The Arts

By Ken Busby, Route 66 Alliance

Tulsa is a resilient city! With challenges facing every sector of the economy, the arts have had an especially difficult time rebounding from the pandemic namely because so many of the arts depend on in-person experiences, whether visual or performing. With safety protocols in place, organizations that had pivoted to mostly virtual experiences in the spring and summer began to schedule in-person events in the fall of 2021. The City of Tulsa has long recognized the importance of the arts to the cultural life and economic wellbeing of our community. To assist organizations hit hard by the pandemic, the City of Tulsa, Tulsa City Council and the Arts Commission of the City of Tulsa established the Vision Arts Resiliency and Recovery Grant Program. The program provided $300,000 in grants to local nonprofit arts, humanities and cultural organizations. In addition, Tulsa added two engaging public artworks this year, putting artists to work. One is part of the city’s One Percent for Public Art program. “Highlight” is located at the Cox Business Convention Center and was created by Colorado artist Andrew Tirado. It features three oversized, colorful and integrated elements: a two-prong electrical plug, power cord and a light bulb raised 28 feet above the ground. The second artwork, the largest augmentedreality mural in the world, was commissioned for the Main Park Plaza parking garage by the Tulsa Authority for Economic Opportunity. “The Majestic” is an art deco-inspired depiction of flora and fauna native to the Tulsa area, including scissortail flycatchers, swallowtail butterflies, flathead catfish and eastern redbuds, which appear to come to life on your smartphone through augmented reality technology. The central figure of the work is an angel holding two babies, also in the art deco style. The mural was created by Los Angeles-based artists Ryan “Yanoe” Sarfati and Eric “Zoueh” Skotnes.

Thanks to a new air filtration system, masking and vaccination policies, Tulsa’s performing arts organizations were able to bring their audiences safely to the Tulsa Performing Arts Center after more than 18 months.

Broadway’s anticipated return to the Tulsa PAC via Celebrity Attractions was highlighted by a much-heralded presentation of “Come From Away,” the musical that tells the true story of what transpired when 38 planes were ordered to land unexpectedly in the small town of Gander in the province of Newfoundland following the 9/11 attacks.

The cast of “Come From Away” performs at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center.

Tulsa Symphony began its 2021-2022 season with a brilliant opening concert featuring internationally renowned pianist Garrick Ohlsson under the direction of British conductor Bramwell Tovey. The title of the concert was “Triumph,” and indeed, the audience was extremely appreciative of the Tulsa Symphony musicians’ musical gift. Tulsa Opera returned to the ballpark, ONEOK Field to be precise, for its season opener, “Puccini and Verdi Play Ball,” with a selection of arias and duets from each of the featured composers, followed by a staged production of Puccini’s one-act comedy, “Gianni Schicchi.” The remainder of the season was back at the Tulsa PAC.

Tulsa Ballet, having installed a new air filtration system in its performance venue, presented “Creations in Studio K,” its annual celebration with established and rising choreographers creating original dance works for the company. As part of its 65th anniversary season, Tulsa Ballet returned to the Tulsa PAC with “Breakin’ Bricks,” a work in commemoration of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, as well as a brand-new production of “The Nutcracker.” For the visual arts, COVID-19 protocols continued to be in place in order to move from virtual programming to in-person engagement. Before Gilcrease Museum closed for a major three-year renovation, it was able to welcome visitors old and new celebrating the creativity and influence of Indigenous women artists with “Weaving History Into Art: The Enduring Legacy of Shan Goshorn,” celebrating the life and work of the acclaimed Tulsa artist.

Across town, Philbrook Museum of Art also offered an Indigenous women’s art exhibition with “Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists.” Philbrook presented other exhibitions, such as “Tulsa Treasures” and “From the Limitations of Now,” that showed how the museum is working to broaden its scope and attract new audiences.

Tulsa welcomed a new history and cultural center, Greenwood Rising, the legacy project of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission. Sen. Kevin Matthews, who chaired the Commission from its inception in 2015, noted, “Greenwood Rising will educate Oklahomans and Americans about the Race Massacre and its impact on the state and Nation; remember its victims and survivors; and create an environment conducive to fostering sustainable entrepreneurship and heritage tourism within the Greenwood District specifically, and north Tulsa generally.” With a little bump due to the pandemic, the Tulsa Library Trust presented the 2020 Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award in December 2021 to American novelist and essayist Marilynne Robinson, best known for her bestselling historical fiction “Gilead” series. The Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers’ Literature was presented by the Tulsa Library Trust to American author Jason Reynolds, the New York Times bestselling author of “All American Boys;” the Track series, “Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu;” “Long Way Down;” “For Every One” and “Miles Morales: Spider-Man.” The Woody Guthrie Center opened in 2013 in the Tulsa Arts District and is dedicated to celebrating Guthrie’s life and legacy and educating a new generation about his role in American history. One way it does this is through the Woody Guthrie Prize given annually to an artist who best exemplifies Woody Guthrie’s spirit and work by speaking for the less fortunate through music, film, literature, dance or other art forms and serving as a positive force for social change in America. The 2021 prize went to Bruce Springsteen for his work continuing Guthrie’s legacy. With more than 20 studio albums, Springsteen has used his storytelling ability to write songs that connect with people who faced the hard times and celebrated the good times. Often backed by the E Street Band, Springsteen’s music provides a soundtrack of

Artist Aunj Braggs and her work in Philbrook Museum of Art’s “From the Limitations of Now”

Tulsa Ballet’s “Breakin’ Bricks”

resilience, strength, heart and joy despite or even in spite of the struggles thrown our way. Drawing from his experiences growing up in New Jersey, Springsteen’s songs have connected on a universal level with fans worldwide.

The Tulsa Community Foundation and the George Kaiser Family Foundation continued an important arts-funding initiative, Arts Alliance Tulsa, a United Arts Fund that strengthens and supports the arts through fundraising, support services, audience development and allocation of resources. Thirty-nine cultural organizations in Tulsa are benefiting from this program designed to raise awareness of Tulsa’s rich arts scene.

108|Contemporary showcases contemporary fine craft, and hosted a fascinating exhibition, “A Luthier’s Tale: The Craft of Stringed Instruments,” blending the worlds of music and art. Guest curator Benjamin Liggett brought together local and regional makers in an exhibition dedicated to the art, craft and design of stringed instruments. Liggett conveyed his passion as a luthier in this exhibition, which was a survey of stringed instruments from a variety of luthiers who represent the culture and craftsmanship of our region. These organizations, along with Magic City Books, Gilcrease Museum’s Zarrow Center for Art and Education, Living Arts of Tulsa and Tulsa Artists Coalition, reopened cautiously throughout the year and continued to attract visitors to downtown Tulsa each month during the First Friday Art Crawl. The success of the Tulsa Arts District, as well as the continued resurgence of downtown Tulsa, showcases the arts as a resilient force for our city.

“Highlight” sits outside the Cox Business Convention Center.