Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art has announced a $1 million gift from the Stanley J. Bushman Foundation. This new gift will establish the Stanley J. Bushman Fund for Youth Education, ensuring sustained support for the museum’s education initiatives serving local youth.
The fund will expand access to high-quality arts programming and help nurture the next generation of artists, thinkers and community leaders.
Stanley Bushman (z”l), a dedicated philanthropist and longtime supporter of the Kemper Museum, was in the real estate business in Kansas City with Charles Helzberg for over 60 years. Especially interested in youth development, Bushman, along with his partner, Ann Canfield, and Helzberg gave a major gift to the museum in 2018 to help launch Kemper Museum’s Teen Arts Council.
“The Bushman Foundation’s gift supports Stanley’s legacy as a knowledgeable collector of contemporary art, who advocated exposing and educating young people to that art form through the Kemper Museum, which he welcomed as an important addition to cultural life in Kansas City,” Helzberg said.
“We are profoundly grateful to Stan’s foundation and to its board, led by Charley Helzberg, for stewarding this important gift, which will advance our programming and community engagement for years to come,” said Bill Gautreaux, chair of the board of trustees for the Kemper Museum. “This gift epitomizes the philanthropic leadership of our dedicated audiences supporting Kansas City’s contemporary art museum and its programs and we believe it will inspire our entire community.”
Jessica May, Ph.D., executive director of the museum, said, “This gift is an essential part of our continued growth as a center for excellence in museum education and will help us further our vision to present groundbreaking exhibitions that support artists and ideas, as well as to be an inclusive center for creative expression and meaningful engagement with contemporary art.”
In addition to his fondness for art and his acumen as a philanthropist and businessman, Bushman served as president of the Jewish Community Foundation; leader and major supporter of Village Shalom; creator and original funder of the Bushman Community Endowment Program, creating education for non-profits in the Jewish community to raise millions of dollars for their endowment programs; was on the Board of Councilors of the nonprofit Menorah Hospital; and, as a young man, a Sunday School teacher at Congregation Beth Shalom.
He served on several corporate boards, including Prom Motor Hotels. He devoted much time counseling leaders of profit and not-for-profit organizations, plus many people from varied backgrounds for whom Bushman always made time to hear their challenges and offer his advice. He often gave financial help to people, in his private and confidential style, with love and compassion, for which he consciously avoided recognition.
Bushman was a lifetime student of varied interests, including art, ballet, travel, architectural design, barbeque, and, perhaps most of all, he was an exceptional and compassionate listener who loved life and enjoyed giving back to his community, a man of keen mind and strength of character. His was a life of work, generosity and passion. He passed away in 2025.
