The Crossroads
of Creativity.
The Crossroads
of Creativity.
The Future of Our Past
The OKPOP Foundation has officially completed the $18 million Heart & Soul Campaign, and the State Treasurer has now approved and certified the pledges, releasing the state’s matching funds. This milestone marks the beginning of OKPOP’s next chapter: exhibit design, fabrication, and the build-out of Oklahoma’s first museum dedicated to the global creative impact of its people.
Hello Friends and Potential Donors,
“You know, this whole campaign wasn’t just about raising $18 million – it was about backing a mission that means something. OKPOP is here to celebrate the crazy amount of creativity that comes out of Oklahoma, to tell the stories of the folks who shaped music, film, and art, and to fire up the next generation to chase their own big dreams. The way people showed up to support this blows me away. Oklahoma should be proud of what’s coming.”
Honorary Campaign Chair
🎮 “It’s not about resources; it’s about resourcefulness.”
For our latest Oklahoma Historical Video Interview, OKPOP sat down with game developers Elliott Ridgway of Megalithic Mainframe and Daniel Jackson of Create Something Interesting LLC.
Elliott and Daniel shared how early encounters with Super Nintendo, RPG Maker, and other creative tools revealed that games were not only something they could play, but something they could make.
Their individual and collaborative projects include The Idiot’s Tale, Ramify, Solos, Mann Con, Shapeshift Sean, and Emmy Saves the Galaxy, a massive puzzle adventure featuring nearly 1,000 handcrafted levels and a courageous one-eyed canine hero inspired by Elliott’s late Papillon, Emmy.
They also discussed the friendships, game jams, conventions, experiments, setbacks, and creative problem-solving behind independent game development, as well as the growing community fostered by Tulsa Game Developers.
“You can create incredibly moving, impactful experiences through the medium of video games,” Elliott told us.
Daniel also shared his hope that Tulsa can become a destination for creators, a city people think of when they decide, “I want to make games.”
Start small. Be resourceful. Find your community. Keep creating.
They did it. So can you.
#OKPOP #OklahomaCreatives #GameDevelopment #TulsaGameDevelopers #VideoGameHistory @tulsagamedevs @megamainframe199x @createsomethinginteresting
Remembering Oklahoma musician Steve Gaines on his birthday.
Born on this day in 1949 and raised in Miami, Oklahoma, Gaines was a gifted guitarist, vocalist and songwriter whose time with Lynyrd Skynyrd was tragically brief but deeply influential.
His fiery playing, soulful voice and songwriting helped shape the band’s 1977 album Street Survivors. Gaines wrote “I Know a Little” and “Ain’t No Good Life” and shared lead vocals with Ronnie Van Zant on “You Got That Right.”
Today, we celebrate an Oklahoma creative whose remarkable talent left a lasting mark on rock and roll.
🎧 Give “I Know a Little” a spin in his memory.
#SteveGaines #LynyrdSkynyrd #OklahomaMusic #SouthernRock #OKPOP
A long but fun day in OKC at the Oklahoma Comic Arts Festival!
We joined our friends at the @okcomicarts and @okcontemporary to share OKPOP’s mission and a few special items from the vault. We made new friends, talked all things comics, celebrated Oklahoma creativity, and dreamed big about what’s ahead.
Thanks to everyone who stopped by to say hello!
#OKPOP #OCAF #OklahomaComicArts #OklahomaContemporary #OklahomaCreativity
🎨 We hope to see you at the Oklahoma Comic Arts Festival tomorrow!
Come find OKPOP this Saturday at Oklahoma Contemporary, say hi, learn more about what we’re building, and get an up-close look at a few extra-special items we’ll be bringing along. 👀✨
We’ll be there from 10 AM–6 PM, celebrating Oklahoma’s incredible comic artists, illustrators, writers, and storytellers, past, present, and future.
A big thanks to our friends at the OK Comic Arts Foundation for bringing this fantastic festival together!
📍 Oklahoma Contemporary
📅 Saturday, September 12
⏰ 10 AM–6 PM
🔗 https://www.okcomicarts.org/ocaf-festival
Come by the OKPOP table. We’d love to see you!
#OKPOP #OCAF #OklahomaComics #ComicArts #OklahomaCreatives @okcomicarts
FROM THE VAULT: Oklahoma! goes global. 🤠
This striking poster was designed by Polish artist Witold Janowski in 1964 for the Polish release of the 1955 film adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Instead of showing its stars or a sweeping prairie, Janowski reduces the story to a few bold symbols: an enormous cowboy hat, a guitar, and a title alive with color. The Polish text promotes the film as “the first dance-musical Western in color and CinemaScope.”
