Way before Mary Frates knew that one day she would coordinate the first Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute, she was a Ponca City High School grad attending a small college in the nation's capital. There she met Fidel Castro, Nikita Khrushchev, and Richard Nixon among others. A classmate was Nancy Pelosi. Because only cultural and political events were exempted by the early curfew, Mary did both, attending performances and protests! 

Mary finished her education at OU then began organizing cultural field trips for OKC Public Schools. That ultimately led to the creation of the Oklahoma Arts Institute with a two-week summer camp for high schools students and fall weekend workshops for teachers. Mary served as the OAI director for 25 years, and here gives a true behind-the-scenes account of how it happened 50 years ago.

Post-production by Fred O. Bishop
'Sponsored by Carpenter Square Theatre