Next May, the esteemed art fair Beijing Dangdai, also known as Beijing Contemporary, will return for its 6th edition in Hall 11 of the city’s National Agricultural Exhibition Center. Reflecting the core mission and ethos of the fair, the 2024 edition of Beijing Dangdai 2024 will host a dynamic and diverse range of international galleries and see the fair collaborate with art and cultural institutions both from across the Chinese city and from around the world.

Founded in 2018 and helmed by Art Director Bao Dong, in six short years Beijing Dangdai has emerged as a leading international art fair and an important event on art world calendars. We reached out to Bao Dong to learn more about what inspired him to establish the fair, and what sets it apart within the contemporary “art ecosystem.”

Courtesy of Beijing Contemporary.

Why did you choose Beijing to launch this art fair?

Beijing served as the capital city for five dynasties in China, since some 850 years ago, laying the foundation for people of different regions, ethnic groups, and cultural backgrounds to gather and interact. It has a unique climate that boasts the most energetic and widest spectrum of art ecosystems in China, and is home to the largest number of artists, galleries, art institutes, and is a hub for both corporate and private collectors.

It also boasts a profound and historic heritage that is constantly intertwining with the dynamic vigor of contemporary art and artists. Established over two decades ago, the 798 Art Zone is now a landmark in the city with the highest density of art galleries, museums, and artist studios with international art and culture institutions like Galleria Continua, Galerie Urs Meile, Whitestone Gallery, and Goethe Institute. International galleries such as Lisson Gallery and Massimodecarlo flocked to the bonded-area in close proximity to the airport. Also, the prestigious art institution UCCA is headquartered in Beijing, along with most numbered museums opened by private individuals, financial institutions, and Chinese auction houses such as Poly Auction and China Guardian Auctions.

The juxtapositions inherent in the city are evidenced in intriguing exhibitions like “Mirroring the Heart of Heaven and Earth: Ideas and Images in the Chinese Study” on view at the Palace Museum, showcasing contemporary and multimedia artworks with classical calligraphies, paintings, and antique collections. The launch of Beijing Dangdai Art Fair in 2018 was a direct response to the growing need for and interest in a Beijing-specific perspective on contemporary art.

Courtesy of Beijing Contemporary.

What makes Beijing Dangdai art fair stand out from other art fairs in China and abroad?

Whilst the art market may be seen as “flattened” and homogenized, Beijing Dangdai presents its “unevenness” in its participating galleries and exhibition design, bringing together the blood and vessels that are scattered around the art landscapes of the capital city and beyond.

Among the 84 Chinese galleries that participated in our 2023 edition, 75 percent of participants have spaces in Beijing, showing the pivotal status of the city within China. Among the 87 participating galleries that have spaces in China, 10 have gallery spaces in emerging cities such as Shenzhen, Chengdu, and Urumqi.

Booth layout is planned counter to the hierarchical arrangement often adopted, as galleries of different backgrounds and seniority are scattered around the fair space to share the main area.

Our “Value” sector features a curation of galleries and the diverse values they embody. Established galleries from different regions and backgrounds will present world-class artworks in this sector. “Future” seeks to discover and foresee future art trends through presenting forward-thinking artworks. Galleries will bring experimental and curated art pieces and projects that explore new presentation methods and artistic concepts.

“Story” is a curatorial sector of the fair, meant to be realized via museum-level exhibitions at various exhibiting spaces in Beijing, probing into the contemporary art scene with in-depth perspective and rigorous academic scope,.

Courtesy of Beijing Contemporary.

Compared to art collectors in other cities, what’s different about Beijing-based collectors?

Beijing has the most collectors per capita in the country, consisting of both experienced and younger individuals with highly personalized paths to their collections. Each collection is formulated by high consumer power, century-long antiques collection history, and in-depth appreciation for content rather than format.

The threads and stories of their collections are closely related to their life experience, knowledge structures, and aesthetic preferences, highlighting their personal tastes and visions.

Some collectors look to history as a reference, and aspire to build a micro art history of their own. Some take delight in the surprises and contrasts of collecting both ancient and contemporary art; some see art collection as their life cause and devote time, energy, and resources to enjoy the most of it.

As such, it is then not uncommon to see collectors in flip-flops at Beijing Dangdai, who come to the fair with their families on public days. They come for the sake of art and want to celebrate it with jubilation rather than see it as a means to socialize or flaunt themselves.

Courtesy of Beijing Contemporary.

What are the most impressive trends in the art ecology that have emerged over the recent editions of the fair?

More and more galleries active in China have begun to represent artists from around the globe. Promising international artists appear in the artist lists from native Chinese art galleries like Antenna Space, Star Gallery, White Space, and Simulacra.

Likewise, Chinese galleries have also begun to open new spaces outside the country. For instance, with spaces in both Beijing and Berlin, gallerist Hua Xiaochan from Hua International said to have faith in the potential of Chinese artists and the universal value of art that transcends borders and cultures. She works closely with emerging artists both in China and Europe to build strong and long-term relationships with active and emerging art collectors.

