlines cannot,” said North. “A Frame of Mind uses the Nelson-Atkins museum's collection as a lens to examine how far we've come, and how far we still have to go."
A Frame of Mind was produced by Christine Murray, an award-winning documentary audio and film producer, with support from Nelson-Atkins staff members Anne Manning, Deputy Director, Learning and Engagement; Adina Duke, Manager, Public Programs and Creative Practice, and Kimberly Masteller, South & Southeast Asian Curator. The project honors multiple and divergent experiences, making room for Kansas Citians to speak for themselves. A Frame of Mind has won several awards, including recognition from the American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Midwest Museums.
The five episodes in this second season explore ideas of community and connectivity, the role Kansas City has played in shaping race relations on a national level, and how art museums contribute critical context for understanding America’s racial history by providing context, encouraging dialogue, and creating supportive spaces for reflection and action. The first two episodes drop Feb. 3, with a new episode dropping every Tuesday after that through Feb. 24.
Season 2 of Art Bytes launches in January, with a new episode dropping each week. Produced and hosted by Kathleen Leighton, the museum’s Manager, Media Relations and Production, with the technical assistance of Ricky Anderson, Lead Videographer, Art Bytes takes the listener into the fascinating stories of how artists work, how art is made, and how the world of art is filled with diversity. The 10-part series includes organic conversations with artists such as Terry Evans, Hank Willis Thomas, and Dario Robleto. Other episodes feature the origin story of the museum’s Shuttlecocks, a chat with an art appraiser, and a personal look at the architecture team hired to helm the museum’s expansion project.
