Welcome to Switchyard — a national music, literature, and ideas festival organized by The University of Tulsa and operated in conjunction with the World of Bob Dylan. Based in Downtown Tulsa and running across five full days, it will feature 35 live musical performances, a literary festival, dramatic performances, and keynote sessions designed to draw some of the world’s most innovative writers, thinkers, and artists to the heartland.
Switchyard will invite people to cross the tracks that once carved Tulsa in two in order to explore our complicated histories, seek new points of connection and activate the transformative power of art, ideas, and music. Keynote speakers include major literary and cultural honors winners, including the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, and MacArthur “Genius” grants. The evenings will be filled with outstanding music from a diverse array of established and emerging artists.
To help navigate the event, participants can follow a handful of distinct “tracks” that feature topics such as banned books and outrageous ideas; the transformative power of music; and Oklahoma’s Indigenous arts and histories. Since the dates overlap with the anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, organizers plan to devote most of June 1 to events that focus on the work of recovery and the opportunity it provides to build a stronger, more inclusive future.
All events will take place in and around Downtown Tulsa with a variety of ticketing options, from single-event admission to music festivals and full-event passes. Bands and keynote speakers will be announced in the coming months with early-bird pricing available on Oct. 1.
The Oklahoma Center for the Humanities, along with the Bob Dylan Institute and partners on and off campus, is thrilled to be part of the Switchyard team.
This will be big, and there’s a lot more to come. To connect with the Switchyard, subscribe to the newsletter at the official Switchyard site and on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.