A century-old Baptist church on Kansas City’s Westside has been home to the musician who spent nearly three years turning it into one of the city’s few dedicated listening rooms. Calvin Arsenia was under contract to purchase Greenwood Social Hall for $725,000, with closing set for July 30, 2026, keeping the second-floor performance space at 1750 Belleview Avenue in artist hands.
Arsenia, a harpist and singer who moved into Greenwood nearly three years before the deal closed, launched a public crowdfunding campaign to help cover the acquisition, according to Kansas City Magazine. That campaign raised more than $100,000, with local community members and donors from as far as New York and Los Angeles chipping in to help him purchase the building, the magazine reported. The venue’s own building fund page notes the contract to buy the building preceded the official deed transfer this summer.
From Church Pews to a Listening Room
The building started life in 1927 as Greenwood Baptist Church. For decades it served as a site of Black congregation, organization and cultural life, including worship services, community meetings, musical performances, weddings and funerals, per Kansas City Magazine.
The building was renovated by the Bottoms Up Collective, with Jamie Jeffries identified as the renovator. Honig, who according to Kansas City Magazine became the youngest living artist to have work acquired by the Whitney Museum of American Art at age 22, lived in the building for almost eight years and called it her home. “The space was in severe disrepair when she arrived,” the magazine reported, citing Honig. Looking back on handing the building off, Honig told the magazine, “I feel like I planted the seed, and he is just growing the garden.”
An Artist-First Business Model
Arsenia, who plays stringed instruments and piano and recorded his 2017 album “Live At Greenwood” in the space, was among the first artists to use the renovated hall that year, per Kansas City Magazine. He took over as director and leaseholder in late 2023 on the recommendation of musician Mike Dillon, and has since built what the venue’s building-fund page describes as an artist-first model: between December 2023 and July 2026, Greenwood Social Hall hosted 302 events and sold 3,863 tickets, paying out 70% of ticket revenue directly to performing artists…