Beijing Dangdai will continue to gather a diverse line-up of galleries and collaborate with art and cultural institutions across Beijing and beyond to present the audience with a vibrant and dynamic spectrum of the art ecosystem. We cordially invite you to “Tune into the artworld of Beijing.”

Beijing Contemporary VIP Preview will take place May 23–24, with public days May 25–26, in Hall 11 of the National Agricultural Exhibition Center.

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Chancellor Brian Cole has a message for emerging artists at UNCSA: your work has value.

“So much creative content emerges on our campus every single day by students, faculty
and staff,” Chancellor Cole says. “Much of that content is great and some of it not
so much, but it all has value. You can’t always ascribe or determine what that value
is right away. Some of it will develop a market over time as the artist revises and
refines it.”

“If you own what you create, you own the value of that work,” he adds, stressing that
students must be taught about intellectual property rights. “It is what can be expected
of a conservatory education,” he says. “UNCSA should leverage its resources to help
alumni and faculty advance their creative work and intellectual property.”

Understanding intellectual property

Intellectual property is defined as a work or invention that is the result of creativity
– a musical composition, a recording of a song, a film or video project, poetry, a
drama script or screenplay, or a work of visual art such as a painting, photograph
or sculpture. Chancellor Cole points out it can also include choreography, dance techniques,
design, or a process or tool for creating sets or scenery or costumes.

These creative works or inventions are protected by copyright, patent and trademark
laws which are meant to ensure that artists retain ownership of their work and benefit
from its value. Popular culture is teeming with examples of artists who have sued
or been sued for violations of intellectual property rights.

Recently, British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran prevailed in a lawsuit claiming that
his hit song “Thinking Out Loud” copied elements of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.”
A federal judge ruled that “the combination of chord progression and harmonic rhythm
in Gaye’s song was a basic musical building block” and therefore not protected by
copyright law.

Multigenre singer-songwriter Taylor Swift signed her first music label contract in
2005 with Big Machine Records. The contract gave her ownership of the music and lyrics
of her songs, but  the label had ownership of the master recordings. When Swift moved
labels in 2018, Big Machine Records sold her masters for $300 million; the global
superstar didn’t receive a penny. Swift famously re-recorded the songs as “Taylor’s
Version,” securing the rights – and the value – of her intellectual property.

Taylor Swift’s sixth studio album “Reputation” has yet to be re-released as “Taylor’s
Version.” / Photo: Raphael Lovaski

Artists outside of the music industry have also gone to battle for intellectual property
rights. This year the Supreme Court ruled against the Andy Warhol Foundation which
claimed the artist had not violated a photographer’s copyright when he used one of
her photographs to create images of the late musical icon Prince. The foundation claimed
that Warhol sufficiently transformed the photograph and did not infringe on intellectual
property rights. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote “original works … are entitled to copyright
protection, even against famous artists.”

Hollywood screenwriters, actors and authors claim their intellectual property is threatened
by artificial intelligence tools like Open AI’s Chat GPT, which mimic their writing
style, performances and even physical appearance. In September 2023, 17 popular authors
filed a lawsuit against AI for “systematic theft on a massive scale” of their copyrighted
books.

“If AI is used to imitate creative work by humans, how do you track that?” Chancellor
Cole asks. “How does an artist retain ownership of their work and its value? These
are important discussions that are going on and will continue.”

UNCSA Media protects ownership rights of artists

Driven by his commitment to safeguard intellectual property rights, Chancellor Cole
conceived UNCSA Media, a unique mission-driven recording label that features the creative projects of UNCSA
faculty and alumni across all disciplines.

UNCSA launched its recording label in September with “Windows,” featuring School of
Music faculty performing works by contemporary composers.

“I don’t know of any conservatory that’s doing it the way we are,” Chancellor Cole
says. “There are student record labels publishing works that students are doing on
a smaller scale. Many universities have publishing arms for written works. I do not
know of any other institution that has made publishing an intellectual property strategy
for artists,” he adds.

UNCSA Media offers a rights-friendly approach for artists, according to Chancellor
Cole. In most cases, artists will maintain ownership of their master recordings and
publishing rights. Works will be licensed to UNCSA Media for limited terms of three
to five years with options for renewal and equitable splits for both artists and the
label. Any revenue earned by the university will go back into mission of the school.
“We can offer a substantially greater level of ownership and revenue to the artist,”
Chancellor Cole says.

UNCSA Media will also provide a platform for its artist community to showcase their
work to new audiences. “I am so looking forward to the great work that will be highlighted
through UNCSA Media, and for audiences to learn more about UNCSA through the work,”
Chancellor Cole says.

