Oklahoma Arts Community Mourns Passing of Its Champion, Betty Price

Former longtime Oklahoma Arts Council Executive Director helped turn the State Capitol into the state’s largest public art museum.

Known by her contemporaries as an accomplished educator and a fierce yet congenial arts advocate, former longtime Oklahoma Arts Council Executive Director Betty Price has passed away, the state agency announced in a news release on November 1.

“During her tenure leading our agency, Betty laid a foundation for passionate public service to the arts, and this foundation can still be seen in her imprint at our agency today,” said Oklahoma Arts Council Executive Director Amber Sharples.

Price worked tirelessly with state arts organizations and philanthropies, and she relentlessly advocated for the arts and arts education, said Elizabeth Eickman, board secretary for Kirkpatrick Policy Group. “Betty was among the first people I met working in the arts when I moved to Oklahoma in 1978. She was welcoming, enthusiastic about Oklahoma artists, and completely dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of arts and arts education with our political leaders. She was strategic, engaging, and enjoyed every minute advocating for the arts in Oklahoma. Thank you to her family for their generosity in sharing so much of Betty’s time with all of us who love the arts and Oklahoma.”

Raised in Muskogee, Price was an accomplished teaching artist and musician who worked as an arts educator in Norman before becoming a staffer at the Oklahoma State Senate. She was later hired by then Lieutenant Governor George Nigh. She joined the Oklahoma Arts Council in 1974, serving as the agency’s public information director until 1983 when she was promoted to executive director, the job she held until her 2007 retirement. “In all my years in public office, Betty Price is one of the most classic examples of public service in Oklahoma,” said Nigh, who served as the state’s seventeenth and twenty-second governor.

In her thirty-three years at the Oklahoma Arts Council, twenty-four as its leader, Price worked with the administrations of seven different governors. Former state attorney general and chief judge of the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, Robert Henry, credited Price’s “steady hand” as having an immense impact on the state and was the guiding force behind the Oklahoma State Capitol becoming an artistic treasure. “When you’re in the rotunda, I think you get a sense of the power of Oklahomans when you look at the portraits of Sequoyah, Jim Thorpe,” Price told Oklahoma Gazette upon her retirement.

Price was instrumental in the commissioning of innumerable works of art at the State Capitol, including: Allan Houser’s exterior sculpture As Long as the Water Flow, honoring the state’s indigenous legacy; Wilson Hurley’s Visions of the Land: The Centennial Suite, depicting Oklahoma’s diverse landscape; Mike Larsen’s Flight of Spirit, honoring Native American ballerinas; portraits of Oklahoma African American leaders; a sculpture of Kate Bernard, the first woman in American history elected to state office; and Enoch Kelly Haney’s sculpture, The Guardian, which sits atop the Capitol dome.

Price also worked with state leaders to create new exhibition space in the Capitol to highlight the work of Oklahoma artists. The Capitol’s first museum-quality exhibition space opened in 2007 and was named after Price one year later. She helped found the Oklahoma State Capitol Preservation Commission to protect the building’s artwork in the future. When massive renovations took place at the State Capitol beginning in 2015, Price’s inspiration helped the leaders reimagine the visitor experience, Sharples said. “She would be pleased to see how the Oklahoma Arts Council has transformed the Capitol into the state’s largest public art museum through the Capitol restoration project, and how we have launched a museum-quality docent program to leverage the arts to teach Oklahoma history and fine arts through guided tours for school children and visitors from around the world.”

Price supported the arts across Oklahoma, crisscrossing the state to experience concerts, festivals, exhibitions, and many other events. She is credited with helping to establish numerous Oklahoma arts institutions, such as the Native American Cultural and Education Authority (precursor to Oklahoma City’s First Americans Museum), Oklahoma Arts Institute, OKMozart, Greenwood Cultural Center, Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, Red Earth, and more.

Price received many honors throughout her career. She was awarded the Liddy Doenges Leadership in the Arts Award by Governor Brad Henry in 2007, the Red Earth Ambassador of the Year in 2006, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies’ State Arts Agency Director of the Year in 2000, and the Sovereignty Symposium’s Chosen One in 1999. She received the Chickasaw Nation Governor’s Award in 1999 and was inducted into the Oklahoma Women’s Hall of Fame in 1985.

Price’s influence is still felt today, Sharples said. “In 2015, after dialogue with state leaders, we earned their trust to take on the administration of the state’s public art program—a longtime goal of Betty’s. We have also ventured into new areas of impact for the arts such as health and wellness, creative aging, veteran services, and more. We know Betty would be proud of our continued expansion of the arts to serve Oklahomans.”

A public tribute to Price will be held during the forty-fifth Oklahoma Governor’s Arts Awards in January at the Oklahoma State Capitol.