Firehouse Art Center Welcomes Exhibit Born From International Collaboration This Fall

On display from September 14th – November 4th, Waking Up by Maria Cristina Mercado and Qvetzal is an international collaborative exhibition between the Firehouse Art Center and the Universidad de Guadalajara, Centro Universitario De La Costa, Puerto Vallarta, Jal., Mexico. On September 10th at 2-4:00 PM, both artists will appear on a discussion panel during the Pioneer Library’s event ¡Celebracion! Culture, Tradition, and Community at the Norman Central Library. On September 12th at 3:00 PM, they will give a public lecture for the OU School of Visual Art. An exhibition opening reception will be held Thursday, September 14th, at 5:30 PM. This reception will feature authentic Mexican food provided by Pepe Delgados. The exhibition will close on November 4th in conjunction with the creation of a new mural in Lions Park by Narcisco Arguelles. All these events are free and open to the public.

The Firehouse’s Executive Director/Curator Andy Couch said, “We are so grateful to host Maria and Qvetzal. The arts community here has been so kind and welcoming to our guests.” Waking Up will showcase the contrasting styles of the two artists. One is intimate and austere, and the other evokes an awakening from the outside. Both artists and producing murals for the Firehouse during their residency. Waking Up is an invitation to make our days a daily exercise in living life with passion.

The Firehouse Gallery is located at 444 South Flood Avenue in Norman. Hours are from 10:00 AM –  5:00 PM Monday – Friday and 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM Saturday. For additional information on the Waking Up exhibition, contact the Firehouse Art Center at 329-4523 or visit www.normanfirehouse.com.

Call for Artists: Gallery of Norman Artists in the City of Norman Development Center

The Norman Arts Council, on behalf of the City of Norman, is seeking submissions from Norman, OK-based artists for a rotating gallery wall in the new Development Center as part of the City Hall Campus. This gallery will be installed across from the new mural set for the interior of the Development Center, making for a full corridor celebrating Norman’s own art and creativity.

The exhibition will run from October 25, 2023 through April 30, 2024. This is a juried exhibition and selected artists will be notified by September 30, 2023

Submissions are welcomed by visual artists in any two-dimensional medium who:

• Live or work in Norman, OK

• Are over age 18

• NOTE: There will be a call for proposals in Spring of 2024 for a Student Exhibition in the same space that will be open to Norman students Grades K-12

The deadline to submit is September 22, 2023 at 11:59 p.m.

Submission Guidelines:

• Artwork must be framed and/or ready to hang with two hanging points on the back, ideally D-rings

• Artists may submit up to two works of art for consideration, each must be a separate submission form

• Maximum size is 48” x 48”

• Total number of works selected will be determined by the selection committee

• All submissions must include a one-paragraph statement of the work

• Works on paper must be framed under glass

• Artwork over 25 pounds will not be considered

The Norman Arts Council will process any art sales from the exhibit. Sold works will remain on exhibit through the end of the exhibition. NAC will retain a 30% commission on any sold works.

All selected work must be delivered to MAINSITE, 122 East Main Street between October 3 and October 14, 2023 during regular business hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday through Saturday. Work must be delivered ready to exhibit. Any work deemed not ready to hang, may be omitted from the exhibit.

Norman Arts Council Publishes Annual Report for FY22-23

Did you know that — thanks to the voter approved increase on the hotel tax — Norman Arts is now granting out nearly $500,000 to over two dozen local arts organizations?

Or that 44 Norman students received awards amounting to almost $15,000 from Norman Arts to attend the arts education experience of their choosing last year?

That 84 artists were able to showcase their work at MAINSITE from July 2022 through June 2023?

And twice as many artists, artisans and vendors register to showcase and sell their wares at 2nd Friday Art Walks now compared to 2019?

There’s been a lot of positive growth in the Norman Arts community over the past fiscal year, and that momentum looks well positioned for the months and years ahead! Understand more about what Norman Arts does and how it does it by giving a look at our annual report, now published on our website and available to download here!

