Wichita Arts Center to open in 2018

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Officials have broken ground for Wichita's new multimillion-dollar arts center, which is scheduled to open in about two years.

About 400 people gathered Wednesday for the center's groundbreaking, where Liz Koch, honorary trustee for the center, announced it will be called Mark Arts, The Mary R Koch Arts Center, The Wichita Eagle reported. The current center is known as the Wichita Center for the Arts.

The new center, which is scheduled to open in 2018, will include a gallery for national exhibits, an event center, artist studios and a sculpture garden.

"M.R.K., or Mark, is actually an acronym for Mary Robinson Koch, but it also stands for 'make your mark, leave your mark, create your mark,' so it has many, many meanings, and that's why I think we all fell in love with it," said Liz Koch, wife of Charles Koch, CEO of Koch Industries Inc.

Mary Robinson Koch is Charles Koch's mother. She died in 1990.

The Fred and Mary Koch Foundation donated $2 million in addition to a $4 million challenge grant, which was met by the community, said Katy Dorrah, the center's executive director. The Charles Koch Foundation donated the land. The center has raised $7 million over the past nine months.

Dorrah said phase 1 of the 40,000-square-foot center will cost $19 million, and the center is working to raise an additional $1 million for landscaping and walking trails.

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The Gayly – 6/27/2016 @ 10:55 a.m. CDT