Listen to this articleOklahoma City is home to 47 thriving museums which employ 860 people, earn more than $107 million in revenue each year, and have assets upwards of $835 million. These compelling numbers help to fuel our belief that the arts have the power to help economies thrive, educate and enrich societies, and create greater cultural understanding. Investing in these institutions, like the Oklahoma City Museum of Art (OKCMOA), plays a significant role in driving success within our community and is valuable to sustaining our future growth.
For 80 years, OKCMOA has brought a diverse collection of artworks to our community from all over the world. The Museum serves over 100,000 visitors each year, enriching the lives of Oklahomans and visitors by educating them on historical and cultural events that speak to who we are today.
Art and objects of cultural heritage become vulnerable to the impacts of time, and the conservation of these works calls attention to the rich diversity of the human experience. By taking steps to preserve these works, we can help preserve our shared history and cultural elements for future generations.
Last year, OKCMOA received funding through Bank of America’s Art Conservation Project, a global program providing funding to nonprofit cultural institutions to conserve historically or culturally significant works of art in danger of deterioration. Through the project, OKCMOA was able to restore a historically significant piece – an acrylic painting on canvas, Khufu (1965), by artist Sam Gilliam.
For more than a decade, Bank of America Oklahoma City has supported the arts through partnerships, community programs and offered bank-curated exhibitions from its own corporate art collection. Before Khufu, Bank of America Oklahoma City helped restore Triumph of Washington (1931), by artist Gardner Hale in 2019. In addition, BofA cardholders, through its Museums on Us program, have free access to more than 250 museums and cultural institutions in Oklahoma City and around the U.S. This is what robust partnership looks like, and with the Khufu conservation now complete, the piece will be displayed for the first time in years in OKCMOA’s From the Vault: The 80th Anniversary Exhibition, showcasing pieces from the Museum’s permanent collection that tell the story of its lasting impact.
Together, our combined arts, culture, and heritage programs showcase the longstanding collaboration existing between nonprofit organizations and private companies as we work together to help create thriving local cultural outlets as well as local economies. Investing in institutions that foster access to arts and education drives our economy forward for a stronger community. We hope to see you at OKMOA’s eightieth anniversary exhibition and encourage you to take a moment to celebrate and support the arts in our community.
Tony Shinn is president of Bank of America Oklahoma City, and Michael J. Anderson is president and CEO of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