The journey began with Claremore-born Cherokee playwright Lynn Riggs, whose play Green Grow the Lilacs inspired the landmark musical. From a story rooted in Oklahoma to Broadway, Hollywood and movie theaters across Poland, the work helped shape how people around the world imagined our state.
#FromTheVault #OKPOP #Oklahoma #PolishPoster #OklahomaMusical
What happens when a musician who can’t stop doodling begins following the lines?
We recently connected with artist and musician Landan “Tanglman” Tolentino to talk about his creative journey from Hawaiʻi to Oklahoma City.
Before Tanglman, there were bass guitars, bands, handmade flyers and merch. Growing up on Oʻahu with creative parents, Landan was surrounded by music, comedy and art. He began creating visuals out of necessity for his bands, first working in pen and ink with heavy black lines before discovering the saturated colors, wild patterns and expressive characters that now define his work.
When live music stopped in 2020, those experiments became Tanglman, a visual world shaped by chaotic current events, Mayan hieroglyphs, relentless doodling and the cartoons of his childhood. SpongeBob SquarePants, Ed, Edd n Eddy, Rocket Power and the visual language of Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network all helped form his creative vocabulary.
For Landan, pop culture is more than a collection of references. It is a shared language that can connect people when it comes from an honest place.
His work also creates a colorful bridge between Hawaiʻi and Oklahoma, finding connections in nature, community, paniolo and cowboy traditions, and even the similarities between big-wave surfers and rodeo riders.
“Really fall in love with doing the work. That’s what makes art.”
We’re grateful to Landan for sharing his story, his wonderfully tangled imagination and his belief that there is no time limit on finding your creative voice.
#OKPOP #Tanglman #OklahomaCreatives #VisualArt #PopCulture @tanglman.art
Happy birthday to Archie Goodwin, one of the most influential storytellers and editors in comic book history. 🎨📚
Born September 8, 1937, Goodwin considered Tulsa his hometown. As a teenager at Will Rogers High School, he searched used magazine stores for EC Comics and joined fellow young cartoonists in a club that met at a local drugstore. Those early days of curiosity and imagination would eventually lead him to the very top of the comics industry.
Goodwin became a celebrated writer and editor for Warren Publishing, Marvel, and DC Comics. He helped shape Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella, co-created Marvel’s Luke Cage and Spider-Woman, and wrote the acclaimed Manhunter stories with artist Walt Simonson. As Marvel’s editor-in-chief, he secured the rights to publish Star Wars comics, a landmark success that helped strengthen the company during a difficult period.
His legacy was also about making room for other creators. Through Epic Illustrated and the Epic Comics imprint, he championed ambitious storytelling and creator-owned work. Later, at DC, he continued shaping Batman’s world and supporting a new generation of talent.
Goodwin was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame in 1998. But beyond the accolades, he is remembered for his generosity, collaborative spirit, and belief in the people behind the stories.
From a Tulsa kid hunting for comic books to a creative leader who helped shape entire fictional universes, Archie Goodwin’s story reminds us that imagination can take you anywhere.
Photos feature highlights from the Archie Goodwin Archive & Collection at OKPOP.
#ArchieGoodwin #OKPOP #OklahomaCreatives #ComicBookHistory #Tulsa
This Labor Day, we’re thinking about Woody Guthrie.
Woody gave voice to working people, travelers, dreamers, and those too often left out of the spotlight. His songs remind us that popular culture is shaped not only by stars, but by everyday people whose labor, stories, and resilience help define who we are.
At OKPOP, we believe creativity belongs to everyone. Few Oklahoma voices captured that spirit more powerfully than Woody.
Today, we celebrate the workers, makers, and storytellers who keep culture moving.
Want to learn more about Woody’s life, music, and legacy? Visit our friends and neighbors at the @woodyguthriecenter right here in Tulsa. Their incredible work keeps Woody’s story and his message alive for new generations.
#OKPOP #LaborDay #WoodyGuthrie #OklahomaCreatives #ThisLandIsYourLand
Donate
Your charitable donation directly contributes to OKPOP’s future, we are grateful for your support! Donations to support the OKPOP Museum may be made to the OKPOP Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Donations are tax deductible as allowed by law.
Donations may be made through the secure online donation form or mailed to:
OKPOP Foundation
422 North Main Street
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74103
If you have questions about additional gifting options, please contact Abby Kurin at akurin@okpopfoundation.org
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