UNCSA launched its recording label in September with “Windows,” featuring School of Music faculty performing works by contemporary composers Valerie Coleman, Jessie Montgomery
and Reena Esmail, and a world premiere commission by Kamala Sankaram.  The recording
in state-of-the-art Watson Chamber Music Hall was produced by Music Dean Saxton Rose.

UNCSS Media was created in consultation with Michael Winger, former executive director
of the Recording Academy/GRAMMYs and a native of Winston-Salem. “Artists have more
opportunities than ever to distribute their work, but finding your way into the marketplace
is increasingly more challenging,” Winger explains. “With its diverse array of dynamic
resources, UNCSA Media is a new model that will allow UNCSA’s talented pool of creators
to take control of their intellectual property while expanding their opportunities
in a media landscape that benefits from collaboration and community.”

Chancellor Cole says UNCSA Media will feature two or three releases per year of music,
film and video, plays, dance, and more. One additional release is planned for the
current academic year. “We are most likely not going to publish student work,” he
explains. “We are looking at alumni and faculty projects that are really ready to
take the next step.”

A vital lesson for emerging artists

While UNCSA Media is an important asset for talented alumni and world-class faculty,
Chancellor Cole says it is vital for students as a component of the curriculum and
an opportunity for experiential learning.

“It is vital for students to understand the importance of managing their own intellectual
property,” he explains. “Fundamentally, in terms of how we talk about art, our curriculum
should instill in student artists that what you create has value. Intellectual property
has value and you should own it. You should understand how you can do that, how you
can protect your ownership and be aware of opportunities to monetize it.”

November 2023 performance of the UNCSA Symphony Orchestra led by Robert Franz. / Photo:
Wayne Reich

Media publishing offers opportunities for internships, assistantships and fellowships.
“In a hands-on way, students can be involved with professionals who are running UNCSA
Media,” Chancellor Cole says. “That experience, knowledge and professional networking
has tremendous value in building and sustaining a career in the arts. We anticipate
more and more opportunities each year for students to be involved.” 

“In this time of ever-evolving business models in the arts industry, it is more critical
than ever for our student artists to learn the value of ownership, and of leveraging
their intellectual property as they move into the professional world,” he adds.  

By Lauren Whitaker

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Calgary Community

The Urban Society of Aboriginal Youth (USAY) inducted 10 people from the Indigenous community into their Changemakers ranks on November 17. CBC Calgary collaborated with USAY to highlight 5 of these movers and shakers.

USAY celebrates its 2023 Indigenous Changemakers

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The Urban Society of Aboriginal Youth (USAY) inducted 10 people from the Indigenous community into their Changemakers ranks on November 17. Over 200 guests at the Hellenic  Banquet Hall enjoyed the awards, food, and performances throughout the evening celebrating remarkable people helping others and improving their community.

CBC Calgary partnered with USAY to highlight 5 of these movers and shakers in our community and tell their stories in their own words. 

Video Producers: Features – Dyllan Goodman; Recap – Avi Randhawa

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Featured VideoCBC Calgary partnered with the Urban Society of Aboriginal Youth to present 2023’s Indigenous Changemakers – a celebration of remarkable individuals in Treaty 7 territory. Argintina Hailey Lawrence is a drag artist reclaiming the important role of Two-Spirit people in the Indigenous community.

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When Routt County artist Sandi Poltorak meets someone new, she may keenly observe the shape of their eyes and note their facial proportions.

Those are skills she learned years ago during comprehensive FBI composite sketch training at Quantico and that she honed during 12 years of forensic artist duties for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Sitting at a drawing table this week in her shared art studio, she looked through facial sketches she created of accused or convicted perpetrators. She read past media releases that law enforcement agencies issued along with her composite pencil drawings to ask the public to help find accused criminals.

That emotionally draining work required hours of back-and-forth sketching and interviewing skills with victims and sometimes ended up with Poltorak crying too with the victims. In addition to her forensic lab duties, for 12 years she traveled around the state of Tennessee helping to create images of up to 600 wanted individuals. She also created facial reconstruction composites from human skulls and age-progression drawings of long-sought criminals.

Poltorak retired from forensics in 2011 after 29 years in the field, and now her years of detailed work help her create photo-realistic artwork of animals and people. Viewing the realism and life in the eyes of a buffalo or owl that Poltorak draws, viewers may think they are looking at a wildlife photograph.

“Sandi’s attention to detail, precise handling of her pencil and powers of observation lead to her outstanding photo-realism skills,” said Joanne Orce, a fellow artist at Pine Moon Fine Art Gallery in Steamboat Springs.

“Forensic artists need to be able to capture subtle proportions and features that make for a convincing resemblance of the subject,” Orce said. “Sandi brings those skills into our gallery in all forms of subject matter including rodeo clowns, animals, birds, houses and Native American people. To do what she does requires a level of patience, endurance and foresight that is aided by her forensic background.”

After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and criminology from Florida State University, Poltorak worked in the trace evidence section for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation forensics lab examining such evidence as gunshot residue, hair, fiber, paint, glass, fire debris, and shoe and tire tracks.

