The Oklahoma City Museum of Art is offering virtual art experiences, including film recommendations, art lessons and a virtual tour of the museum, as many artistic and cultural opportunities are currently unavailable to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On March 18, Michael Anderson, interim president and CEO, announced the museum’s plans to update its online content regularly during the self-isolation period in Oklahoma as a substitute for the in-person museum experience.
The museum pledged to provide weekly updates to its “Museum Films” blog. Although the blog usually reviews films to be screened at the museum’s Noble Theater, during the quarantine the featured films will be available via the museum's partnerships with streaming platforms.
The latest blog post from April 3 reviews “The Whistlers” by Corneliu Porumboiu and Pedro Costa’s “Vitalina Varela.” The post includes links to both films, and the tickets are $12.
“Museum Films” also released a set of movie recommendations on March 20 to celebrate Women’s History Month. The museum’s selection included films available for free on Kanopy, a movie streaming platform.
Kanopy provides free access to OU students as well as Oklahoma City residents with a library card, according to the museum’s film recommendation post and OU Libraries' website.
Among other virtual experiences offered on the museum’s website is a virtual vacation tour of the museum’s painting collection. The tour provides information about the paintings and questions that help online visitors to interpret the art.
Following the trend started by Arts Council Oklahoma City, the museum is now also offering free online educational materials, such as an online tutorial on portrait drawings.
“We will offer at-home educational activities as parents across our community begin to home-school in unprecedented numbers,” Anderson said in a statement.
The museum closed March 15 until May 1 or later, depending on future recommendations from public health officials, according to the museum’s website.
The museum will keep posting more virtual art content on its website Wednesday through Friday, according to Anderson’s statement.
