Kirkpatrick Family Fund pledges $1 million to help 'restart the arts' in central Oklahoma

Jun. 22—A big boost is coming to efforts to "restart the arts" in Oklahoma, as nonprofit cultural organizations struggle to overcome the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Kirkpatrick Family Fund has announced a $1 million commitment to Allied Arts over a three-year period to assist local nonprofit arts organizations recover and regain forward momentum.

"As we emerge out of a pandemic year, the Kirkpatrick Family Fund is committed to helping restore the educational, visual, and performing arts that are vital to a thriving society and economy," Kirkpatrick Family Fund President Christian Keesee said in a statement.

"Oklahoma arts organizations have endured an astounding blow: millions of dollars in lost revenue and hundreds of jobs eliminated, setting our once-thriving organizations back to statistics they haven't seen in over a decade in some cases. Our hope for this gift is that Oklahomans are encouraged to also consider increasing their support to help propel the trajectory of arts and culture in Oklahoma for future generations to enjoy."

Allied Arts found staggering financial losses when it surveyed 39 central Oklahoma cultural organizations about their operations between March 2020 and February 2021. The local impact of the pandemic was more than $21.2 million in revenue losses for these nonprofits, even after the groups received almost $12 million in COVID-19 assistance.

"And that's not even including the ripple-effect spending, which is looking at the true economic impact. ... It's for those special events and occasions that people are getting their nails done, their hair done, a new dress. All of that was lost," Allied Arts President and CEO Deborah McAuliffe Senner told The Oklahoman.

Although many organizations tried pivoting to socially distanced, outdoor or streaming programming — while others had to let their stages and events go dark over the past 15 months — the respondents still reported a loss of more than 1.8 million audience members during the pandemic year.

In addition, 521 Oklahomans lost their jobs among the 39 arts organizations, which cut 28 full-time staff, 17 part-time workers and 476 contract and seasonal employees.

"This long timeout is going to create longer-term scarring effects on the arts," Senner said. "The damage being done by COVID potentially has a 20-year impact on some of these arts groups, because their budgets are back to what they were in 2000, 2004, 2006 ... even the late '90s."

In light of the challenges central Oklahoma cultural nonprofits continue to face in the wake of the pandemic, Senner said she has started talks with fellow arts organizations, foundations, corporations and local, county and state governments to launch an effort to "restart the arts."

"We are fortunate to have a very collaborative and supportive community that responds when a need is identified," Senner said in a statement. "Our friends at the Kirkpatrick Family Fund have a strong legacy of philanthropic leadership and vision, particularly in support of our local cultural community. Their $1 million contribution will be critical in assisting organizations in replacing lost revenue and ensuring they have tools and resources needed to operate in a post-pandemic environment."

In conjunction with other Oklahoma arts advocacy groups, Allied Arts is spearheading what is anticipated to be a multi-year, multimillion-dollar, public-private restart the arts movement.

"Allied Arts expects recovery to take three to five years," Kirkpatrick Family Fund Director Elizabeth Eickman said in a statement. "We want to encourage businesses and individuals to join us in our support of the Allied Arts annual campaign and arts organizations in central Oklahoma as they work to bring their vital programs and services back to pre-pandemic levels."

As emergency funds helped cultural organizations survive the pandemic in the short term, Senner said the restart the arts effort will give arts nonprofits the support they need for a long-term, sustainable recovery.

"By joining together to help arts organizations restart, we can help strengthen the infrastructure of nonprofits, ensuring our community continues to enjoy a strong and dynamic arts landscape for years to come," she said.

For more information, go to https://alliedartsokc.com.

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