Q&A with Arts Council’s Peter Dolese: An ode to the arts and OKC

VeloCityOKC: You’ve been involved in Arts Council Oklahoma City for four decades, what first brought you to the organization? 

Peter Dolese: I started out as a volunteer back in 1976 just helping set up the Festival of the Arts and became good friends with several people that were ACOKC staff. Arts Council Oklahoma City was managing a program called CETA, Comprehensive Employment and Training Act. CETA was put together during the Richard Nixon administration and provided jobs for artists. I got a job with the CETA program to work as an assistant at Arts Place, a downtown extension of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, which was out at the fairgrounds at the time. Arts Council Oklahoma City administered my paycheck, but I worked and was managed by the museum. That's how I met everybody at the Arts Council during the time they managed the CETA program and Marilyn Myers was their director. I started doing volunteer work with ACOKC while I was already working over at the museum and we just all became fast friends. They even hired me to do some things like be stage manager at their fall arts festival. I also did stage managing at the spring arts festival because I had a music background, and I came to the world of arts administration through my background in music. 

Your tenure is obviously a testament for how passionate you are and the love you have for both music and the arts. 

I do think that if you just follow your heart and do the things you love, you'll never really have to work a day in your life. You'll just be able to do the things you're passionate about and enjoy. And I've just been so fortunate to be blessed with that opportunity to work in a field that I truly love and admire so many folks who are in this field. I really have had a wonderful life working in it. I love it. 

"I think public events in general are really, really good community builders. Our mission is to bring the arts and the community together. That's what we do."

That's such a great philosophy to live by. Looking back over your time with ACOKC, what accomplishment stands out in your mind? 

Festival of the Arts in 1986

Well, several things really stand out. The one thing in the last eight years was moving the arts festival from the Myriad Gardens back to its home at Bicentennial Park. It was a big endeavor and a wonderful opportunity to take the arts festival back to its roots moving it back to where it originally started in 1967. The festival was originally in Civic Center Park, and then it moved over to the Myriad Gardens at the request of the city. They had dropped the Biltmore Hotel in the summer of 1977 where the Myriad Gardens now currently resides. The Devon Tower wasn't built yet, and their land was just a big parking lot. But the city really wanted us to move over to that area so between the time the Biltmore came down in 1977, it took us until 1985 to move the festival to where Myriad Gardens is today. Then in 2015, 30 years after festival moved to Myriad Gardens, we made the decision to move back to Bicentennial Park. It was a two-year process deciding where to move festival and whether it could move back to Bicentennial Park. We looked at six different locations and mocked up several different tent configurations to see how it would work. Eventually we realized the best decision was to take it back to its roots at Bicentennial Park. It's just turned out to be a perfect home for Festival of the Arts and that's where it’s been every year since 2016. Moving to Bicentennial Park required extensive upgrades because they didn't have any of the electrical infrastructure that was needed. The Oklahoma City Economic Development Trust invested monies in the park to get it up to speed and so did ACOKC. So, I say that's the biggest thing that we've done in the last eight to 10 years that is of real significance for the City of Oklahoma City. Rand Elliott Architects designed the new Bicentennial Park footprint, and it's just a perfect footprint for handling the flow of people and the use of tents around the streets. It's so nice to have those two beautiful art deco buildings, the Civic Center and City Hall, bookending the festival. And it’s nestled in there amongst all that residential living and people that work downtown. It's really nice that the festival is right in the center of the business community where people can literally walk out of their office, come across the street and grab lunch at the arts festival. It's really been very wonderful to have that location back. 

"As I move forward in my life, the city's just been so good to me, I just love being a part of it and being a part of this community is just so important to me, that giving back to it also keeps me alive and keeps me happy. So, I will continue in that path."  

Are there any other accomplishments that stick out in your mind?  

Well, I was so proud of our team and how they handled living through COVID. All the wonderful volunteers and the people that supported the Arts Council during the time of COVID because we had to cancel the festival that year, and then the next year we moved it to June because there was still quite a bit of stress from COVID. The team did an amazing job getting through those two years and we managed to continue paying all the artists that work with us and we continued to offer programming all through that time. We created over 250 online classes that people can be a part of and are available to the public for viewing any time of the day or night. During the pandemic, we turned our upstairs conference room into a recording studio and kept everybody hired and continued to do arts programming for senior centers and for the Oklahoma City public school system – all online and all available through our website. I thought it was pretty wonderful that we were able to continue to keep everybody paid and working through such a difficult time. 

It was their livelihoods, and they were depending on those jobs. Our board made a command decision to dip into cash reserves and to freeze all programming at its current level, continue to pay everyone and continue to offer programming. It really boded well for us and helped several other nonprofits as they watched how we handled it. We were one of the first to offer online programming and really did pave the way for many artists who work with us to continue doing their jobs. 

"I do think that if you just follow your heart and do the things you love, you'll never really have to work a day in your life."

That's incredible that you were able to pivot so quickly. What is one of your fondest memories during your time as a volunteer or executive director? 

Well, without a doubt, my personal passion has always been Festival of the Arts. I love setting it up and being a part of it and taking it down every year and working to improve it. It's just one of many, many programs that we do. It is not the only thing the Arts Council is involved with. We're in 17 different senior centers and almost all public schools we bring arts to teens and special needs groups. And, during the summer we work through Neighborhood Arts bringing arts programming to all 18 branches at the library. You can go to our website and see the remarkable number of programs that we're involved with, but I first personally came to my passion with the organization through the Festival of the Arts and it's just been something I’ve been involved with really since I very first started. 

