From stories to artifacts, OKPOP Museum in Tulsa is gathering history while seeking funding

TULSA — Across the street from Cain's Ballroom — known as the legendary "Home of Bob Wills" — the prime indoor parking space is ready for the King of Western Swing's 1948 tour bus.

"One of our biggest collections, our most significant collections tied to Cain's Ballroom, is the Bob Wills collection. ... We have the collection from the estate, which includes music, photographs, clothing, cigars, hat, fiddles," Jeffrey Moore, executive director of the OKPOP Museum, told The Oklahoman during a spring tour of the half-finished landmark.

"Then, some local history sleuths (and) urban explorers went down and picked up a bus that had belonged to Bob Wills in West Texas and brought it back to Tulsa. The gentleman who financed that operation ... donated it to us."

Formally known as the Oklahoma Museum of Popular Culture, the long-awaited Oklahoma Historical Society project has big stories to tell about more Sooner State stars than you could pack onto that bus, from Alfre Woodard, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Mary Kay Place and Brad Pitt to Kristin Chenoweth, James Marsden, Bill Hader and Olivia Munn.

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"Being across from Cain's Ballroom, the Bob Wills story is huge ... and we've got the stories of Leon Russell. We're really excited to be able to share his experience in Oklahoma," Moore said.

"Household names like Garth Brooks and Reba McEntire and Carrie Underwood, we're in contact with their representatives, and they will definitely be represented. But we also want to get in some of the names that may not be household names and people that are coming up today."

Originally projected to open in 2021, the OKPOP Museum's progress stalled out with the spring 2020 COVID-19 outbreak. With the opening delayed to 2023 — and possibly beyond — the Oklahoma Historical Society is seeking millions in American Rescue Plan Act funds to finish the project.

"This is a state project, it's going to reflect positively on the state, it's state property. ... And it's going to have a huge impact upon the state of Oklahoma beyond Tulsa. We've got a statewide story," Moore said.

"There's so many amazing things happening in the state right now, as it relates to the film industry, the music industry and then our neighbors — the Bob Dylan Center opening, Church Studio, Woody Guthrie Center — adding all that together, it's a recipe for success."

What is the mission of the OKPOP Museum?

Initially announced in 2009, the three-story OKPOP Museum is "dedicated to the creative spirit of Oklahoma’s people and the influence of Oklahoma artists on popular culture around the world."

"Oklahoma hits above its weight a lot ... and part of that, in my opinion, goes back to Will Rogers. Will Rogers was the first pop-culture icon, the No. 1 film star in the world and then had his radio programs and newspaper columns. Basically, it'd be someone today having the No. 1 blog and the No. 1 podcast and (being) the No. 1 film star — and all being the same person," Moore said.

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From "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" to "Harry Potter" and "Game of Thrones," he said that practically every top entertainment franchise you can think of has one or more people born, raised, educated or living in Oklahoma involved in making it.

"That helps open the door for kids that are coming up today, that are following in those footsteps. It's something that's who we are, it's part of our DNA, and the great thing about the state being involved in a project like this is it's state acknowledgement of 'This is who we are,'" Moore said.

"We're preserving this for future generations. We're owning the story. We're taking it on as a badge of honor of who we are as Oklahomans: that we're creative people in our ideas, our voices, our lyrics, our music — and our stories can change the world."

Museum will tell stories of Oklahomans in movies, TV, music and more

Situated in the burgeoning Tulsa Arts District, the museum will tell stories of how Oklahomans have been influential forces in movies, radio, television, illustration, literature, theater, Wild West shows, comic books and more.

"It's not just going to be one or two people, it's going to be the whole Oklahoma story. And then it's the role of Oklahoma: The musical 'Oklahoma!,' how that's been influential in the world of pop culture, or films that are filmed here, from 'Twister' to 'The Outsiders' to 'Killers of the Flower Moon' to 'Reservation Dogs,'" Moore said.

The plan is to devote the entire third floor to the state's rich musical history.

