Lifetime Achievement Award: This award honors a person who has spent his/her life contributing to the enhancement of the arts in Oklahoma either as an artist, supporter, arts educator, or arts administrator.

Louisa McCune has devoted her career to improving life in Oklahoma. From the arts and animal welfare to journalism and various literary endeavors, she connects people through philanthropy, storytelling, and public advocacy. Since 2011, McCune has served as executive director of the Kirkpatrick Foundation.

 In 1997, at age 27, McCune became the youngest ever editor-in-chief of Oklahoma Today, the state magazine of Oklahoma founded by Governor Raymond Gary in 1956. Under her guidance, the magazine won more than 250 national and state awards. In 2013, with Christian Keesee and Larry Keigwin, she co-founded ArtDesk, published by the Kirkpatrick Foundation. As editor of both magazines, she worked with hundreds of writers and photographers and oversaw the coverage of more than two hundred Oklahoma artists and another two hundred beyond state borders. 

 A passionate advocate for Oklahoma animals, McCune works to end the extreme confinement of pregnant pigs and egg-laying hens and the needless euthanasia of cats and dogs in municipal shelters. Her efforts have been widely recognized with awards and leadership positions on numerous committees and boards, including Philanthropy Southwest, Animal Grantmakers, Patrons of OKC Animal Welfare, Kirkpatrick Policy Group, and the Oklahoma Center for Poets and Writers. She is an advisory trustee at Kirkpatrick Family Fund and Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center and serves on the MAPS 4 neighborhoods subcommittee. 

 Recently, McCune created the Oklahoma Killer Whale Project and The Odyssey Project, a live-streamed reading of Emily Wilson’s translation of Homer’s The Odyssey. Last year, she presented at the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, held at Oxford University’s Merton College. An Enid, Oklahoma native, she is a graduate of San Francisco State University. 

Louisa is the proud mother of three teenage sons, Mac, Rucks and Edward. In her free time, she can be found in her garden, art studio, or library.

Artist of the Year Award: This award recognizes an emerging or established artist who has distinguished themselves and their profession during the past year.

Ebony Iman Dallas is an award-winning mixed-media artist whose work combines contemporary African woodcarving and textiles with line work inspired by Somali henna designs.

Dallas’ work has been exhibited extensively, including in her joint exhibition with Guggenheim Fellow Ron Tarver at Oklahoma Contemporary, The Romare Bearden Centennial Celebration in New York, and her solo exhibition “Through Abahay’s Eyes” at Paseo Plunge in Oklahoma City, OK and Joyce Gordon Gallery in Oakland, CA. Ebony was selected by Wilson Athletics to create a limited-edition basketball to commemorate the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. She was a participating artist in the City of Tulsa’s Greenwood Art Project and co-lead artist and project manager for the $117,000 mosaic mural honoring the late Willa D. Johnson, Oklahoma City’s first African-American female councilwoman.

After receiving her MFA from California College of the Arts, Dallas went on to found the Afrikanation Artists Organization in Hargeisa, Somaliland where they opened the first art gallery in the country’s post-war region as well as in Oklahoma. Dallas is a founding fellow of the Oklahoma City Thunder Artist Group and was named the 2022 LEAP Artist of the Year and artist-in-residence. Dallas previously taught in the Clara Luper Department of African and African American Studies at the University of Oklahoma and the School of Visual Arts at Oklahoma City University.

Creative Placemaking Award: This award honors a person who has made substantial contributions to strengthening creative communities, making the role of art essential in enhancing local character for positive economic development and community outcomes.

Deborah McAuliffe Senner served as President of Allied Arts of Oklahoma for over 21 years. During her tenure, she worked to strengthen the cultural arts by leading the organization through successful fundraising campaigns – raising over $60 million for the arts in Oklahoma. Deborah also forged public and private partnerships to benefit the arts and hosted major fundraising events and community events. She helped to expand the Allied Arts service area, growing the number of arts organizations served from 20 to over 40, and helped to build Allied Arts from a $1.3 million dollar organization to one with a budget of over $6 million. Most recently, she spearheaded the effort to create and install a 24-foot public sculpture by local artist Joe Slack in front of the convention center, commemorating Allied Arts impact in the arts community for over 50 years. Other career highlights include leading recovery efforts during a pandemic and successfully securing ARPA funds to help rebuild the arts.

