OKPOP Museum on deadline to raise millions needed to unlock matching state funds
The future Oklahoma Museum of Popular Culture is on the clock.
With a deadline of November 2025, supporters of the yet-to-open Tulsa museum also known as OKPOP announced Tuesday that they are almost halfway to reaching a crucial $18 million fundraising goal.
“We are proud of the work the OKPOP museum team has accomplished in acquiring not only collections but also acquiring videos and stories of the amazing Oklahomans who have impacted the state and this world,” Abby Kurin, managing director of the OKPOP Foundation, said in a statement to The Oklahoman.
“I am thankful to the donors who have committed the first 48% of this $18 million goal and we are excited to continue sharing our progress between now and next November.”
In June, the Oklahoma Historical Society museum reached a major milestone on the path to completion when Gov. Kevin Stitt signed Senate Bill 1155, which established a revolving fund to hold $18 million for OKPOP set aside by lawmakers in 2023 until matching funds are raised. SB 1155 took effect on July 1.
The news conference Tuesday at OKPOP marked the launch of the Heart and Soul Campaign, the public fundraising effort to raise the remaining $9.4 million needed to meet the matching mark.
“Our group has a year to raise the money,” said Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, a member of the OKPOP campaign cabinet. “It shouldn’t just be Tulsa; it should be northeastern Oklahoma, it should be statewide, it should be 77-county support.”
What is the concept behind the OKPOP Museum in Tulsa?
Initially announced in 2009, the OKPOP Museum is “dedicated to the creative spirit of Oklahoma’s people and the influence of Oklahoma artists on popular culture around the world.”
“OKPOP, to us, is more than just a museum. We want it to be this hub for the community around us. We want it to be a place where people are inspired and learn not just about these pop-culture icons, but learn how they did it,” OKPOP Director Jake Krumwiede told The Oklahoman.
“We want to inspire the next generation of Oklahoma creatives: All of these people that are going to be here at OKPOP, they did it. They came from some small town in Oklahoma and made it to Hollywood or Nashville. They did it — and so can you.”
Situated in the burgeoning Tulsa Arts District across the street from the legendary Cain’s Ballroom, the museum is intended to spotlight an array of Sooner State celebrities, from musicians like Blake Shelton, The Flaming Lips, the Gap Band and Reba McEntire, to stage and screen stars like Alfre Woodard, Brad Pitt, Kristin Chenoweth and Olivia Munn.
“Oklahoma, we really do punch above our weight class, if you will, when it comes to people that come from Oklahoma and did really incredible things. And we really want people to see what a lot of us already see — that Oklahoma is awesome. We want to cultivate that pride in place,” said Krumwiede, who took the helm last year of the downtown Tulsa landmark.
“Museums are one of the best methods for promoting your own state to people from the outside. As people come in and visit Oklahoma, whether that be for business or coming through on vacation or whatever, it’s the cultural institutions where they stop. And it’s really their first in-depth look at what Oklahoma is all about.”
What challenges have hindered the completion of OKPOP?
The state Historical Society broke ground on the 60,000-square-foot museum in fall 2019, after receiving $25 million in bond funds from the state to build it.
Construction on the three-story building’s exterior was completed in 2021 — the same year that the museum was initially projected to open.
OKPOP staffers took occupancy of the building in December 2021 and have been working toward completing the design, construction and installation of the exhibits that will put the heart and soul into what’s, for now, largely an empty shell.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic drastically delayed the project, the state Historical Society started in 2022 seeking American Rescue Plan Act funds to finish the museum. The city of Tulsa committed $1 million in ARPA funds, along with an additional $2.7 million, while Tulsa County pledged $2 million in coronavirus relief funds to the museum.
But a request to the Oklahoma Legislature for $20 million in state ARPA funds to complete the project was never voted on. In March 2023, the nonprofit OKPOP Foundation, the museum’s longtime fundraising arm, and Oklahoma Historical Society announced a new fundraising campaign with Shelton as honorary chairman.
Although the half-finished museum reached a breakthrough with the passage of SB 1155, several staffers at the long-delayed OKPOP Museum were laid off in July.
The Oklahoma Historical Society “remains focused on raising the necessary funding to complete the museum and open it to the public,” Executive Director Trait Thompson told The Oklahoman in July.
What can people expect to see in the future OKPOP Museum?
From puppets and playbills to costumes and instruments, OKPOP has acquired more than 40,000 items for its collection, while the museum’s team has recorded nearly 700 video interviews with Oklahomacreatives.
The first floor of the landmark is to include the Listening Lounge Cafe and Bar, The Pop Shop museum store, The Will Rogers Experience, Bob Wills’ 1948 tour bus and a space for First American Storytellers. The second floor of the museum will tell stories of how Oklahomans have been influential forces in movies, television, literature, theater and more, while the entire third floor will be devoted to the Sooner State’s vast and diverse music history.
Provided the campaign reaches the $18 million matching funds goal to unlock the $18 million in state funds, the Oklahoma Historical Society project will have $36 million to finish the museum. Once those funds are in hand, historical society officials said they hope to complete the exhibits and open the museum within 24 months.
Of that $36 million, $20.475 million is intended for exhibit fabrication and installation, programming development and the like; $9 million for design and consulting fees, as well as construction management; $1.5 million for acquisitions and preservation; $4.475 million for building expenses, salaries and parking improvements; and $550,000 for marketing expenses and opening events.
“What we envision for OKPOP is going to be really, really cool. They’re going to be great experiences, immersive experiences. It’s not going to be a traditional museum with just the display cases and panels you read on the wall. It’s going to be something beyond that,” Krumwiede said.
The museum’s exhibit design needs to be nimble enough to keep pace with the Sooner State’s continuing contributions to pop culture, from the release of new movies like “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Twisters” to the bow of new musicals like the Off-Broadway hit “Dead Outlaw” and the Tony-winning “The Outsiders.”
The Tulsa museum recently has acquired items from several luminaries with Oklahoma ties, like Oscar-nominated actor James Garner, “The Golden Girls” star Rue McClanahan, Emmy-winning actor Tony Randall, country music hitmaker Mel McDaniel, comic book writer, artist and editor Archie Goodwin, Muppets puppeteer Jerry Nelson and legendary actor and martial artist Chuck Norris.
“We were able to acquire a collection from Chuck Norris’ ‘Walker, Texas Ranger’ television show … everything from his desk placard and business cards to his holster with a prop gun in it. And it was really cool,” Krumwiede said.
“It was something that my dad and I watched when I was young. So, it was a thing that we did together, sitting side by side and sharing something together. All these pop-culture moments do that exactly: They find a way to really create a common ground between people and bring people together.”
The silent phase of the fundraising campaign raised $8.6 million from key donors, including BOK Financial, the Chickasaw Nation, the Cherokee Nation, the George Kaiser Family Foundation, Tulsa Community Foundation, the city of Tulsa, Ken and Jeanine Clifford and Leigh and John Reaves.
As the public Heart and Soul Campaign gets underway, Krumwiede said he is excited about the future.
“The great thing about the passage of Senate Bill 1155 last session is that everything that we are raising is going to be matched. So, if you give $5, it becomes $10; if you give $5,000, it becomes $10,000,” he said.
“We’re really energized, and everybody’s committed to getting this done. We have great partners so far … and pop culture is one of those things that really does connect a lot of people.”