"What I'm really wanting to do with music is be able to break down the inherent barriers in the fan bases. Music's very segregated: You're either a fan of country or rock 'n' roll or hip hop or blues or jazz. Now, today it's popular to maybe cross the borders ... but there are very few people that like all music," said Moore, who has been instrumental in developing the museum since its initial conception.

"So, instead of dividing the storylines based on genre, or chronologically, we're going to divide them based on the experience. And what that allows us to do is to connect the dots ... like we take the story of Carrie Underwood and we take the story of Patti Page and parallel their lives and say, 'Wait a second, the way they became singers is very similar."

Journey guitarist and founding member Neal Schon, who was born on Tinker Air Force Base, said he is looking forward to donating guitars from his impressive collection to the museum.

"I'm an avid collector ... and I have plenty to share with the museum," Schon told The Oklahoman. "They'll bring joy in there in that museum, and I'll be honored to have some of my guitars put in there. ... Oklahoma's a special place for me."

OKPOP looks to build its 'heart and soul'

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. Getting enough legislative support for the project took years.

Despite pandemic delays, construction on the building's exterior finished in late 2021.

"We took occupancy in December. That's Phase 1, and we're calling Phase 1 the skin and bones. This is the skeleton of OKPOP," said Moore, standing near the specially reinforced platform for Wills' bus. "Phase 2 is heart and soul, and that's going to be ... what the guest is going to experience when they come in. So, that is a separate part of the project in that that's not funded by the original bond issue."

Since pop culture is ever-changing and Oklahoma's impact on it is already so vast, Moore said it's critical that the museum boasts an immersive, dynamic and flexible design for its exhibits.

"The way our experiences are going to be organized and developed is so that we can accommodate new stories if there's new Oklahomans that are contributing to music or film or comic books or literature, or if there are movies being made in Oklahoma or albums being produced about Oklahoma," Moore said.

"We want to excite, delight, inform and inspire. We want to create an experience that excites the visitor, that delights their senses, that informs them about Oklahoma history and then inspires them to go create their own pop culture."

Historical Society seeking ARPA funds to finish OKPOP Museum

Since the pandemic had such an effect on the project, the state Historical Society is seeking ARPA funds to finish OKPOP.

"We were impacted from a fundraising standpoint ... and just being able to collect, being able to further the designs of the concepts for exhibits, that all basically was stopped with COVID," Moore said.

"The great thing about this project is one of the categories within ARPA is tourism and economic development, and we hit the top ... for that. This is a shovel-ready project. (When) the funding is available, we're ready to go."

Over the past several months, Tulsa County has committed $2 million in ARPA funds to OKPOP, and the museum has received $1 million in ARPA dollars from the City of Tulsa.

The Oklahoma Historical Society also has requested $20 million in ARPA funds from the state to complete the project.

In May, Oklahoma legislative leaders called a special session to determine how the state should spend $1.8 billion in federal stimulus funds. Since it was projected to be months before lawmakers could make significant headway in deciding how to spend the state's share of American Rescue Plan Act funds, legislators likely will be back for the special session in fall.

"In order to be ready to hit the ground running should our ARPA request be approved by the state, we have been steadily adding new staff. We started out the year with only three full-time staff members at OKPOP and are now at 12 full-time staff," Oklahoma Historical Society Executive Director Trait Thompson told The Oklahoman in a July email.

"Our projected opening date really depends on how the funding comes in over the next few months. I would like to be open in 2023, but that’s looking less likely as time goes by."

Although he still hopes to see the museum's doors open — with Wills' tour bus parked in its special spot in the front window of the first floor — by the end of next year, Moore said he is excited about the future of OKPOP, even if it means additional delays.

"Great things take time, and what's interesting is we have lots of relationships with creatives in the film industry, in the music industry ... and they perfectly understand that," Moore said. "Every kind of big creative project takes time ... and the next 14 to 18 months are going to be very exciting."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma Historical Society seeks ARPA funds for OKPOP Museum in Tulsa