That's incredible that you've be able to see that change. What has it been like for you to watch the event evolve? 

Well, it's like a real person to me. It's just like watching someone grow up. I mean, it's a fantastic event, one of the largest events of its type anywhere in the country and it attracts artists from as many as 39 different states. It's a remarkable generator of ancillary funds throughout the community, from parking to hotel rooms, and the monies it raises for the city is in the neighborhood of hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's a real supporter of the community. It's like the right of spring for Oklahoma City, and everybody recognizes that it's springtime, it's Festival of the Arts time. Watching the festival evolve through the years has been one of my favorite things to do and favorite things to be a part of. 

"A community needs to have the arts to thrive and grow." 

That's remarkable to have been able to see that evolution. What is one of the biggest impacts that you've seen the organization have on our community? 

Well, I think public events in general are really, really good community builders. Our mission is to bring the arts and the community together. That's what we do. Our events and our activities do that just about every single day. We have a program called Art Moves which happens every day at lunch. That program offers free performances daily, and we pay all the performers. It happens in 15 different locations all over the community and it's a wonderful program. I think we’ve made an impact in the city keeping arts at the forefront. Art Moves is something you can enjoy and, it's free, so you just walk in, sit down, and soak up a performance. It's a wonderful opportunity to have the arts just be a part of our everyday life. In the summertime we also offer the Sunday Twilight Concert Series in Myriad Gardens, June through August. We get crowds, usually 1,000 to 1,500 people a weekend come and see those concerts, and they're free. You just unroll your blanket and picnic lunch and enjoy! People just love it, and they get a chance to come out and see their friends. It's bringing the arts and the community together using the arts as a catalyst to celebrate community. That also happens at Opening Night, our New Year's Eve celebration. As many as 75,000 people come out and watch the fireworks at midnight. They don't all pay to go to the event and go to the venue, but they do come out, enjoy a wonderful gathering and it's all based on the Arts Council's ability to put these large events on for the community. 

I love what you said about how it builds and brings the community together. It provides a unity that we so desperately need in our world. 

It’s our Identity. You know, the arts are a big part of how we see ourselves as a community. Like the beautiful murals around our city. The City of Oklahoma City really embraces the arts. The City Council voted in the 1% for Arts ordinance, which allowed public projects to give one percent of their building cost to create beautiful art that will be enjoyed for generations to come. The mural projects that you see everywhere are overseen by the Arts Commission. It's a total package. A community needs to have the arts to thrive and grow. 

"I think it's never too early to try to be organized and try to do the best job you can to make the most out of every day that you're blessed to have." 

Absolutely, it helps remind us that we’re all human and not all that different at our core. 

Right, exactly. 

Looking towards the future of the Arts Council as well as Oklahoma City, what excites you? 

Well, I think with our community, there's so much ahead of us. So many wonderful opportunities coming forward. Our community is growing but it's not unbridled, unmanaged growth. It's very careful growth. It's been managed quite nicely by the various MAPS projects over the years where we really have handled many of our structural needs allowing our community to grow wisely. I see the Arts Council's job as continuing to create programming allowing our community to identify itself with the arts and to create gathering places and opportunities for people to come together and celebrate what a wonderful city we live in. I hope Arts Council OKC continues to offer high level programming that brings the arts to the forefront of everyone's everyday life. 

I’m also excited about the new leadership here at ACOKC. My friend, Angela Cozby, will be taking over as executive director. Her experience working with the Arts Council and assisting with the festival was so important and it’s wonderful to have someone of her caliber come back to lead the Arts Council. I’m looking forward to working with her through Christmas as we transition. 

You mentioned earlier that if you follow your passion, you won’t work a day in your life. What other advice would you give to young professionals as they plan and look ahead in their careers? 

Well, I think it's really important for all young professionals to have a good understanding of what makes a community tick. Get involved with things like Leadership Oklahoma City, or the Loyal program, the young leaders’ program with Leadership OKC. Find ways to learn how the community works. Go to city council meetings, enjoy watching how city government manages itself. Watch the various activities that happen, how people gather and what they gather for. Enjoy the different districts that are focused on community like the Plaza District and the Paseo District. Take time to volunteer for the organizations that you are passionate about and learn more about those organizations and the things that they do to help our community. Give of yourself to community and your love of the community will grow as you grow. That's really super important. 

Is there anything you wish you would've known earlier in your career that you learned later in life? 

That's a good question. I wish I had been more disciplined from the get-go. I think it's never too early to try to be organized and try to do the best job you can to make the most out of every day that you're blessed to have. 

What are you most looking forward to in retirement? 

I intend to continue being passionate about the things that I love to do and will continue to give of my time and energy to the organizations that I really enjoy working with. There are a few other things I also like to do, like riding my bicycle. I want to continue with things like that. But as far as how my focus is on community, I don't really see that wavering. As I move forward in my life, the city's just been so good to me, I just love being a part of it and being a part of this community is just so important to me, that giving back to it also keeps me alive and keeps me happy. So, I will continue in that path. 

You're continuing to improve our city for the next generation. 

Well, that's the way it should be. 

"Give of yourself to community and your love of the community will grow as you grow. That's really super important."

Is there anything else you'd like to share?  

I have absolutely loved working with many, many people in our Chamber throughout the decades. Several of them have been on our board from time to time like Barb Denny, Cynthia Reid, and Jeff Seymour, who currently serves, and they've just been such a fantastic asset for the business community. They do such a wonderful job and it's just been a pleasure to work with the Chamber over the years.