“Gilcrease in Your Neighborhood,” the program designed to help Tulsans engage with Gilcrease Museum and its collections while its new facility is undergoing construction, was one of two efforts by the museum to be honored at the recent Oklahoma Museums Association awards.

The program, which has for the past two years has placed examples of art from the Gilcrease collection in public areas throughout the city along with special virtual and in-person programing to help deepen viewers’ experiences with the individual pieces, received the Outstanding Outreach or Education Program.

The museum also received an award for its “From Trauma to Resilience: Learning from the Eddie Faye Gates Collection” project, supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The OMA awards recognize outstanding projects created by Oklahoma museums, with projects being evaluated on public benefit, innovation, advancing the field and following best scholarly standards.

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“Gilcrease in Your Neighborhood” has installed art works at a total of 33 locations around Tulsa over the course of the program and created more than 100 thematically related public programs, many of which were enhanced by digital components.

The first year of the project reached an estimated 350,000 people between October 2022 and September 2023.

Alison Rossi, the Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation Director of Learning and Community Engagement for Gilcrease Museum, and project leader for “Gilcrease in Your Neighborhood,” said “I’m delighted that we’ve been able to contribute to collective well-being by connecting Tulsans with art, one another, creative opportunities, and the museum.

“Tulsans helped shape this project every step of the way and have been really appreciative of our efforts to bring Gilcrease art and activities to places where they live, work and play,” she said.

“From Trauma to Resilience: Learning from the Eddie Faye Gates Collection” was a project to share video interviews and photographs from the Eddie Faye Gates Tulsa Race Massacre Collection. With funding provided by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Gilcrease was able to expand its technological capacity to archive, digitize, research and create educational resources about the collection, as well as engage Tulsans to provide search tags, names and comments for selected photographs.

“This project proudly celebrates the life and career of local hero Eddie Faye Gates and represents remarkable interdepartmental collaboration during challenging times,” said project lead William Smith, director of the University of Tulsa’s Helmerich Center for American Research at Gilcrease. “Gilcrease provided broad access to the collection with layered interpretation gathered from staff, project advisers and community partners. The result is a gift to our community and a fitting tribute to Gates and her legacy.”

The current “Gilcrease in Your Neighborhood” exhibit features an example from the Gates collection: a photograph of one of Gates’ ancestors, Willie Peevyhouse Davis, in a white dress lounging on the shore of a pond or lake near the Davises’ Okmulgee farm. The photograph was taken sometime between 1904 and 1912.Reproductions of the image have been set up at the five partner locations of “Gilcrease in Your Neighborhood”: The Gathering Place, 2650 S. John Williams Way; the Oxley Nature Center, 6700 Mohawk Blvd.; Turkey Mountain, 6800 S. Elwood Ave.; the Ray Harral Nature Center, 7101 E. Third St., Broken Arrow; and Keystone Ancient Forest, 160 Ancient Forest Drive, Sand Springs.

The final Gilcrease Family Festival of the year will take place 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16, at the Greenwood Cultural Center, 322 N. Greenwood Ave. Activities will include a student photography show in partnership with Crossover Preparatory Academy, performances, hands-on art and photography experiences, a tintype demonstration, a photo booth and more.

This program is free, but reservations are required to ensure enough supplies for all participants. To make reservations: gilcrease.org .

‘Music on Exhibit’

Philbrook Museum of Art, 2727 S. Rockford Road, will present a special event mixing music and art in conjunction with its current exhibit, “American Artists, American Stories from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.”

The concert, titled “American Artists, American Songs,” will feature presentations by Philbrook curator Susan Green and musicologist Jason Heilman focusing on examples of works in the exhibit, which includes paintings and sculptures by artists including Gilbert Stuart, Benjamin West, Mary Cassatt, Georgia O’Keeffe, Edward Hopper, Thomas Moran and Winslow Homer; and music by such American composers as Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein and Amy Beach.

Performers will be vocalist Kelly Ford, pianist Cathy Venable, Elizabeth Potts on flute, clarinetist David Carter, violinist Liza Villarreal and Ji Yon Shim Anderson on cello.

The concert will be at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 10, and tickets are $40 for adults, $20 students. VIP packages, which include a pre-concert reception, are also available. Concert tickets include general museum and exhibition admission. Reservations are strongly encouraged. To reserve: philbrook.org .

‘Reefer Madness’

Now that the state’s medical marijuana laws have allowed cannabis shops to pop up around town like dandelions in spring, it might be difficult to believe there once was a time when “wacky tobacky” was considered a public menace.

That was the subject of the 1938 film “Reefer Madness,” originally conceived to be a cautionary tale about the harmful effects of drug addiction, but which was later edited into an exploitation film that played up the sex and violence of the story, as clean-cut kids were driven to outrageous acts thanks to marijuana and jazz music.

The film became a staple of “midnight movie” showings in the 1970s, where its hysterical tone and low-budget filmmaking made it into a campy comedy. In 1998, composer Dan Studney and writer Kevin Murphy transformed the film into a satirical musical.

Theatre Tulsa will present its production of “Reefer Madness: The Musical” as an add-on production to its 102nd annual season, Nov. 8-10 at the Tulsa PAC, 110 E. Second St.

“We wanted to produce a bold show that would extend our reach beyond regular theatergoers,” said Executive Director Travis Guillory. “We’re always looking for new audiences, and ‘Reefer Madness’ was the perfect choice to bring in a new crowd.”

Guillory also noted the company’s recent financial challenges.

“To be blunt (pun intended), Theatre Tulsa entered its 102nd season with a significant financial setback,” he said. “We’ve spent the last several months assessing where we could add productions and initiatives to help sustain Oklahoma’s oldest and largest nonprofit theater company. Producing this musical is part of that effort.”

The cast features Sam Briggs, Cristen Burdell, Robert Young, Karlena Riggs, Thomas Farnan-Williams, Nash McQuarters and Kara Young-Paden, with an ensemble that includes Kimberly Wall, Zach Thomas and Leah Rose. The production is directed by Artistic Director Jarrod Kopp and choreographed by Guillory.

Performances are at 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 10. Tickets are $29-$51. 918-596-7111, tulsapac.com .

Wild at Art

The Tulsa Audubon Society’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Network is hosting its annual Wild at Art show, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday at , 302 S. Main St., in Broken Arrow.

The event features unique wildlife-themed art, craft items, information on ways to prepare one’s outdoor spaces to be more habitable for non-domesticated creatures, gourmet food items and more.

Proceeds benefit WING-IT, the society’s wildlife rehabilitation group, an all-volunteer organization that works to care for injured and abandoned wildlife so that they can be returned to the wild.

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