McAlester Association for Global Interconnections - MAGIC

10/22/2026

10/02/2026

International friendship has deep roots right here in southeastern Oklahoma. 🍀

The Choctaw and Irish peoples share a connection that began with generosity in 1847 and continues through friendship and cultural exchange today.

MAGIC encourages our community to explore that history at the Tvshkahomma Capitol Museum’s new exhibit, open through May 1, 2027.

09/28/2026

This is what international friendship looks like. 🇺🇸🤝🇮🇹

MAGIC is incredibly proud to have helped bring McAlester and Marciano della Chiana together as the two communities officially begin their Friendship City relationship.

The Piacere Marciano festival gave our delegation the opportunity to experience firsthand the warmth, joy and hospitality of the people of Marciano della Chiana. We met so many wonderful people, shared plenty of smiles and laughter, and watched the first connections between our communities begin to take shape.

Seeing the Friendship Through Art exchange begin was especially meaningful and a wonderful reminder of how art and culture can connect people across borders.

The agreement has been signed, but the friendship is only beginning. We are excited about what comes next. ❤️

09/22/2026

🇺🇸🤝🇮🇹 McAlester is headed to Marciano della Chiana.

Today, our delegation will begin the journey to Marciano della Chiana, Italy, as McAlester’s growing international friendship takes its next step.

Traveling with the delegation are four original works created by McAlester-area artists through the inaugural Friendship Through Art: 2026 Collection.

The pieces by Gwen Titsworth, Linda Bayard, Terri Estrada and Otto Draper will be presented as cultural gifts from McAlester to our friends in Marciano della Chiana — sharing our history, creativity and sense of home through the work of local artists. The collection was created specifically to accompany McAlester’s first official Friendship City delegation to Marciano.

During the visit, the McAlester delegation will participate in Marciano della Chiana’s festival on Sept. 27 and join local leaders for an official signing recognizing the friendship between our communities. Details of the signing will be shared as they are confirmed.

We’ll take you along as the visit unfolds — from the arrival of McAlester’s artwork in Italy to the people, places and experiences that continue bringing our communities closer together.

Thank you again to our artists, the McAlester Area Arts and Humanities Council, our community supporters and everyone helping MAGIC build connections between McAlester and communities around the world.

The artwork is packed.

The journey is beginning.

McAlester → Marciano della Chiana. 🌎

09/22/2026

🦬🎨 One final piece completes our inaugural Friendship Through Art collection.

Charging Buffalo by Otto Draper is the fourth original work that will soon travel from McAlester to Marciano della Chiana, Italy.

For Otto, The Spirit of McAlester takes the form of a charging buffalo — a powerful image tied closely to the identity of our community.

Rendered in oil, Otto’s buffalo charges forward against a fiery backdrop, bringing a bold interpretation to a collection that has shown McAlester through history, family, wildlife and the experiences of the artists who call this area home.

Charging Buffalo joins Gwen Titsworth’s Pioneer Miner, Linda Bayard’s Hello Butterfly and Terri Estrada’s Behind the Walls of Coal as part of the inaugural Friendship Through Art collection.

Thank you, Otto, for lending your talent to this historic first collection, and thank you to the McAlester Area Arts and Humanities Council for partnering with MAGIC throughout this project.

Four artists were asked the same question:

What is the Spirit of McAlester?

Tomorrow, we begin carrying their answers across the Atlantic. 🇺🇸🎨🇮🇹

09/21/2026

We’re excited to see the McAlester News-Capital highlighting our newest cultural exchange initiative as we continue building a friendship between McAlester and Marciano della Chiana, Italy.

Through Friendship Through Art, local artists and community partners are helping us share the creativity, culture and spirit of McAlester thousands of miles from home.

We’re incredibly grateful to everyone helping make these connections possible. ❤️🌎

The McAlester Association for Global Interconnections is launching a new cultural exchange initiative this month as the nonprofit continues building a friendship partnership between McAlester and Marciano della Chiana, Italy.

09/20/2026

🎨 Coal. The railroad. The penitentiary. Stories that have become part of McAlester itself.

Artist Terri Estrada brought several pieces of local history together in Behind the Walls of Coal, her watercolor contribution to the inaugural Friendship Through Art: 2026 Collection.

