Steve Liggett has been an arts advocate and artist in the Tulsa community for over 40 years.  In 2001 he won the Harwelden Award for recognition of his art leadership in the Tulsa community.  His formal education is from the University of Tulsa and he holds a Master of Arts degree with a concentration in Ceramics.  After college he was the resident artist for the Tulsa Park and Recreation Department for 4 years leading to a position as the Director of Johnson Atelier for an additional 6 years.  He has a wide background in teaching experience in both private and public schools in Tulsa and taught at Holland Hall Preparatory School and Riverfield Country Day School.  He served as the Artistic Director for Living Arts of Tulsa from 1992-July, 2017.  His own studio work has evolved from his ceramics and papermaking background to performance/video/installation work which has won many awards (Arts and Humanities Council Individual Artist Award, The Jingle Feldman Award, NextWorks grant for Interdisciplinary Work, DiverseWorks Interdisciplinary Artists Award, to name a few).  He was most recently awarded the Governor’s Award in 2015 for his service to the Community.

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And in June of 2017, he was awarded the Hope Award from the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Center for his work in social justice.

 

During his time as Artistic Director with Living Arts of Tulsa, the organization grew from one with a vital education program to a rich multimedia arts organization recognized nationwide for its support of contemporary art and artists.  It hosted eleven programs: Video/New Media Program, the Myers Gallery, Spoken Word Series, Contemporary Dance Program, the Performance Network, New Music, Education Program, Dance, Dia de Los Muertos Arts Festival, African Drumming Program ,The Tulsa ArtCar Weekend as well as The New Genre Festival.  In 2005 Living Arts became the recipient of the first award from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in the state of Oklahoma.  He was instrumental in helping Living Arts become the first Partner of the National Performance Network in the Southern Plains states region of the country.  He was also instrumental in moving Living Arts from it’s location on Kenosha to it’s new location on Brady St. as the west “anchor” in the developing Tulsa Arts District.