Fundraising for OKPOP completion reaches $8.6 million of $18 million goal
KPOP is almost halfway there.
The yet-to-open Oklahoma Museum of Popular Culture will get $18 million in funds from the state for the purpose of completion if the downtown Tulsa museum can raise $18 million in matching funds.
A progress update arrived Tuesday, when Abby Kurin announced during a news conference that more than $8.6 million of the $18 million has been raised. Kurin is the managing director of the OKPOP Foundation, OKPOP’s fundraising arm.
Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum, who was among the speakers at the news conference, said: “I’m so thankful for our state legislative leadership for giving us this shot. It’s really all we ask for. Give us a shot at raising the money we need to finish the job the right way on OKPOP, and they were willing to do that. I’m really grateful to Abby and the team who are already off to such a strong start in fulfilling our side of that commitment.”
The news conference was held at OKPOP, which, from the exterior, looks ready to welcome visitors. But much work remains to make OKPOP a functioning museum.
Of the $36 million budget for completion, $1.5 million will be used for acquisitions and preservation; $4.475 million for building expenses, salaries and parking improvements; $20.475 million for exhibit fabrication/installation, programming development, and other development; $9 million for design and consulting fees, plus construction management; and $550,000 for marketing expenses and opening events.
Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell said the almost-halfway-there fundraising update was provided to “reignite the momentum behind where we are as a state with OKPOP.”
He followed by saying Tulsa is on the clock.
“That is a message I am delivering on behalf of the state of Oklahoma,” Pinnell said, reminding news conference attendees that there is a deadline (November 2025) for OKPOP to raise the $18 million necessary to collect the matching funds set aside by the state.
“But it should not just be Tulsa,” Pinnell said. “It should be northeast Oklahoma. It should be statewide. It (the fund-raising campaign) should be a 77-county operation.”
Tom Evans, interim board chair of the OKPOP Foundation, has northwestern Oklahoma roots. He told attendees he serves on a statewide board and said OKPOP is “truly is a statewide museum.”
Evans said no donation is too small and reminded attendees that the donation will essentially be doubled due to the matching funds. For information related to donating, go to okpop.org and navigate to OKPOP Foundation.
Jake Krumwiede, OKPOP’s executive director, indicated that OKPOP will pay tribute to creatives from all areas of popular culture. Pinnell, zeroing in on one aspect of pop culture, said Oklahoma’s musical heritage is unmatched, and he said the state has not bragged enough about that.
“I’m tired of Tennessee and Mississippi and a lot of these other states talking about the musical heritage and history they have,” he said, adding that musical heritage and history are “really right here in Oklahoma.”
Pinnell said people will flock to Oklahoma over the next two years as the Route 66 centennial approaches. He said OKPOP has “got to be open” when the centennial arrives.
“This building, the stories that could be told right here, can be the true economic engine from a tourist perspective in downtown Tulsa,” Pinnell said. “And this will continue to be a top priority of the lieutenant governor’s office over these next two years that I have left in office is to raise the money needed.”
“We are so excited today that we are so dang close,” Bynum said. “After talking about this for over a decade, we are so close to being done.”
In addition to saluting Oklahoma’s pop culture figures, OKPOP aims to inspire the next generation of creative people.
“I always think about that little boy and little girl that are going to walk through this door — and there are going to be thousands of them — and they are going to come in here and just be amazed that ‘I can do that, too,’ from the example that has been set,” Evans said.
Bynum put a personal spin on the next-gen topic.
“If you’re thinking about donating to this, you need to understand the thinking by those of us who already have,” the mayor said. “Those of you who know me know I love history, but it’s not just about honoring the past. I love history because it makes the present and the possible accessible to us.
“My daughter dreams of being a writer one day because Susie Hinton lives here in Tulsa, the author of ‘The Outsiders.’ And that has made being an author accessible to her in a way that it wouldn’t be if we didn’t have Susie here.
“I think about so many of us in our lives: What we have been able to do is because we thought it was possible to begin with.”
