Arts in Oklahoma
Exploring the Arts of Oklahoma
From Museum Galleries to Campfire Songs
There is a misconception about Oklahoma that makes those of us who live here smile.
People picture wide-open prairie, ranches, and Route 66—and they're right. But they often miss the other Oklahoma: the one filled with artists, musicians, dancers, actors, sculptors, storytellers, and children carrying instrument cases into school before the first bell rings.
Here in Lawhoma Hills, we believe the arts belong everywhere.
They belong in museum galleries and on front porches. In school music rooms and church choirs. On rodeo stages and summer concert stages. Around campfires at Camp Run Amuck and in community theaters where a child's first standing ovation can change a life.
That's the Oklahoma we hope readers discover.
Art Lives in Every Corner of Oklahoma
Spend a weekend exploring Oklahoma and you'll quickly discover that creativity wears many different faces.
In Oklahoma City, the First Americans Museum shares the living histories, cultures, and artistic traditions of Oklahoma's 39 Tribal Nations through exhibitions, education, and Native artists.
Just across town, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art brings together American and European collections, contemporary works, and one of the world's largest public collections of Dale Chihuly glass.
Walk a few more blocks and you'll find the Paseo Arts District, where galleries, studios, festivals, and First Friday Gallery Walks remind visitors that art isn't something tucked behind museum walls—it's part of everyday life.
Travel north to Tulsa and the Philbrook Museum of Art pairs world-class collections with breathtaking gardens, while communities across the state celebrate our history. Travel south and west across Oklahoma and you'll find places like The Chisholm Trail Heritage Center, where interactive exhibits, western heritage, art, and storytelling preserve the history of Oklahoma's ranching traditions and the legendary cattle trails that helped shape our state.
The arts here aren't limited by geography.
They simply take different forms.
The Stage Is Waiting
Music and theatre thrive across Oklahoma as well.
The Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma City Ballet have inspired generations of performers, while school productions, community theatres, and local concert series give young artists their very first audiences.
Those opportunities inspired one of our own campers.
In Camp Run Amuck: Wilder Kate Under the Broadway Lights, Wilder Kate Everett leaves the comfort of Lawhoma Hills to pursue intensive musical theatre training. Along the way she discovers that talent alone isn't enough. Discipline, vocal health, perseverance, and the encouragement of an entire community become just as important as applause.
Sometimes the greatest standing ovation comes from the people who knew you before you ever stepped onto a stage.
The Arts in Lawhoma Hills
Lawhoma Hills celebrates creativity in its own way.
Each summer, neighbors gather beneath the stars for concerts in Town Square.
Students fill the school music room under Mr. Ashe's direction.
The annual community theatre production brings families together onstage and behind the curtain.
At MONA—the Museum of Natural Arts—Ophelia Goldberg curates exhibits while Reed Chapman reminds visitors that nature and art have always belonged together.
Children paint at Camp Run Amuck.
They sing around campfires.
They build costumes.
They write stories.
They learn that every person has something worth creating.
Why the Arts Matter
Art teaches us to observe.
Music teaches us to listen.
Theatre teaches empathy.
Dance teaches discipline.
Painting teaches patience.
Writing teaches us to notice the ordinary moments that become extraordinary stories.
Those lessons stay with children long after the curtain falls.
They're the same lessons woven throughout Lawhoma Hills.
Explore Oklahoma's Creative Side
Whether you're visiting a world-class museum, cheering at a community theatre production, strolling through a neighborhood gallery, or listening to children sing around a campfire, you'll discover something Oklahoma has always known:
Great art doesn't belong only in big cities.
Sometimes it begins in a small town where someone simply believes a child has a gift worth sharing.
And around here...
we always save them a place on the stage.
Continue Exploring
Visit MONA with Ophelia Goldberg.
Meet Wilder Kate Everett in Camp Run Amuck: Under the Broadway Lights.
Explore our Music of Lawhoma Hills Spotify playlists.
Browse Teacher's Corner for classroom discussion guides and arts extensions.
Lawhoma Hills, Oklahoma