When the CSI Crime Scene Investigation television shows became popular, the lab team told the law enforcement officers to stop watching, Poltorak said. Even with advances in technology, the real forensics work is not as specific and speedy as depicted on television.

When the bureau sent out a request for an employee who would like to train to become a sketch artist, Poltorak volunteered based on her childhood affinity for drawing and natural talent, despite having no formal art training. So, she trained with the FBI and took basic drawing classes.

She said when victims moved past the initial trauma on to anger, they worked intensely with sketch artists. Recollecting is easier than remembering, Poltorak explained, so the victims start by identifying similar facial features from an FBI book of faces. The process starts with the artist drawing a head shape, then eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth and chin.

At the end of a drawing session, just like on television, Poltorak held up the sketch and said, “Is this the guy?” The responses from victims could be visceral.

“You always knew you drew a good one if they almost retched for their reaction when seeing the final product,” she said.

“Composite work is mentally draining as well, asking people to go back to their worst day,” said Poltorak, 65. “It’s pretty sad what people can do to each other. When I retired in 2011, I knew it was time to get on the happy side of life.”

Remembering happy times during skiing vacation visits, Poltorak was inspired to move to Steamboat in 2013. She steeled herself to approach a gallery before she let herself go skiing. With limited fine art experience, she approached the owners of former Circle 7 Fine Art Gallery, who invited her to present her work. That set her on her current artistic path.

Poltorak is an expert in graphite pencil techniques and smudging with blending stumps while using 15 different types of pencils. Her detailed work includes everything from private commissions to collaborative work on a mural for Sleeping Giant School.

“Her current works shows that extra dimension that she brings to her piece because of her honing in on details and listening to people describing things,” said collaborating artist Jennifer Baker.

Baker is highly complimentary of collaborator Poltorak as a talented, perceptive artist and authentic, selfless person.

“I have a huge amount of respect for the work that Sandi creates and the professionalism in which she works,” Baker said. “People come into your life, and they just make your heart smile. And she is one of them.”

The Center for Black Excellence and Culture, the much-anticipated, $36 million “cultural home” for Black Madison, isn’t slated to open for another two years.

But eager art enthusiasts need only to wait until Saturday.

That’s when the center will hold its first visual arts event, a Black Art Expo at Fountain of Life Covenant Church, 633 W. Badger Road, which is next door to the future site of the center and led by its founder and CEO, Rev. Alex Gee. 

The free, all-ages event runs from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., featuring an all-Black lineup of speakers and exhibitors. It’s a preview of the sort of programs the Center will host when it opens in late 2025 as a hub for visual and performing arts, co-working and community gatherings.

“What we’re trying to do is … whet the appetite, to already start making connections between artists, and between artists and the community before the groundbreaking,” said Annik Dupaty, the Center’s visual arts programming coordinator. 

A new kind of art market

Twenty Black creators from southern Wisconsin, working in pastels, pencil, paint, pottery and more, will display their work at tables in the atrium. They’ll talk to visitors and sell their work, including originals, prints and art-imprinted merchandise. Among them are Madison-area artists Desere Mayo, Amira Caire and Stephanie Prewitt.

“There will be just a little bit of everything,” Dupaty said, explaining that she and her team invited participants by sending postcards and emails to the registry of Black artists they’ve been building. The call drew artists from seven different decades, from teens to septuagenarians. 

Madison native Brooklyn Doby, 26, is one of the younger participants. A self-described “entrepreneur, painter and activist through paint,” Doby will fill her booth with paintings, clothing, and magnets featuring her signature “abstract portraits of Black beauty.” 

“I think it’s very important to have a space for Black artists to collaborate and to showcase our work,” Doby said. “Yes, there’s art all around Madison, but … oftentimes when I have my art shows, I’m the only person that looks like me, and I have an only booth … that has visuals of Black people. So I think it’s extremely important to be part of the event where that’s all you see.”

Speakers reveal their artistic origins

Yet more Black artists will take their turns at the microphone Saturday, giving talks on art history, their next plans and, especially how they got started in the art world. The day’s theme is “Beginnings,” a nod to the nascent center. 

Madison potter Sharon Bjyrd will demonstrate how to use a pottery wheel. Comfort Wasikhongo and Silvan Fleming Jr. will demonstrate painting techniques. Former Madison poet laureate Fabu Phillis Carter will read selections of her work, while DJ Steel and genre-blending band Frisson bring the music. 

Closing out the event, Madison native and Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design associate professor Brad Anthony Brown will take the stage alongside Milwaukee artists Evelyn Patricia Terry and Della Wells for a 4 p.m. panel discussion on their trajectories as artists. 

For Terry, 77, the journey started as a failed home economics student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the 1960s. She was begrudgingly studying what her mother had told her to, until one instructor saw her work and encouraged her to major in art instead. 