Deborah is the recipient of numerous awards including the Governors Arts Community Service Award for leadership in the arts and Top Fundraising Professional for Association of Fundraising Professionals. She was honored twice as one of Journal Record’s 50 Women Making a Difference. She was also recognized as one of Friday newspaper’s Most Powerful Women and a 2021 honoree in 405 Magazine’s Empower HER awards.  In addition, she was named to the inaugural class of “55 over 55 Inspiring Oklahomans” and most recently was presented the 2023 Oklahoma Hall of Fame Lee Allan Smith Oklahoma Legacy Award. Following her retirement in 2022, Deborah was appointed by Mayor Holt to serve as an arts commissioner for Oklahoma City.  She continues to be active in numerous civic and nonprofit organizations.

Her greatest passion is arts education and accessibility to the arts for all. Upon her retirement in 2022, Allied Arts created an award to be given in her honor annually – the Deborah McAuliffe Senner Excellence in Arts Education Award.

Public Art Award: Recognizes an individual/organization who has contributed to the cultural fabric of the city with innovative and creative artistic contributions and/or exemplary commitment and leadership in the field of public art.

Rick and Tracey Bewley have collaborated as artists since they married 22 years ago. Their art began with fused glass and evolved over the years to include other materials, combining metal, wood and acrylic with fused and cast glass into their mixed media artworks.  

 Tracey pursued drawing and painting from an early age, later earning her degree in art. Rick was always a “maker” –– working as a trim carpenter and then owning a plastic shop during the 80s where he built giant custom acrylic fish tanks. After they married, they merged their creative skills, working first in a tiny studio in Rick’s brother's acrylic shop, then later in a 100-year-old building in a mostly abandoned area. They lived on the top floor and created and exhibited their work below in a large studio and gallery space they called Art Fusion Studio. Later still, they taught fused glass classes, educating customers and friends interested in creating something of their own.

Throughout this time, Rick and Tracey participated in many art festivals, including the Paseo Art Festival and the Oklahoma City Festival of the Arts. They also exhibit in Oklahoma galleries, including JRB Art at the Elms on Paseo and 108 Contemporary in Tulsa. Their impactful artwork is also in private collections and parks and public spaces all over the state. Their latest and largest public art project, two large art deco chandelier fixtures, were installed this past summer in the newly renovated Oklahoma City Civic Center.

Volunteer Service Award: This award honors a person who has given their invaluable time and experience to benefit an Oklahoma non-profit arts organization over several years.

Rick Allen Lippert is an EMMY-award-winning video producer who documented the performing arts in Oklahoma City for nearly 50 years — simply because they needed to be recorded —filming hundreds of plays for many local theatre companies.

Lippert majored in broadcasting at the University of Central Oklahoma in the 70s, eventually earning his MA in creative studies from UCO in 2000. He began his media career in 1976 at Video One, Inc., OKC’s first video production company. He also ventured through several alternative theatre styles and careers and worked various jobs including TV news photographer, Polka DJ, and adjunct professor. In 1993, he founded his own production company, Lippert Media. Today, his work focuses on media coaching and producing informational videos, as well as radio/audio podcasts. He’s authored and presented several online courses on LinkedIn Learning.

Ever the dedicated volunteer, Rick served as president of several organizations including Individual Artists of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Children’s Theatre, Oklahoma Broadcast Education Association, and the Oklahoma City chapter of the International Television Association. Notably, Rick joined Carpenter Square Theatre’s board of directors in 2017 and became board chair in 2019. He led the move to a new location and served as the volunteer general contractor and project manager for the four-year renovation of a 12,000sf post-war warehouse while also writing grants and raising capital. For these efforts, he was recently named one of “55 Inspiring Oklahomans Over 55” and received the 2022 Leadership Oklahoma City Paragon Award.