Oklahoma is home to at least two significant music cities – Tulsa and Oklahoma City; unfortunately, neither are 100% smokefree cities given the gaps in the statewide ‘No Smoking’ law. To help communicate the need and support for smokefree music venues and bars, members of the Smokefree Music Cities project will participate in the Music Cities Convention (MCC) in Tulsa from November 2 – 5, 2022, where we will share information about the benefits of going smokefree and to invite musicians, music organizations, and other interested parties to get involved in the project. In addition, we are sponsoring the award for “Best Initiative Using Music to Improve Health & Wellbeing,” which will be given the evening of November 4.
The Smokefree Music Cities movement continues to build momentum and impact more lives every year. Atlanta’s bars and music venues went smokefree in January 2020 and continue to prosper today. More recently, we had a huge victory in Nashville where a coalition of musicians, business and public health partners collaborated to make Music City’s bars and music venues smokefree as of March 1, 2023. Despite these successes, there are still 22 states that continue to permit smoking inside music venues, clubs, and bars, putting musicians and hospitality workers’ health at risk. We at the American Nonsmokers’ Rights (ANR) Foundation will not rest until every worker, artist, and musician has a safe, healthy, and smokefree workplace.
The ANR Foundation is dedicated to improving community health and increasing health equity by ensuring that everyone is protected by a 100% smokefree local or state law, including musicians and hospitality workers. We launched the Smokefree Music Cities project in 2018 at the Music Cities Convention in Lafayette, LA, which was celebrating its one-year smokefree anniversary, to bring attention to those workers still exposed to secondhand smoke in their workplaces. While we have had great success in other music cities and states, there is more work to do.
If you are a musician and want to share your story, please contact us at https://smokefreemusiccities.org/contact/ or by email at smokefreemusic@no-smoke.org. If you are part of a music institution or organization or are a music venues other community partner, and want to show your support, please consider adopting a smokefree music cities resolution and/or contact us about other ways to get involved.