At the time, Terry had never been to a museum. Even when, a few years later, she began taking art classes, she didn’t know a single Black artist until she found a book about them in the library.

“My first heroes were Picasso and Andy Warhol, because I hadn’t seen any other Black people doing anything with art. In class, we weren’t taught about Black people doing art,” said Terry, who’s made her living through her printmaking, pastels, collages and more since 1985. 

“I thought I was the first Black artist, that I was gonna have to be very good at this so I can set a good example.”

That, she said, shows why a place like the Center for Black Excellence and Culture will be so important. “It would be something encouraging for young African American artists, from children, to have a place to go where (art) is part of their culture and their environment as a normal thing,” Terry said.

Children have been on Dupaty’s mind too, as she plans Saturday’s event and other events to come. Throughout the expo, they’re invited to make their own art and participate in artist-led activities. 

“Think about little ones coming in … and thinking, ‘I could be an artist … I’m seeing other Black people like myself doing these amazing things, and that becomes possible for me,’” Dupaty said. 

‘Collective excitement’ in the air

In a 2021 interview, Gee told the Cap Times that Black Madisonians currently have to go to Milwaukee or Chicago to find a place “to exhale,” and businesses are “languishing” as they struggle to attract and retain Black employees.

“We have not built or created a space where Black people can dream, nurture, innovate, network, perform and create in a way that helps to revive us on a deep, deep level,” Gee said. “There’s an innate sense of excellence and greatness about us, but we don’t have space to cultivate it.”

The Center for Black Excellence aims to be that place. Though it won’t break ground until spring 2024, the center has already begun its performing arts programming. In July, it teamed up with the Children’s Theater of Madison to host “The Wiz Experience,” which included three performing arts workshops for Black youth led by Dana Pellebon, the center’s director of theatrical programming.

Dupaty hopes locals of all ages and backgrounds will come out on Saturday to celebrate and support Black artists — and leave inspired. She dreams the event might draw thousands. 

“People put signs in their yards and posts on social media about how they support Black people and Black artists, but this is one of those opportunities to come out and really actually show up for Black artists,” Dupaty said. 

She also sees it as a chance to be part of the “collective excitement” about the center, which is currently working to raise the last $3 million it would need to be “debt-free” by the time it breaks ground.

“Right now, yes, we’re in a borrowed space, but I think people will start to dream about what’s going to be happening on that very same block.”

When DWe Williams first moved from her native North Carolina to Oklahoma, the playwright, storyteller and performer committed to spending one year in the Sooner State working as an artist in residence at Fort Sill.  

“Now, it’s been over 40 or more years. … I’ve been in Oklahoma far longer than in North Carolina,” Williams said with a chuckle.  

“I have managed, for the most part, to surround myself here by people who are open and willing to experiment. … I’ve had a lot of long-term relationships, which have allowed me to develop and fine-tune an approach to the arts. So, in that case, it’s been phenomenal.”  

A respected teaching artist, the Oklahoma City resident is among the 14 individuals and four organizations that will be honored for their contributions to the arts Jan. 30 during the 45th Oklahoma Governor’s Arts Awards. 

Gov. J. Kevin Stitt will present the awards during a free public ceremony at 4 p.m. Jan. 30 in the fourth-floor rotunda of the state Capitol. A reception will follow in the second-floor rotunda.  

“Throughout history, the power of artistic freedom and expression is evident in every culture of every era,” Stitt said in a statement. “In Oklahoma, we value the people who work hard to keep the arts community thriving, and these awards are just one way to show that appreciation.” 

How will the Governor’s Arts Awards honor the late Oklahoma arts advocate Betty Price?  

Along with honoring this year’s awards recipients, the Jan. 30 ceremony will include a special tribute to former longtime Oklahoma Arts Council Executive Director Betty Price, who died Oct. 23 at age 92.

“From passionate volunteers and teachers to visionary nonprofit administrators and state leaders, generous philanthropists, community-centric businesses, and others, this year’s Governor’s Arts Awards honorees reflect a deep level of commitment to the arts seen across our state,” said state Arts Council Executive Director Amber Sharples in a statement. 

Known for creating Afrocentric plays as well as for working with adults and children with disabilities, Williams is one of five Oklahomans who will receive the Arts in Education Award at the ceremony.

“It certainly validates my whole career, (which) has been involved in theater, but primarily with an educational twist. So, I’m always trying to educate more than entertain,” said Williams, who adopted or fostered long-term seven special needs children, raising them all to adulthood. 

“It’s validating in terms of sharing the African American experience in the state of Oklahoma … and my absolute thrust on making the arts accessible to any and all populations.” 

How do the Governor’s Arts Awards validate the work of the honorees?

The director of content and audience development at KOSU, Ryan LaCroix will receive the Media in the Arts Award at the 2024 Governor’s Arts Awards.  

“I’m honored by it. I think it’s a really special thing, and I’m proud to have been chosen for it. … I think what we do in promoting the arts is really important. I just hope some of whatever I’m experiencing here with the award helps lead people to check out more Oklahoma music,” LaCroix said.  

