PRESS RELEASE Neighborhood Arts Online

Neighborhood Arts, a collaboration between Arts Council Oklahoma City’s All Access Arts program and the Metropolitan Library System, will be available online this summer. Neighborhood Arts is a summer staple that provides performances for families across the metro that are fun, free, and interactive. “Summer is our busiest time at the library,” says Kristin Williamson, Children’s Services Manager of the Metropolitan Library System, “We usually see thousands of people coming in to participate in Summer Reading and attend programs. We made the difficult decision to not have in-person programs during June and July but didn’t want people to miss out on the fun programs that they have come to expect during the summer at our libraries. After talking to our performers, we are excited to offer Neighborhood Arts virtually this year.” Viewers can expect to see prerecorded and livestream videos from participating artists. “We have had a great response to the virtual programming that we have started offering and think that families will enjoy the flexibility to watch the prerecorded performances on-demand and get to see behind the scenes video of some of their favorite local performers,” says Williamson.

The summer program includes a variety of musical styles and performance arts from June through July. “This summer our theme for Neighborhood Arts is Imagine Your Story,” says Jillian Coker, All Access Arts Director, “Through wonderful local performers we will highlight the ways storytelling is used across different art forms. Every day families can tune in to see improvisation, theatre, folk music, puppetry, and more!”

Neighborhood Arts performances begin Monday, June 1st and can be viewed from Arts Council OKC and the Metropolitan Library Facebook pages. Visit www.artscouncilokc.com/allaccessarts or https://www.metrolibrary.org/neighborhoodarts for a full performance schedule.