The needs of the arts community have been a hot topic in recent months. Proposed city of Tulsa budget cuts had called for the closing of a longtime municipal theater, the termination of multiple Performing Arts Center staffers and the reassignment of other employees.

Municipal funding may be found to keep Henthorne Theater operating in a different form for the next year and save some of those positions, but it appears that some level of private funding will be necessary to continue these operations in the future, some city leaders have said.

The Dive Bar Town Hall plan comes three weeks after Ewing organized a similar event with Tulsa-area food truck owners who were upset with ideas about how to regulate their operations.

That served as an inspiration for the new concept, he said.

“It think that was a huge success because there was a lot of mistrust there,” Ewing said. “Given the opportunity to hash that out, I think people felt they were heard. I think people who came in scowling and unhappy left there feeling pretty good, and that we had done right by them.”

The Dive Bar Town Hall plan is to cover a different topic each month, Ewing said, with those in attendance able to voice their desires for future topics.