Fine Arts Center: From blank canvas to student masterpiece

Written By: John Dobberstein

(BROKEN ARROW, Okla.) The ribbon is cut and the curtain is up after community leaders celebrated the opening of the Broken Arrow Public Schools’ new Fine Arts Center.

Read this story on Broken Arrow Sentinel here.

Housed in the former student athletic complex, the 25,000-square-foot facility was completely renovated and remodeled to accommodate the growing influx of students, allowing the arts programs a dedicated center to spotlight their focus on 2D arts, band practices, orchestra and performance productions.

Building the center was a necessary decision to move the cramped classrooms of an infrastructure that could no longer facilitate the school’s fine arts programs to “their own home,” said Darrin Davis, executive director of Fine Arts.

The value of this renovation necessitated an urgent transformation, which had been in development for years. The Fine Arts Center had to be finished on a deadline to accommodate the students who had already signed up for fine arts programs before the school year began. Understandably, many of those involved in the project described it as a bit of a time crunch.

While many arts programs across the country are being relegated to “extracurricular” or “optional” status, as opposed to core academics, Davis counters, “Arts education is education. It inspires students and teaches us about ourselves.”

Davis added that, beyond a healthy discipline, fine arts education creates statistically better performing students, fewer instances of dereliction, and higher graduation rates — an investment the Broken Arrow community wholly supports. 

Associate Superintendent Kevin Dunn echoed Davis, championing the idea of investing tax-payer dollars into arts education because of how it benefitted students in and out of the classroom.

Because of the commitment to cultivate arts education and its impact on students’ academic results, “this is a school district known across the country,” Dunn said. “We just have a culture of arts in not just the city, but the entire school district.”

Arts education is education. It inspires students and teaches us about ourselves.

A number of cabinet and education board members, and arts educators across the district have overwhelmingly applauded the Fine Arts Center, calling the opening of the facility an overture to the impact these students will have on our community even after their graduation.

Broken Arrow art venues, music scenes, performance spaces and film productions have been growing across the Broken Arrow business landscape.

Officials said the financial investment in schools and the dedication of arts teachers harmonize to create students that will expand the influence of future arts development in the city, which will increase a return on the investment.

“It’s a cycle,” Davis says. “And when you do that, it becomes a situation where we’re not just the fourth largest city in Oklahoma, we’re a destination city for arts and entertainment that you wouldn’t get to see anywhere else.”