While he was attending the University of Oklahoma in the early Internet days of the late 1990s and early 2000s, LaCroix was frustrated with how difficult it was to find comprehensive local concert listings online. In 2003, he started an Oklahoma music website that in 2010 helped him launch “The Oklahoma Rock Show,” a two-hour weekly broadcast on the public radio network that “opens a window of Oklahoma music to the rest of the world.” 

As the host of the show, which airs from 7 to 9 p.m. Fridays on KOSU, LaCroix has given hundreds of Oklahoma acts the quitessential experience of hearing their song on the radio for the first time.  

“That’s really what it’s all about is being able to recognize their talents and showcase them to other folks,” LaCroix said. “I can’t play a lick of music, so it’s good to be able to shine a light on the folks that have the talent and are actually making it happen, night in and night out.” 

Who are the 2024 Governor’s Art Awards winners? 

Here is the full list of 2024 Governor’s Art Awards categories and winners:  

The two recipients of the Governor’s Award, which recognizes longtime leadership and significant contributions to the arts: 

• Holbrook Lawson, of Tulsa, who was key in developing Tulsa’s first municipal art grant program. 
• Ann Barker Ong, of Muskogee, a driving force in the arts in the northeastern Oklahoma city for more than 40 years. 

The two honorees for the Business in the Arts Award, recognizing individuals, businesses and corporations that exhibit outstanding support of the arts in the state: 

• American Fidelity, a fourth-generation OKC-based family-run company that has donated nearly $1 million for central Oklahoma’s cultural landscape. 
• LEAP Coffee Roasters, an OKC small business that empowers artists to develop beverage blends that express their creative visions while providing them with visibility and a stable source of revenue.

The five recipients of the Arts in Education Award, which lauds individuals, organizations or schools for their outstanding leadership and service:  

• DWe Williams, of OKC, who has spent decades using storytelling, music and dance to move students of all ages and abilities.  
• Jana Telford, of Chandler, whose legacy spans 40 years of inspiring a love of music and an enthusiasm for the arts in her Lincoln County community.  
• Penny McGill, of Muskogee, who has built a reputation for giving students meaningful arts experiences in the arts as a drama teacher at Muskogee High School. 
• Trey Hays, of Tishomingo, who has been an arts educator in rural southcentral Oklahoma for nearly 20 years, inspiring hundreds of students. 
• Marcelle Sharron Ahtone Harjo, of OKC, who has dedicated a lifetime of work to reviving and ensuring the continuation of the practice of ledger art, a Native American narrative pictorial style of painting on paper or muslin. A Kiowa artist, Ahtone Harjo is also a longtime arts educator who taught at the Concho Indian Boarding School before taking a position in Edmond Public Schools. 

The four honorees of the Community Service Award, recognizing significant contributions to the arts in specific Oklahoma communities in the areas of leadership and volunteerism: 

• Selby Minner, of Rentiesville, who operates the Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame in Rentiesville, one of Oklahoma’s historic Black towns, where she also organizes the annual Dusk ’til Dawn Blues Festival, which annually draws thousands of visitors to the rural area.  
• Susan E. Brackett, of OKC, an avid proponent of dance and arts education in central Oklahoma for more than 30 years, who, with her husband, Gregg Wadley, helped Oklahoma City Ballet move into its new home in 2016.  
• Suzanne Boles, of Grove, who brought community theater to the rural northeastern Oklahoma lake town nearly three decades ago.  
• Darcy Reeves, of Marlow, who has served as executive director of the Chisholm Trail Arts Council in Duncan for more than a decade.  

The two recipients of the George Nigh Public Service in the Arts Award, honoring Oklahoma government officials for their outstanding support of the arts: 

The two honorees of the Special Recognition Award, recognizing an individual or organization that has made unique contributions in supporting the arts:  

• Mid-America Arts Alliance, which has invested over five decades nearly $3.8 million in funding and services in Oklahoma, assisted more than 20,000 Oklahoma artists and made possible programming reaching nearly 2.5 million adults and children across the state. 
• Oklahoma Museums Association, which has been on a mission for more than 50 years to represent the interests of more than 500 museums in 200 communities statewide. 

And the sole 2024 recipient of the Media in the Arts Award, honoring members of the media who demonstrate commitment to the arts in Oklahoma as documented through public awareness support and professionalism in reporting: 

“We stand upon the shoulders of geniuses, uncommon geniuses who have gone before us. That’s what we are here about today,” said Chief Glenna Wallace of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, as reported by the AP. Wallace spoke before a crowd gathered at the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in Chillicothe, OH. The occasion? The dedication of eight locations related to the ancient Indigenous Hopewell culture was designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as World Heritage sites.

UNESCO designates landmarks or areas as World Heritage sites via an international convention. The designation, awarded to a place for having cultural, scientific, historical, or other significance, protects the location under the law. As the UNESCO website states, the organization “seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity.”

