6 days of music, literature and ideas

Switchyard is a national festival of art and intellect featuring 40 keynote speakers and local and national performance artists – based in the heart of Downtown Tulsa.

Switchyard will invite people to cross the tracks that once divided this city to explore our complicated histories, seek new points of connection and activate the transformative power of art. In this inaugural year, we’ll focus on attempts to ban, censor or suppress challenging ideas—new and old. This will mean digging into the past, imagining alternative identities and dreaming of rich new futures.

Explore Downtown Tulsa

Visit a diverse array of restaurants, shops and artistic hubs.

5 experience tracks

Whether it’s just for the music or VIP access to all of it, choose from five different passes through the festival.

26 speakers, 14 bands

Hear new music every evening by local and national performing artists.

Enter the World of Bob Dylan

Join a global collective of scholars, writers and artists to delve into all aspect of Dylan’s work with keynotes, panels, roundtables, art exhibitions and more.

Platforms

Switchyard Magazine

Switchyard magazine is The University of Tulsa’s semi-annual publication of literature and ideas, featuring the best writers, photographers, artists, and trailblazers thinking through and hashing out our world’s most difficult and fascinating challenges.

Switchyard Podcast

The Switchyard podcast, a production of The University of Tulsa and Public Radio Tulsa, presents monthly episodes for people hungry for eye-opening essays, moving fiction, soul-stirring poetry, and honest, thought-provoking conversation, hosted by Ted Genoways, editor of Switchyard magazine.

Stream on Spotify

Schedule

Tuesday, May 30

Noon – Twenty-First Century Book Bans: A Conversation with PEN America

1:30 p.m. – Open to All: Fighting Book Bans in Oklahoma

3 p.m. – Free Speech on Campus: A Discussion with PEN America and FIRE

5 p.m. – Rebecca Makkai, “Researching into the Voice: The Great Believers and Approaching History as an Outsider”
Sponsored by TU’s Department of English and Creative Writing

6:30 p.m. – An Evening with Art Spiegelman

In Conversation with Ted Genoways, Editor, Switchyard Magazine
Sponsored by Switchyard Magazine

8 p.m. – Willi Carlisle and Jaimee Harris Live at Cain’s Ballroom

10:30 p.m. – Pilgrim Live at the Horton Records Stage
Hyatt Hotel

Wednesday, May 31

9 a.m. – Art Spiegelman Meet and Greet (VIP)

10 a.m. – Mutant as Metaphor: X-Men at 60

Noon – Alex Marzano-Lesnevich

2 p.m. – What Was Lost: Constructing a 3D Portrait of 1921 Greenwood at the New York Times

5 p.m. – Ilya Kaminsky

7 p.m. – Maia Kobabe, “Gender Queer: A Memoir”

8 p.m. – Jeff Slate & Friends Live at Cain’s Ballroom (with special guests)

10:30 p.m. – Saugeye Live at the Horton Records Stage
Hyatt Hotel

Thursday, June 1

10 a.m. – Katie Farris

11:30 a.m. – On the Inside with Poetic Justice: Art and Stories by Incarcerated Women

World of Bob Dylan Begins

1 p.m. – World of Bob Dylan Panel Sessions A1-3

3 p.m. – World of Bob Dylan Panel Sessions B1-3

5 p.m. – Reginald Dwayne Betts, Felon: An American Washi Tale
Sponsored by TU College of Arts and Sciences

7 p.m. – Natasha Trethewey, “Ground Truth” (free)
Presented at the Greenwood Cultural Center
Sponsored by the Black Wall Street Legacy Festival and Fulton Street Books

7:30 p.m. – Rodney Crowell with Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley Live at Cain’s Ballroom

10:30 p.m. – Jacob Tovar at the Horton Records Stage
Hyatt Hotel

Friday, June 2

9 a.m. – World of Bob Dylan Panel Sessions C1-4

11 a.m. – Keynote: Cass Sunstein, “Museums Are Vulgar: Bob Dylan and Dishabituation”
Sponsored by TU’s Department of Political Science

1:30 p.m. – World of Bob Dylan Panel Sessions D1-4

3:30 p.m. – World of Bob Dylan Panel Sessions E 1-4

5 p.m. – Reception: Switchyard Magazine Launch
Hyatt Promenade Ballroom

6 p.m. – First Friday at 101 Archer (free)

6:30 p.m. – An Evening with Margo Price
In Conversation with Jeff Slate

8 p.m. – John Fullbright Live at Cain’s Ballroom

10:30 p.m. – Seth Lee Jones Live at the Horton Records Stage
Hyatt Hotel

Saturday, June 3

9 a.m. – World of Bob Dylan Panel Sessions F 1-4

11 a.m. – Greil Marcus, “The Only Thing Missing Was Gloria Grahame: Noir Tones in 21st-Century Dylan”

1:30 p.m. – World of Bob Dylan Panel Sessions G 1-4

3:30 p.m. – Book Launch: Stevan Weine in Conversation with Holly George-Warren about Best Minds: How Allen Ginsberg Made Revolutionary Poetry from Madness

5:30 p.m. – Happy Traum, “Coming of Age in the Greenwich Village Folk Revival, 1954-1971”

8 p.m. – Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams, and Robbie Fulks Live at Cain’s Ballroom

10:30 p.m. – Paul Benjamin Live at the Horton Records Stage
Hyatt Hotel

Sunday, June 4

9:30 a.m. – World of Bob Dylan Panel Sessions H 1-4

11:30 a.m. – World of Bob Dylan Panel Sessions I 1-3

1:30 p.m. – Valeria Luiselli, “Echoes from the Borderlands”
Sponsored by TU College of Arts and Sciences

Tracks

Choose from one of five routes through the Switchyard experience.

Full Festival Pass

Admission to all events at Switchyard and the World of Bob Dylan, including keynotes, book signings, panel discussions, film screenings, special receptions and five days of music featuring more than 30 bands.

$300

Ideas Track

Heavily discounted admission to all Switchyard keynote speakers and panel discussions from May 30-June 1, plus the special closing session on June 4 featuring Valeria Luiselli.

$50

Music Track

Admission to all acts, including local and national artists on the main stage of the historic Cain’s Ballroom, with folk, Americana and blues bands playing late into the evening at the main conference venue.

$150

2023 World of Bob Dylan

Explore all aspects of Dylan’s work from Theme Time Radio Hour to Philosophy of Modern Song with a robust set of keynote speakers, panels, roundtables, art exhibitions, and more.

$250

VIP Passes (limited)

VIP passes let you avoid the lines, get guaranteed premium seating at all events, exclusive merchandise, a book signed by the speaker of their choice and a free subscription to the new Switchyard magazine.

$500