2019 Oklahoma Creativity Ambassadors Gala

Paul Silverstein, M.D. is a Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon educated at Harvard College, Univ. of Pennsylvania Medical School, and trained at Boston City Hospital and Emory University. He served as a Major in the army during the Vietnam War, where he was first exposed to the horrific wounds from burns. For his service, he received the President’s Meritorious Service Medal upon discharge. He was recruited to Oklahoma City in 1974 to establish his practice and design and direct a Burn Center for the care of those requiring this type of specialized treatment. The American Burn Association awarded him the Burn Prevention Medal in 1993, and the Harvey Stuart Allen Medal in 2003, the highest achievement award presented to an American Burn Surgeon. In 2000, the Burn center at Integris Baptist Hospital was renamed the “Paul Silverstein Burn Center, marked with a Proclamation from the Governor. Paul spent many years in burn care and research, directed towards enzymatic debridement of burn wounds, the use of artificial skin grafts to promote healing, and the prevention of scar tissue.

A project of George Kaiser Family Foundation, Gathering Place: Tulsa’s Riverfront Park will ultimately transform 100 acres along the Arkansas River into a dynamic and active space. The first phase, 66.5 acres, opened in September 2018, blending nature with an urban setting to provide Tulsans and visitors a creative space to play, relax and gather together along the river. The centrally located park as more than a hundred unique experiences and attractions including a lodge, boathouse, nature trails, two land bridges, a five-acre adventure playground, a skate and bike park, international sports courts, multiple dining options and a pond that can be navigated by canoe, kayak or paddle boat. In addition to the attractions, Gathering Place offers world-class programming and events from music and dance, to education and art, all at no cost to the guest. Gathering Place is committed to creating a community space that is a recreational, civic and cultural destination for all walks of life to enjoy. Already, the nationally acclaimed destination has delighted more than one million guests in the 8 months since its grand opening. It is one of the largest and most ambitious public parks ever created with private funds.

James is an actor/writer/director now living in Los Angeles. His credits include popular television shows such as NCIS, Criminal Minds, The Mentalist, Casual, and Scandal. He has acted in many feature films including Wake Up, a thriller shot in Guthrie, where he stars alongside Johnathan Phys Myers, Francesca Eastwood, and William Forsythe. Prior to that, he joined an ensemble cast with C. Thomas Howell and Judd Nelson for Dauntless; a WWII epic surrounding the Battle of Midway. Both will be releasing this year. The film You People, in which he had a leading role, won Best Oklahoma Film at the 2018 deadCenter film festival. James would like to thank his parents, grandparents, extended family, & friends for their love and support.

Ken Fergeson has been a major contributor to the banking industry nationally and has played key roles in his community and state as the Chairman of NBC Oklahoma in Altus, Oklahoma. But it is his national advocacy and personal interest in supporting and promoting the arts and arts education that places him as a natural recipient of a Creativity Ambassador Award. He is the immediate past chairman of Oklahoma Humanities and both the Mid-America Arts Alliance Board and the national organization, Americans for the Arts. He is the past chairman of Creative Oklahoma, Inc. and also serves on the board of directors of the Oklahoma Heritage Association. Fergeson has also served on the Oklahoma Arts Council Board, past chairman of the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence. He received the Oklahoma Governor’s 1994 and 2000 Arts Awards. He was the recipient of the 2001 Business in Arts Leadership Award by the Business Committee for the Arts, Inc. (BCA) and FORBES Magazine. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business and a master’s in economics from Texas Tech University.

A student of history, Mike Larsen researches the past events of the subjects he paints and sculpts. As an ongoing student of art, he is influenced by the beauty of the world around him. He has been a professional artist for 50 years. Mike likes to think of his sculpture as three-dimensional painting. He leaves the marks left by his fingers in the clay as he does the brushstrokes he leaves on the canvas in his paintings, believing that shows most effectively the emotion of the painting or sculpture.

He is known for his very large paintings, and also for one very tiny one – the U.S. postage stamp commemorating the Oklahoma Centennial in 2007.

Illusionist Rob Lake has dazzled millions around the world on TV. His appearances on NBC’s America’s Got Talent (2018) have over 60-million YouTube and Facebook video views. Rob has performed at countless theatres, casinos, resorts, and arenas across the US, Europe, Australia, and Asia with notable performances including Times Square, Atlantic City, Hollywood, Lake Tahoe, The Las Vegas Strip, and a 3-year multi-million-dollar residency at the iconic Atlantis Resort in The Bahamas. Rob has performed 11 annual tours for the US Military, bringing his magic and a bit of home to troops overseas.

A native Oklahoman, Rob Lake still resides in Norman, and returns home annually for animal rescue benefit performances.

Susan McCalmont is a founding board member of Creative Oklahoma in 2006, and has served as President/CEO of the nonprofit from 2011 to 2018. A noted nonprofit leader and creativity advocate, she helped Oklahoma shine attention on the critical importance of nurturing creative thinking and how that leads to game-changing innovation in a variety of disciplines and professions. Through her work, she helped us imagine an Oklahoma that truly nurtures creativity across the full spectrum of education, business and culture.

McCalmont has also provided innovative leadership at the national level, serving a variety of nonprofit organizations and public institutions over the last 30 years in Washington, D.C. and Virginia.

Aside from Creative Oklahoma, she most notably served as the leader of the Kirkpatrick Foundation for 19 years as well as other educational, cultural and innovative organizations, such as the DaVinci Institute.