The Bureau of Land Management will hold a wild horse and burro adoption event in Kellyville, Okla., July 16-17, at the Creek County Fairgrounds. The two-day event, featuring 120 wild horses and burros, will begin at 10 a.m. on Friday, July 16. Adoptions will be held from noon-6 p.m. on Friday, July 16, and from 8 a.m.-noon on Saturday, July 17. Animals are eligible for adoption. Inquire with BLM staff onsite for more information.

As part of our efforts to find every horse and burro a good home, the BLM now offers up to $1,000 to adopt an untrained animal. This adoption incentive will be offered for every animal in Kellyville.

The animals offered at the event are adult and yearling horses and burros that once roamed free on public lands in the West. The BLM periodically removes excess animals from the range in order to maintain healthy herds and to protect other rangeland resources. The adoption and sale program is essential for achieving these important management goals. Since 1973, the BLM has placed more than 240,000 of these animals in approved homes across the country.

BLM staff will approve applications onsite. To qualify to adopt, one must be at least 18 years old, with no record of animal abuse. Qualified homes must have a minimum of 400 square feet of corral space per animal, with access to food, water and shelter. A six-foot corral fence is required for adult horses; five feet for yearlings; and four-and-a-half feet for burros. All animals must be loaded in covered, stock-type trailers with swing gates and sturdy walls and floors. BLM staff will be on hand to assist with the short application process.

The Creek County Fairgrounds are located at 17808 W. Hwy 66, Kellyville, Okla. For more information, call 866-468-7826 or visit www.blm.gov. The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition (OVAC) is excited to announce the awardees of Thrive Grants, a new granting program for artists that celebrates innovation and exploration in the visual arts of Oklahoma. Thrive Grants is funded by and in partnership with The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts through their Regional Regranting Program.

Thrive Grants is an annual program that funds 12 artist-led, collaborative projects from across the state of Oklahoma through grants of $5,000 each. The funded projects must culminate in a public-facing program such as a non-traditional exhibition, performance, screening, or other publicly accessible outcome. Thrive Grants aim to fund artists’ visions and provide creative projects for community engagement.

All grant applications were reviewed by a selection committee and were scored in categories including: Career Altering Potential, Artistic Merit, Community Impact, and Ability to Complete. Artist projects that create new collaborations, feature BIPOC artists, or serve non-urban communities were prioritized. The selection committee has chosen the following awardees for this cycle: Sarah Ahmad (Tulsa), Ferrell Dixon (Tulsa), John Flores (Tulsa), Shelley Goodmanson (Cashion), Naima Lowe (Tulsa), Tiffany McKnight (Oklahoma City), Lydia Moore (Tulsa), Romy Owens (Enid), Nicole Poole (Oklahoma City), Lauren Rosenfelt (Norman), Amy Sanders De Melo (Tulsa), Virginia Sitzes (Oklahoma City).

“The committee was blown away by the creativity of all of the submitted projects and it was a very challenging charge for them to select only twelve,” says executive director, Krystle Kaye. “We encourage the public to follow along with us over the next year as we all watch these powerful and timely projects unfold across the state.”

At the end of the award period, all of the funded artists will come together to share their projects in a fun, lively presentation. At the end of the presentation event, the awardees for the following year will be announced. For a full timeline and dates, visit thrivegrants.org.

About OVAC: The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition (OVAC) grows and develops Oklahoma’s visual arts community through education, promotion, connection, and funding. For 32 years as a nonprofit, OVAC has helped Oklahoma artists enrich the state through their creative endeavors.

About The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts: In accordance with Andy Warhol’s will, the mission of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts is the advancement of the visual arts. The Foundation manages an innovative and flexible grants program while also preserving Warhol’s legacy through creative and responsible licensing policies and extensive scholarly research for ongoing catalogue raisonné projects. To date, the Foundation has given over $200 million in cash grants to over 1,000 arts organizations in 49 states and abroad and has donated 52,786 works of art to 322 institutions worldwide.

OVAC is honored to be invited by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts to participate in the Regional Regranting Program. This unmatched funding for visual artists’ projects in our state will have an astounding and residual impact in our arts community.

For more information about the OVAC’s Thrive Grants visit, ThriveGrants.org.

THRIVE GRANTS 2021 AWARDEES & PROJECTS:

Sarah Ahmad // Tulsa, Oklahoma

Project: Stories from the Core

Stories from the Core is a collaborative art project that seeks to bear witness to grief—the grief of individuals across Oklahoma, and the grief of the land itself—as a movement towards healing. This project will use storytelling practices, photography, and the natural beauty and power of the earth to facilitate intimate moments of mourning. Participants honor their losses and open themselves up to hope.

Ferrell Dixon // Tulsa, Oklahoma

Project: Oklahoma Unwound: ASLUT COMMUNITY QUARTERLY

This project will highlight artists and collaborators through engaging events centering issues of social and political importance in Oklahoma. The project includes four immersive art installations/events based on four themes: 1. Mental Health, 2. The LGBTQ Experience in Oklahoma, 3. Environmental Degradation from Oil and Gas, and 4. Mass Incarceration. Funding for this project will support the implementation of these events created by the Lead Artist and four additional artists selected from outside the Tulsa/OKC areas.

John Flores // Tulsa, Oklahoma

Project: We Are Queer OK

We Are Queer OK will be an interactive digital and print media project in the form of a 24-page art zine consisting of photographic portraits centered on individuals, communities, and events that showcase the multifaceted queer population in Oklahoma. A portion of zines produced will be reserved for distribution to queer and trans oriented youth services and community centers that focus on underserved queer populations in Oklahoma.

Shelly Goodmanson // Cashion, Oklahoma

Project: Faces of Our Community

Faces of Our Community will be a broader and more expansive project. The goal will be two-fold; to expose people of all ages to clay as they create a ‘self-portrait’ as well as provide an art gallery style experience for our rural community. The self-portrait clay sessions will be scheduled monthly over the course of 6 months. During this time frame, Shelly will have scheduled open sessions at her studio, as well as collaborate with the school, local businesses, and churches as host facilities. All sessions will be free of charge.

Naima Lowe // Tulsa, Oklahoma

Project: Liminal Landscapes Along Rt. 66 scapes Along Rt. 66

Throughout this project, Naima Lowe will work with grassroots horticulturalist Leslie Witherspoon to create a demonstration garden and rotating flagpole installation on a residential property that Lowe recently acquired near Rt. 66 in Tulsa, OK. They will spend the next 10-11 months installing, cultivating and documenting the space and then invite the public to the space for a garden party and installation opening. The goal is to encourage community connection by showcasing the ways that we can turn our private spaces into sites for shared public engagement with the arts and the local environment.