Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute brings the best student artists to Quartz Mountain year after year

LONE WOLF, Okla. (KFOR) – There is no place like it.

For a two-week span between school year calendars and summer vacations, the best and brightest student artists from across the state travel here by invitation to concentrate on their chosen areas of expertise, singing, cinematography, creative writing, acting, and dance.

There are 230 of them in 2024, plus support staff and faculty.

Outreach Coordinator Wren Pfahl calls them a truly unique collection of talent.

"The energy here is unlike anything I've ever seen," she says.

Ballet teacher Johnny Hackett was only 14-years-old when he arrived at the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute, just under the age cutoff.

He explains, "Because my birthday falls in the middle of the camp. So I was able to come that year."

He came back for the next five seasons before graduating to study at Julliard in New York, and a first job with a dance company in Portugal.

"I remember the orchestra shows," he recalls, "the choir performances, the photographs I saw, the poems I heard, and the amazing art forms I saw here besides dance that inspired me to continue my own art form."

He's headed to Germany next, but jumped at the chance to come back and teach.

"It's really cool to give back," he says, "to, hopefully, give back to the kids something of what I took from this place."

OSAI is a place made for concentration, set in a granite bowl, set apart from the distractions of home.

Students lucky enough to receive an invitation learn from professionals in their field.

But Hackett insists his fondest memories from this intensive summer camp came from experiencing what other students were able to share.

Campers from here have gone on to great careers in every artistic discipline, and many of them come back again.

The Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute issues a powerful call from the mountaintops.

The OSAI schedules a whole series of exhibits, screenings, and performances throughout their 2-week run and Quartz Mountain.

To find out more about the Institute and view a performance schedule go to oaiquartz.org.