Donation to benefit arts education in OKC district
An Oklahoma City developer and his wife are donating $160,000 to extend and expand a partnership that brings arts education to schools with limited budgets, officials said.
Arts Partnership for OKCPS helps identify schools with no art programs and aligns art agencies with these schools so that students are exposed to visual arts, theater, dance and music.
The donation by Richard and Glenna Tanenbaum, announced Tuesday at Pierce Elementary School, will allow the program to expand from eight schools to 17 schools in the 2018-19 school year.
“We love the arts, we love the school district and we need good-rounded kids that create a great workforce,” said Richard Tanenbaum, chief executive officer of Gardner Tanenbaum Holdings. “There’s a great smile on their face when they have fun doing
the arts. We see it all the time.”
Glenna Tanenbaum said she has been “heavily” involved in arts education, music education and public school education over the years.
“I started in ballet and was always very creative, making things out of nothing,” she said. “My whole life I’ve been a creative person, and I see the joy that it has brought me and I want that for every student in Oklahoma City Public Schools.”
Rhonda Taylor, the district’s director of visual and performing arts, said the arts partnership “serves as a temporary solution to bridge the gap in arts funding” caused by budget cuts in 2016.
Taylor is hopeful state legislators will support more funding for education so arts staffing will return to previous levels.
“For many years in OKCPS, every elementary school student received weekly instruction in music and visual art,” she said. “But unfortunately that changed for many students after the state budget cuts. Thanks to the Arts Partnership for OKCPS, we are able to provide art experiences to those students who are needing it the most.”