Norman Arts Council Executive Director to Depart After 13 Years with the Organization

On Friday, August 18, Erinn Gavaghan and the Executive Committee of the Norman Arts Council informed the NAC Board that Gavaghan will be leaving the organization after 13 years in her position as Executive Director.

Gavaghan will remain in her position throughout the search process for a replacement, which the Executive Committee believes will take approximately ten months. Gavaghan, who is a PhD Candidate at the University of Oklahoma in Art History, will be graduating after the Fall 2023 semester.

“While I have loved my time with the Norman Arts Council and am extraordinarily proud of the work we have done in the community, the time for me to move on has come. My partner and I will be leaving Oklahoma to be closer to our families in the Pacific Northwest,” Gavaghan stated.

Gavaghan has bolstered Norman Arts Council’s standing in the community, cultural offerings and expanded its staff that, accordingly, increased the organizations capacity to serve the city. She has also guided Norman Arts through a number of transitional periods through her tenure.

Shortly after beginning her role with Norman Arts, Gavaghan helped usher the transfer of a surging Norman Music Festival — which started under NAC’s umbrella — to the Norman Music Alliance.

She helmed moving the operations of MAINSITE Contemporary Art under the organization to become the now longstanding home of Norman Arts and provide a street level presence in the Walker Arts District of Downtown Norman, which became a certified cultural district by Oklahoma Arts Council (one of only seven in the state) under her leadership.

Gavaghan actively kindled relationships with Norman’s sister cities across the globe, creating cultural exchanges that brought international talent to showcase their work in Norman and, conversely, sent Norman’s own out to places where their art might not have otherwise ever reached.

In the tumultuous COVID era, Gavaghan actively advocated for arts funding on a state, regional and federal level, securing numerous grants that helped aid the local arts industry’s resilience and continued return to normal in the years since.

Most recently she steered the organization through another successful vote to raise the City of Norman’s Transient Guest Tax, the second such increase under her watch. As a major funder of all the arts in Norman through NAC’s granting program, these increases mean bigger events to draw visitors to Norman, better job opportunities for local creatives, improved pay for Norman artists and musicians and assurance that the city’s creative community and economy can thrive for decades to come.

The NAC Board of directors has contracted with CoSpire Consulting to guide the organization through the process of selecting a new Executive Director to continue Norman Arts’ positive trajectory in the years ahead with plenty of opportunity to learn directly as her shadow.

“We anticipate that the search process will take us into the Spring of 2024,” said Board President Dennis Brigham. “Both Erinn and the NAC Board feel strongly that whoever is chosen as the new ED has time to work alongside Erinn before she departs the organization.”

An Executive Director Search Committee has been appointed by the NAC Board and the details of the search process will be released soon.

Norman Arts Accepting Applications for Fall 2023 Arts Education Scholarships

Fall 2023 Arts Education Scholarships
Due 11:59 p.m. Thursday, August 31, 2023

ANY NORMAN STUDENT (GRADES K-12) IS ELIGIBLE TO APPLY
LEARN MORE AND APPLY HERE!

Norman Arts Council Arts Education Scholarships are intended to provide Norman children with the opportunity to attend arts programming that is offered outside of schools. 

Applicants may use funding — up to $500 — for any arts education program of their choosing beyond what local schools are able to provide, including but not limited to visual art instruction, music lessons, vocal and theater coaching and more.

Applications are available on Tuesday, August 1, 2023 and are due by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, August 31, 2023!

Priority is given to low income applicants and families facing a hardship, but any student (grades K-12) who lives or attends school in Norman is eligible to apply.

The NAC is seeking applications for scholarships from students who:

• express a strong desire to enhance their arts education experience beyond what is offered in schools, demonstrates a past commitment to visual or performing arts, or a student that a parent, guardian or teacher deems the child could benefit from an arts experience

• have the ability to commit to the completion of the program

• have a financial need that prevents them from funding the tuition themselves

• priority will be given to low income applicants or families facing a hardship

• $500 is the maximum award a single student will be granted for a single program

• Applications must be 100% completed