BOK plans to donate Tulsa land for proposed Oklahoma Museum of Music and Popular Culture
The Oklahoma Historical Society is planning to establish the Oklahoma Museum of Music and Popular Culture in Tulsa's Brady Arts District, and Bank of Oklahoma has agreed to donate land for the project. The museum, nicknamed the OK Pop, would feature large exterior LED screens. This configuration represents a possible Dick Tracy exhibit; the historical society has been working with the family of the late Bob Wills, the Western swing music pioneer who got his start with his Texas Playboys in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Photo provided
A version of this story appears in Wednesday’s The Oklahoman.
BOK plans to donate Tulsa land for proposed pop culture museum
The Bank of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Historical Society announced Tuesday plans to build the 67,000-square-foot Oklahoma Museum of Music and Popular Culture on a square block in the Brady Arts District.
The Bank of Oklahoma intends to donate a square block of land in Tulsa’s Brady Arts District to build the planned Oklahoma Museum of Music and Popular Culture.
“It’s the culture in our company to give back … and Tulsa being our headquarters, it’s vitally important that we see good things happen there,” said BOK President Mark Funke said Tuesday at a press conference at the state Capitol announcing the agreement to donate the land to the Oklahoma Historical Society for the proposed project.
“As it began to come together more and more, we saw the importance of it not only for Tulsa, but for the entire state,” he added. “We decided it was important for us to figure out a way to make this happen … and be in on the ground floor of this project, so to speak.”
The property is now a BOK surface parking lot just north of Union Depot, and the land connects the Brady District with downtown Tulsa. It is close to the BOK Center, ONEOK baseball field, the Blue Dome District and other culturally significant sites, making it an ideal spot for the proposed 67,000-square-foot museum, said historical society executive director Bob Blackburn.
Bob Blackburn of the Oklahoma Historical Society talks about property acquisition for the planned Oklahoma Museum Of Music and Popular Culture in Tulsa at the state Capitol in Oklahoma City, Tuesday, May 10, 2011. (Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman)
“If we could choose one site that represents the crossroads of creativity, it would be this one square block,” he said.
Nicknamed the OK Pop, the museum would be a companion institution to the Oklahoma History Center and would celebrate the state as “the crossroads of creativity, because so much of America’s and the world’s creative spirit has come through Oklahoma,” Blackburn said.
The donation of the land is contingent on the state Legislature’s passage of the $40 million state bond issue the historical society is requesting to fund the building of the museum. The historical society plans to match state funds with an $8 million private fundraising campaign, which the George Kaiser Family Foundation has put up a $1 million challenge grant to launch the campaign.
If the bond issue is authorized in fiscal year 2012, Blackburn said the museum could open in 2015.
“We want an institutional home in Tulsa, and we have a business plan … that will be self-sustaining, and now we have a block that is perfect,” he said. “With this particular site, with this project at this important time, we need to get started.”
Economic impact
Mike Neal, CEO and President of the Tulsa Metro Chamber of Commerce, moved to the state five years ago
An artist rendering shows plans for the OK Pop. (Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman)
from Nashville, Tenn., and believes the OK Pop has tremendous potential to help Oklahoma leverage its cultural resources in much the same fashion.
“I saw what an amazing job that Nashville, Tenn., did with its heritage and did with music,” he said. “This is a phenomenal opportunity for our kids and our grandkids to get to learn about these people that our state should be so very proud of and for our state to showcase their talents.”
Despite the state budget crunch, its supporters remain optimistic that the OK Pop can be built. If the bond issue is authorized this year, the historical society won’t need the funds until the 2014 fiscal year, Blackburn said.
“Right now, the projections are that state revenue will be back to where it was by next year, back to FY ’09 (levels) … and then hopefully by 2014, it will even exceed that,” he told The Oklahoman.
“We’re just saying it’d be worth investing the money in this, that it will generate more economic activity and serve a lot purposes.”
Neal estimated the museum would have a total economic impact of $56.6 million during construction and the first year of operations. Once established, the OK Pop would generate an estimated $1.8 million in total annual sales tax.
“The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber and Tulsa Metro Chamber have a shared legislative agenda and one of the items on the agenda for 2011 is supporting the issuance of state bonds to fund both the Native American Cultural Center in Oklahoma City and the Oklahoma Museum of Music and Popular Culture in Tulsa,” he said. “We feel both of these projects are critically important to our state and the history of our state. … We see them as complementary.”
Since bond issues are traditionally passed in the final weeks of the session, he believes it is possible the Legislature could approve funding for the projects before adjourning May 27.
“My hope is that the state can continue to prosper and generate enough revenues to support many cultural projects like these,” said Funke, who is on the executive committee of the Oklahoma City chamber. “We are proud to be part of this. … They may not both be this year, but hopefully they will both be accomplished and be wonderful for the state.”
Blackburn said BOK has agreed to leave the land donation offer on the table for a year.
Tourist attraction
Conservatively, the OK Pop would draw about 100,000 paid visitors a year, plus another 100,000 unpaid guests like those attending special events, Blackburn estimated.
An artist's rendering shows the plans for the OK Pop. (Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman)
The museum would have an anticipated $1.8 million annual operations budget, and he predicted the museum would be able to pay for its own operations from the first year through a planned $3 million endowment, annual fundraising efforts and various revenue streams including admissions, gift shop sales, special event rentals and a planned parking garage. The parking garage would serve BOK employees, the museum and the burgeoning area.
“Providing adequate parking will be an important element of this project,” said BOK spokesman Jesse Boudiette told The Oklahoman. “Downtown currently has many parking options and as the Blue Dome and Brady districts continue to expand within the corridor between ONEOK Field and the BOK Center, parking facilities for downtown workers and visitors will be in high demand.”
Hundreds of artists have offered their support and collections, ranging from Garth Brooks and Kristin Chenoweth to the families of the late Bob Wills and Gould, said Jeff Moore, who already has accepted the job as director of the as-yet-unbuilt museum. He said creativity is “one of Oklahoma’s major export, and I don’t think the state has always recognized that.”
“Oklahoma deserves it. The creatives of Oklahoma deserve it, and Oklahoma needs to be inspired by it. And the world needs to know that Oklahoma’s story is an international story.”
The OK Pop would feature Smithsonian-quality exhibitions reflecting Oklahoma’s creative spirit and showcasing the state’s contributions to music, movies, TV, radio, literature, and more. History Center exhibits like “Another Hot Oklahoma Night: A Rock & Roll Exhibit,” “Chester Gould and Other Okie Cartoonists” and “Pickin’ and Grinnin’: Roy Clark, ‘Hee Haw’ & Country Humor” will form the foundation of the OK Pop’s offerings.
“It’s not a hall of fame. It’s putting things in context … and giving you three degrees of separation to the national scene, like Leon Russell and J.J. Cale gets you straight to Eric Clapton,” said Larry O’Dell, director of collections at the History Center.
The Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame took a stand against the proposed OK Pop in a statement issued Tuesday.
“We are the state’s music museum and we believe that our state legislators must focus limited resources and Tourism initiatives on the existing state-mandated Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame,” said Penny Kampf, Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame executive director, in the statement. “Spending taxpayer dollars on any additional music facilities would be a duplication of resources, and a strain on taxpayer dollars.”
-BAM
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