Terri grew up in a working-class Oklahoma family and developed her love of art early. Her great-grandmother, who lived through the Great Depression, loved painting and taught Terri ways to express herself artistically. Later, an art teacher at Crowder High School helped nurture that creativity.

Terri has spent much of her life in McAlester and remembers attending the Oklahoma State Penitentiary rodeo as a child and teenager, when the event known as “Inside the Walls” drew visitors to the prison each summer.

Her artwork brings that familiar McAlester landmark together with imagery recalling the coal-mining and railroad history that helped shape the community.

Today, Terri continues sharing her creativity through watercolor painting, including through her volunteer work at the library.

Soon, Behind the Walls of Coal will leave McAlester for Marciano della Chiana, Italy — carrying another chapter of our community’s story with it.

Thank you, Terri, for sharing your talent and your view of The Spirit of McAlester, and thank you to our partners at the McAlester Area Arts and Humanities Council for helping make Friendship Through Art possible.

09/19/2026

🌎 Building international friendships starts with support here at home.

MAGIC is proud to recognize Sam Wampler’s Freedom Ford as a Cultural Ambassador through a generous contribution supporting our mission of connecting McAlester with communities around the world.

From Friendship Through Art and international partnerships to cultural and educational programming, MAGIC’s work is strengthened by businesses and community members who believe McAlester has something worth sharing with the world.

We are grateful to Sam Wampler and the Freedom Ford team for investing in that mission and helping us continue creating opportunities for connection at home and abroad.

Want to help MAGIC continue building these connections?

Businesses, organizations and individuals interested in sponsoring, donating or partnering with MAGIC are invited to message us here.

Thank you, Sam Wampler’s Freedom Ford, for helping McAlester connect with the world. 🇺🇸🌎

09/18/2026

🦬🦋 What happens when one of the largest animals on the American plains meets something weighing less than a gram?

For artist Linda Bayard, that imagined encounter became Hello Butterfly — her contribution to the inaugural Friendship Through Art: 2026 Collection.

The American bison is a familiar symbol in McAlester, including the Buffalo tradition of McAlester High School. Linda paired that powerful animal with something dramatically smaller and more delicate: a butterfly.

The result is a whimsical meeting between strength and gentleness.

Linda lived much of her life along the Gulf Coast and worked in the medical industry before retiring to southeastern Oklahoma about 25 years ago. Here, she found endless artistic inspiration in the region’s woodlands, wildlife, plains and prairies.

Although she has attended workshops over the years, Linda describes herself as largely self-taught.

When someone once asked why she paints, her answer was simple:

“I really don’t know why I paint — I just have to.”

Soon, Hello Butterfly will travel from McAlester to Marciano della Chiana, Italy, as a cultural gift representing our community.

Thank you, Linda, for sharing your creativity and your interpretation of The Spirit of McAlester — and thank you to the McAlester Area Arts and Humanities Council for partnering with MAGIC to celebrate and share the work of local artists.

09/17/2026

⛏️🎨 For Gwen Titsworth, McAlester’s mining history is also her family history.

Gwen’s contribution to the inaugural Friendship Through Art: 2026 Collection, Pioneer Miner, was inspired by the generations of miners who helped build and shape the McAlester area.

But for Gwen, that history is deeply personal.

Her grandfather worked in the coal mines, and as a teenager, her father worked underground alongside him. Another branch of the family story stretches back to her children’s maternal great-grandfather, who immigrated from Sicily and eventually came to the McAlester area, where he worked in the mines until retirement.

Coal remained part of the family story generations later through trucking businesses operated by Gwen’s father and eventually Gwen and her husband.

“When I look at the Pioneer Miner, I don’t see only a statue or a piece of McAlester history,” Gwen wrote. “I see my grandfather, my father, my extended family, my husband, and a way of life that helped shape this community.”

Her final words capture the heart of the piece:

“I am a coal miner’s daughter.”

A self-taught artist, Gwen returned to painting at age 73 after discovering Golden Fluid Acrylics and developing a love for the freedom and energy of modern impressionism.

Soon, Pioneer Miner will carry Gwen’s family story — and part of McAlester’s story — all the way to Marciano della Chiana, Italy.

Thank you, Gwen, for sharing something so personal with our community and our friends abroad, and thank you to our partners at the McAlester Area Arts and Humanities Council for helping local artists share McAlester with the world.