Mayor Holt has been an advocate for the arts in Oklahoma City dating back two decades.

As a child, Holt spent 10 years appearing in at least one production a year for Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park. In 2005, he became president of the board for Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park and led the organization’s relocation from a suburb to the heart of downtown Oklahoma City. After his three years as president, he was named an honorary lifetime member of the board.

Holt has served on the board of Allied Arts, the community’s umbrella fundraising agency for arts, since 2010.

In 2006, Mayor Mick Cornett appointed Holt to the Oklahoma City Arts Commission. From that position, he worked with Cornett and the City Council to pass Oklahoma City’s first “1% for the arts” ordinance, ensuring that millions of dollars would flow to public art every time the city passed a major capital initiative.

Holt joined the board of the Cultural Development Corporation in 2010. He served as co-chair of a committee that led to the hiring of the city’s first arts and cultural liaison position, Robbie Kienzle. Utilizing the city’s new “1% for the arts” ordinance, Kienzle worked for the next decade to establish over 200 pieces of public art in the city. This work culminated in Oklahoma City being named the #1 city in the United States for public art by USA Today in 2021 and 2022.

As a state senator from 2010 to 2018, Holt worked to protect the state’s public art funding and spearheaded the commissioning of a new piece in the Capitol collection, a portrait of Ralph Ellison.  Holt would later serve as president of the board of the Ralph Ellison Foundation.

Upon his election to the Mayor’s office in 2018, Holt has continued his leadership in the arts, recognizing that arts and culture are vital elements to the future Oklahoma City wishes to have.

Mayor Holt is a stalwart supporter of all arts organizations and events in the city, using his platform to highlight their contributions to the city’s cultural fabric. Whether welcoming native son Ed Ruscha home with “Ed Ruscha Day,” leading the charge to create a new film/music office, or simply encouraging residents to visit a local mural festival, Holt’s advocacy for the arts is ubiquitous. Holt worked with The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne to publicly display an 18’x18’ painting Coyne created with internationally acclaimed artist Damien Hirst. When the Ovation Network approached Holt with an offer of $10,000 to support the arts in OKC, he connected them to his sentimental favorite, Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park.

He also oversaw the final completion of the Centennial Land Run Monument, one of the largest series of bronze sculptures in the world. Holt is also working with the Native & Indigenous community to ensure that their story is fully told at the monument.

Mayor Holt is Oklahoma City’s first Native American mayor and was honored to cut the ribbon on the $200-million First Americans Museum in OKC, a place where Native art and culture is now celebrated.

The passage of MAPS 3 and MAPS 4 after the adoption of a “1% percent for art” ordinance has ensured that millions of dollars have flowed to public art in the city.  Last week, Holt dedicated “Light as a Feather,” a 31-foot-tall, six-ton, $562,000 sculpture that is now prominently displayed in Scissortail Park. It is dedicated to the late Robbie Kienzle, who did so much to improve the city’s public art collection before she passed in 2022.

Holt championed the new Oklahoma Contemporary, a modern art museum that opened in 2020 that features galleries and special exhibitions, as well as studios offering classes for all ages.

He supports artists of all kinds, including musical artists. He created “City Hall Sessions,” where local musical artists perform in the Mayor’s office.

Holt is determined that every city initiative be equitable and accessible to all. He has brought an unprecedented level of diversity with his appointments to the Oklahoma City Arts Commission Holt supports the Oklahoma City Arts Council’s annual Festival of the Arts, the state’s largest arts festival. The festival’s booths and concert stages literally surround City Hall each spring, drawing artists and arts patrons from all over the region. The top honor for artists participating in the festival is named “The Mayor’s Award.”  Holt served on the organization’s board from 2014 to 2018.

Mayor Holt has been previously honored with the Oklahoma Governor’s Arts Award for his public service to the arts, as well as the Art Star Award from the Oklahoma Alliance for Arts Education.

Mayor Holt’s active support and advocacy for the arts and culture in all forms has made OKC a national destination for the arts.