The Gordon Parks Museum has been awarded a $6,874 grant from the Kansas Arts Commission Public Art and Murals Grant Program.

For the 2025–2026 grant cycle, the Kansas Arts Commission distributed $1 million in funding to 108 recipients across 35 Kansas counties. These funds support a wide range of creative initiatives, including museums, arts education, music, dance, visual arts, professional and community theater, creative writing, murals, and other cultural projects.

“We are very thankful for this kind gift from the Kansas Arts Commission grant,” said Kirk Sharp, executive director of The Gordon Parks Museum.

The awarded funds will support the creation of a Gordon Parks Mural on the Wilder House building, located at Wall and Main Streets in downtown Fort Scott. The mural will be designed and painted by Cbabi Bayoc, an internationally recognized visual artist and illustrator based in St. Louis, Missouri. Bayoc is also the artist behind the First Kansas Colored Infantry Mural, completed in 2023 on the north downtown building at 9 South Main Street, near Skubitz Plaza, facing the Fort Scott National Historic Site.

Funding for Kansas Arts Commission grants is provided by the Kansas Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.

For more information, please contact The Gordon Parks Museum at (620) 223-2700, ext. 5850 or by email at gordonparkscenter@fortscott.edu.