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: