Tulsa Area Nonprofits Receive Grants from AEP
SUPPORTING THE ARTS: AEP/PSO’s Carole Huff Hicks recently presented Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum of Art with a check for $$25,000 for the MyMuseum program for children and youth access to art education. From left are Meredith Miers, Philbrook grant writer; Diane Shen, Philbrook director of development; Carole Huff Hicks, manager external affairs, The AEP Foundation; and Scott Stulen, Philbrook director/president.
GTR Newspapers photo
Six Tulsa nonprofit organizations received grants totaling $230,000 in February from the American Electric Power Foundation to help address education and human needs of area residents. Public Service Company of Oklahoma (), an electric utility subsidiary of American Electric Power, helped secure the grants.
Foundation grant recipients are Teach for America, Inc., Philbrook Museum of Art, Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, Youth Services of Tulsa, The Little Light House, Inc., and Rebuilding Together Tulsa.
“On behalf of and the Foundation, it’s our honor to support these outstanding nonprofit organizations and their missions to serve the Tulsa area,” says John Harper, vice president for external affairs. “The Foundation and provide charitable donations to address education and human services in Tulsa and all the communities we serve to improve the quality of life for our customers.”
The Foundation grants will support a specific program at each recipient’s organization.
• Teach for America – $50,000 for training and development of corps members (over two years).
• Philbrook Museum – $25,000 for the MyMuseum program for children and youth access to art education.
• Community Food Bank – $30,000 for the Food for Kids backpack program.
• Youth Services – $50,000 for homeless youth services (over two years).
• The Little Light House — $25,000 for equipment needs of phase two of new building.
• Rebuilding Together Tulsa — $50,000 for roof program for low-income elderly (over two years).
Representatives from the American Electric Power Foundation visited Philbrook recently to present a check to Philbrook Director Scott Stulen for $25,000 to support MyMuseum, a program that offers free art supplies to children ages 3-13.
Now in its ninth year, Philbrook MyMuseum has served over 30,000 children, and this important funding will enable the museum to continue offering free kits to kids through 2018.
Every day, Philbrook eliminates barriers for children and families to engage with the arts. My Museum is a free program designed to engage children through looking at art and art making. Children ages 3-12 can receive an art-making kit, shown in the photo at right, and a new art-making supply and art card each month. The art-making supply enables all children to practice and play through art-making, thus exercising their creativity skills. The art card prompts children and caregivers to find a work of art and discuss it using the prompts provided. A parent or adult can look closely with the child without any previous art history knowledge. Since its inception in 2008, Philbrook has enrolled over 30,000 children in the MyMuseum program.
An spokeperson says, “We believe that providing funding to help make arts education more accessible to all is important to our children and youth, and helps introduce them to creativity, beauty and imagination, which is important to critical thinking and quality of life.”
Updated 04-05-2017
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