KBI update on suspicious mail sent to Secretary of State office
16 November 2023
EMPORIA (KSNT) – Wednesday morning, Hank Osterhout of Kansas Free for Arts walked into work to find tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage done to his studio.
“I walked in this morning to go to work and it had been ransacked just 100%,” Osterhout said.
Osterhout took to Facebook where he shared a live video of the damage done to the studio. He said shortly after the video, friends were showing up to offer elbow grease and support.
Kansas Free for Arts is a nonprofit organization that aims to provide community programming and promote creativity through creativeness in Emporia. The group organizes the Halfway to Everywhere Music and Arts Festival.
Osterhout said the point of the business is to provide for the community and “this is the thanks I get for putting the effort out.”
Guitars, instruments, a drumset and a custom guitar amp Osterhout searched for years to find were destroyed. Osterhout said it looked like the vandal had tried to start a fire in the studio and then put it out with a fire extinguisher.
“I don’t get paid to do this job,” Osterhout said. “The stuff in there is my own personal stuff. The festival I even put my own money into.”
Osterhout estimated the damage was between $10,000 and $25,000. He said a lot of art damaged in the studio was sentimental and hard to put a price on.
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