“World Heritage sites belong to all the peoples of the world,” according to UNESCO, “irrespective of the territory on which they are located.”

The designation of the sites in Ohio will bring worldwide attention to the state. The recognition also comes after decades of work by activists and others seeking to preserve and honor Indigenous history and culture. As the AP writes, “the sheer magnitude of the ancient Hopewell culture’s reach was lifted up as enticement to a new set of visitors from around the world.”

Engineering Marvels

The eight locations designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites in southern Ohio are part of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, huge earthen structures built by Indigenous people thousands of years ago along the Ohio River. As UNESCO writes, the Earthworks “are the most representative surviving expressions of the Indigenous tradition now referred to as the Hopewell culture.” The Earthworks include sculpted hillsides, geometric shapes, giant mounds, and plazas, each with ceremonial importance.

The road to UNESCO World Heritage designation, preservation, and respect…has been long, with years of work by Indigenous people, scholars, and activists.

According to NPR, “It might be unusual to consider huge mounds of dirt as anything significant, however, UNESCO calls the earthworks a ‘masterpiece of human creative genius,’” which is one of the criteria to be considered for the designation. As NPR reports, “design and construction of the Earthworks show the people during this early era had a clear understanding of geometry, architecture, and solar and lunar alignments and multi-year cycles.”

Members of Ohio’s Shawnee Tribe were involved in the UNESCO World Heritage nomination, along with other tribes and the National Park Service. Shawnee Chief Ben Barnes told NPR, speaking about his ancestors, “They’re great civil engineers. They’re artists, they’re astronomers, mathematicians, and for my people, that’s not the way that Shawnee people, or any Indigenous peoples in this country, are typically portrayed in media.”

The Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks consists of the Mound City Group, Hopewell Mound Group, Seip Earthworks, High Bank Earthworks, Hopeton Earthworks, Octagon Earthworks, Great Circle Earthworks, and Fort Ancient Earthworks. The road to UNESCO World Heritage designation, preservation, and respect for these sites has been long, with years of work by Indigenous people, scholars, and activists.

Fighting for History

One of the Hopewell sites, the Octagon Earthworks in Newark, OH, was turned into a golf course in 1910. The layout of the Moundbuilders Country Club course, as the New York Times reported in 2021, “is built around the mounds, which were prescribed by the cosmology of the Native Americans who created them approximately 2,000 years ago as a way to measure the movement of the sun and the moon through the heavens.” 

“We wouldn’t want a country club on the Acropolis. We don’t want a country club on the Octagon.”

For more than a century, the country club leased the land from the county for golfing despite growing public outcry over using the land in this way. Before becoming a golf course, the mounds were used as an encampment for the Ohio National Guard.

According to the New York Times, the first publicized efforts to protest the use of the mounds by the country club came in 2005, when a motion to dig into the mounds’ foundations to build a new clubhouse was denied. “At that point, a group led by local professors and Native Americans organized a protest campaign—and some residents began questioning whether the course should exist at all.”

The country club’s reluctance to relinquish the site was viewed as a denial of Indigenous culture and the importance of the Hopewell in history. As John N. Low, the director of the Newark Earthworks Center and a citizen of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, told the New York Times, “We wouldn’t want a country club on the Acropolis. We don’t want a country club on the Octagon.”

After years of legal battles, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that the Ohio History Connection, a statewide nonprofit history organization, would take the golf course by eminent domain and work on restoring it into a public park. Justice Michael P. Donnelly wrote in the decision, “The historical, archaeological and astronomical significance of the Octagon Earthworks is arguably equivalent to Stonehenge or Machu Picchu.” Less than a year later, the UNESCO World Heritage designation was awarded to the Octagon Earthworks.  

Centering Hopewell Contributions

The recognition of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks marks Ohio’s first UNESCO World Heritage designation. It’s also only the 25th such designation in the United States. The Earthworks join the likes of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, Stonehenge in England, and New York’s Statue of Liberty.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R) said in a statement that the designation “will ensure that the earthworks created by American Indian Tribes over 2,000 years ago will get international attention, drawing even more visitors to see these amazing places. I encourage Ohioans and people from across the globe to visit these eight sites to experience the awe-inspiring earthworks that are such a special part of Ohio’s history.”

For Indigenous people in Ohio and beyond, the UNESCO World Heritage designation is more personal, with a potential impact that could be wide-ranging. Chief Barnes told NPR that he viewed the honor “as a step toward combating racist and ignorant stereotypes about his people and his ancestors.” 

The contributions of the Hopewell were and continue to be hugely important, not just for Americans but for the world, deserving of protection and recognition. “The long journey toward this recognition tells a larger story about imperiled Native American sacred sites in the eastern half of the United States and the challenges faced by those who wish to protect them,” wrote Stephen Warren, a professor of history and program coordinator of Native American and Indigenous Studies at the University of Iowa, in an op-ed for the Columbus Dispatch.

