Oklahoma Arts Council sends this information as posted below:
| OKLAHOMA CITY (September 21, 2026) – Grant awards announced today by the Oklahoma Arts Council will help organizations meet the health and wellness needs of older Oklahomans. The state agency and leader for the arts announced awards totaling $165,000 for 13 creative aging programs for fiscal year 2027, with investments in arts programs serving older Oklahomans in Ada, Norman, Oklahoma City, Ponca City, Pawhuska, Sapulpa, Spencer, Tulsa and other communities. Available through the agency’s Creative Aging Partnership Grants, the funding supports programs that engage older learners with participatory skill-building experiences through hands-on sequential arts learning led by qualified teaching artists. Part of the Oklahoma Arts Council’s Creative Aging Initiative, the grants are supporting programming that will take place through June 2027. Applications for the grants open in the spring. Organizations awarded funding were: Art Maker (Pawhuska) for Wisdom Arts, with visual arts instruction and ballet instruction provided to older adults. The project will culminate in an art exhibition open to the public and a public performance. Bring Back the Music (Spencer) for Music for Seniors, designed to support the cognitive, emotional and physical well-being of older adults. Introduces participants to musical instruments, vocal techniques, and dance. Techniques will improve mobility, coordination, and flexibility through movement-based exercises like dance and drumming. Cimmaron Opera (Norman) for their Opera Club and AWE-pera Chorus where activities will include education, participation, and performance. City of Ada for Creative Connections: Purposeful Aging Through the Arts, a 30-week program of visual arts, movement, and storytelling. Participants build skills, share personal narratives, and strengthen social connections, culminating in exhibitions, performances, and a published anthology. Fab Lab Tulsa for hands‑on maker projects led by professional artists focused on digital fabrication and traditional craft tools. Oklahoma City Ballet for Golden Swans, featuring Dance for Parkinson’s, Move and Groove, and ballet teaching dance techniques to improve coordination, balance, flexibility, and strength. Oklahoma City Museum of Art for Making Memories, monthly art-making sessions in partnership with four memory care facilities in the Oklahoma City metro area, with quarterly public programs at the museum that include free access to galleries and classrooms. Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition (Statewide) for Artistic Legacy: Creative Connections for Oklahoma Seniors, a 20-week program featuring instruction in visual arts and creative writing culminating in a community showcase. Norman Firehouse Art Center for Healing Outreach and Healing Studio, hands-on art lessons for older adults with disabilities and elderly adults at assisted living facilities and adult day centers. Painted Sky Opera (Oklahoma City) for Sing Me a Story, an eight-session, hands-on program that provides sequential learning activities and culminates in a final storytelling performance. Ponca City Arts & Humanities Council for Soulful Art workshops featuring acrylic painting, watercolor journaling, music and movement, tap, ballet, and clay handbuilding. Sapulpa Arts & Humanities Foundation for ARTeries, featuring four-week sessions of hands-on learning in a variety of visual art mediums. The program includes educational field trips. Tulsa Opera for Songs by Heart, a music program that includes singing, movement, conversation, and connection for older adults living with dementia and age-related memory loss at senior living and adult day sites. Research consistently demonstrates that creative aging programs improve health outcomes for older adults. Cognitive health through lifelong learning, mental health through social connection, and improved physical health and mobility were among the benefits cited by participants in a recent assessment performed by the agency of creative aging programs in Oklahoma. Support for creative aging is among the ways the Oklahoma Arts Council, as the official state arts agency, is leading the arts sector in leveraging the arts as a proven tool to boost health and wellness outcomes. Creative Aging Partnership Grants are made possible with funding from the Oklahoma State Legislature, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET). About the Oklahoma Arts Council The Oklahoma Arts Council is the official state agency for the support and development of the arts. The agency’s mission is to lead, cultivate, and amplify the transformative power of the arts for all Oklahomans and their communities. The Oklahoma Arts Council provides hundreds of grants to organizations and schools in communities statewide each year, organizes professional development opportunities for the state’s arts and cultural industry, and manages the art collections at the Oklahoma State Capitol. Additional information is available at arts.ok.gov. |
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