Koch Family Foundation

📚Through Reality U® program, local students participated in a financial literacy simulation, making real life decisions, choosing careers, budgeting monthly expenses, navigating trade-offs. Not a lecture. Not a worksheet. Real choices with real consequences.

That’s empowerment, the conditions that let you build your own judgment. Autonomy to choose. Structure to learn from. 

The Koch Family Foundation is proud to support this hands-on experience and the schools, volunteers, and partners who make it possible!

🖌️✨ Art takes as many forms as there are ways to see the world. On World Art Day, we’re celebrating the artists who don’t wait for permission to test a new idea, they create, learn what works, adjust, and create again.

The Koch Family Foundation, believes every person is capable of achieving extraordinary things. For nearly four decades, we’ve supported artists as they discover and develop their innate gifts — through KCT grants, arts initiatives, and programs that give them the freedom to experiment. That’s Experimental Discovery — learning through making, not waiting to know the answer first.

Happy World Art Day to everyone experimenting with what art can do. 🎨

📚 A legacy of learning begins with contribution—helping people gain the knowledge and skills to create value for others and themselves.

For Fred and Mary Koch, that took root in Wichita in the early 1930s, where they built a life grounded in curiosity, creativity, and a deep commitment to the arts and education.

Today, the Koch Family Foundation carries that vision forward—creating opportunities for individuals to grow, contribute, and make a lasting impact. A legacy not just remembered, but continuously built.

Exhibitions like this help spark curiosity, inspire creativity, and deepen appreciation for the arts in our Kansas community!

The Abstract National Exhibition at is on view through March 21🎨🖌️

Shin-hee Chin is a Korean-American artist and professor whose most recent focus involves creating detailed tapestries and quilts using a method she calls random weave and stitch.
Chin’s work explores complex themes related to the female body, motherhood, mother tongue, cultural identity, hybridity, and a sense of belonging.

“In my years dealing with issues of a bi-cultural lifestyle, art has helped me reconcile the conflicting nature of these influences,” Chin said.

She received a Koch Cultural Trust grant in 2023. The grant helped her publish a high-quality book of her art. It also enabled her to take advantage of an opportunity to display some of her work in Korea.

Are you an aspiring artist? Take hold of your next inspiration and apply for a Koch Cultural Trust Grant before March 1.
For details on eligibility and to apply, visit https://utm.io/ulVbF

Supporting arts education and community celebration is at the heart of what we do.
We’re proud to stand alongside the Wichita Symphony in honoring America 250 and inspiring Kansas students and families through music. 🎶

This President's Day, we want to thank two institutions who have shown generous leadership in supporting the Wichita Symphony's America 250 celebration, Textron Aviation and the Koch Family Foundation.

Our patriotic concerts this year include:
- our Young People's Concert, Postcards Across America, performed in January to standing ovations from thousands of Kansas kids
- this weekend's Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue (Feb 22, 2026)
- Byron Stripling's America the Beautiful (May 9, 2026)
- Symphony in the Gardens: American Landscapes -- tickets on sale soon! (May 15, 2026)

We feel so much gratitude to our sponsors, Textron Aviation and the Koch Family Foundation, who understand how important music is to our community as our nation celebrates 250 years.

Abigail Carpenter discovered her love and passion for ballet shortly after she started training at 6 years old. Since then, she's worked much of her life to develop, refine and improve her skills.

The Koch Cultural Trust grant she received enabled her to continue that development and attend Colorado Ballet Academy's Pre-Professional Division in 2022. She's since joined Ballet Arizona's studio company, where she's developing her talents and working toward joining a professional company.

Find out more about the Koch Cultural Trust and its mission to support outstanding artists with Kansas roots: https://www.kochfamilyfoundation.org/