Speaking at the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, Chief Wallace told the AP, “This place was the center of North America, the center of culture, the center of happenings, the center for Native Americans, the center for religion, the center for spirituality, the center for love, the center for peace.”

MUSKOGEE, Okla.- The Murrow Indian Children’s Home is hosting a brick fundraiser for their non-profit organization. The organization serves as an inter-tribal children’s home. The fundraiser’s initial goal is to sell at least 1,000 bricks.

Executive Director of the Murrow Indian Children’s Home Betty Martin (Cherokee) started the brick fundraiser project. It began when she decided to place bricks around the eagle sculpture on the mound outside the home. The sculpture was made by Native artist Parker Boyiddle (Kiowa/Wichita/Delaware/Chickasaw).

When it came time to add on to the statue with a brick pathway, the home needed to turn to someone who could create a design that would complement it. Kenneth Johnson (Mvskoke/Seminole) is a well known artist who came up with the layout and design with these bricks. Johnson has designed many Indigenous sculptures, jewelry, as well as arts and crafts that have been used during many events.

According to Martin, Johnson will be at the Murrow Indian Children’s Home in April to start the project. She is hoping he will be able to attend the dedication ceremony. Purchasing a brick is not only a great way to support the home, it is also a way to become embedded in the it’s legacy.

“Not only is it a fundraiser but those people will become part of history because down the road people will come and look at those. There will be all these names of people who helped support Murrow Indian Children’s Home,” Martin said.

When choosing where to place the bricks, Martin thought it would be a great idea to put them around the eagle sculpture in order to enhance it.

Bricks will be available for purchase until the end of December. Payments can be made online or by mail. For those that live locally near the home, donors are welcome to drop off donations in person.

Daily Life

“Our mission is to provide a safe and nurturing environment for American Indian children and provide a home placement. We provide them cultural experiences and spirituality,” Martin said.

The home takes in any Native child within the state of Oklahoma who are in tribal custody. Family placement is allowed if both parents are deceased. Placement within families depends on if a family member is available to take in the child, and if they can provide them with a safe home environment. According to Martin, the home currently houses 15 children, but they can serve a capacity of up to 30 children.

The home has two programs. One is for younger children who are in tribal custody, the other is called a transition program. This is for children who are about to age out of foster care.

Each child at the home attends a public school nearby. While the home is similar to a boarding school, Martin clarified its purpose is to provide a home for foster children.

The transition program is for children who are 18 years old, or who are about to turn 18 years old. The program helps direct them to lead an independent life. The home’s gift shop helps fund the transition program.

The transition program helps students find employment, become responsible in handling documents, budgeting, finding resources and making doctor appointments.

“To me budgeting is always a big deal because if you can’t budget, you can’t survive. Budgeting is critical to learning to live independently,” Martin said.

When the transition program first began it provided six bedrooms within each of its cottages. “In my opinion I believe that when the kids are transitioning, they should have their own space, they all need their own bedroom,” Martin said.

Overall Martin wants to see each child succeed, have fun and be able to live life independently.

Activities

While children stay at the home they take part in different activities in order to stay spiritually and physically connected to their culture. Some have been to a ceremonial ground, some have been to a powwow. The home tries to incorporate as much culture as they can into the lives of their tenants.

Before the Covid-19 Pandemic the home provided cultural activities taught by members of the community. One of those activities included crafting stickball sticks. Now post Covid, the home does not see as many people coming in to teach these activities.

One of the classes still provided includes a ribbon skirt class taught by a women’s group called Red Spirit. They currently have three girls involved, however Martin hopes to see them come back so that every girl at the home can learn how to make their own ribbon skirt.

According to Martin each child has different talents, whether it is beading, art, basket weaving, sports or playing in a band. “I always tell them you’re Native, every Native person has talent somewhere,” Martin said.

Martin recognizes the unique struggles within younger and older children. Regardless, she tries her best to make them comfortable and provide a place that feels like home.

“There are so many Native American children that are homeless, especially the ones that have been in custody and then they end up homeless. Well I just don’t want that to see that happen,” Martin said. “Also there’s a very high incarceration rate of Natives that has got to stop, we have to break that cycle.”

Making the Transition

After the children grow up and follow their own path, Martin tries to stay in touch. One former child from the home includes a young man who now works on a cruise ship, another, a young woman. They both call Martin to keep her up to date on their current whereabouts.

For children past and present, Martin wants them to feel that they are meant to be here, and are worthy to do anything they set their mind to.

“I know a lot of the kids, they just think well I could never be a nurse or I couldn’t be a doctor or things like that. But they can, they just got a slow start that’s all,” Martin said.

For more information about the Brick Fundraiser or about the organization, the Murrow Indian Children’s Home can be contacted at 918-682-2586. They also have a Facebook page, Murrow Indian Children’s Home (The Official Home Page).