I say this with all affection: Tulsa is a weird, weird place. How could it not be, in a spot that’s quintessentially a crossroads of people, history, environment? In 2024, that sense of living in a permanently transitional area—a cultural ecotone—felt more vivid and somehow more welcome than ever. In 2024, we tracked the gentle rustles, the piercing caws, and the big game alike to bring you a timelapse of 12 months in this creative landscape—one that rewards the big-sky view as much as it does the close-up.
It was a huge year for Black and Indigenous art, with multiple exhibits, hybrid events, and the extraordinary three-day program Sovereign Futures:
Moments from "Sovereign Futures," "Ripple in Traditions," "Markings," and Elisa Harkins at an Indigenous Language & Poetry Night at the Woody Guthrie Center | photos by Alicia Chesser
Other strong visual art shows were vulnerable and intimate, mesmerizingly hybrid, often both tender and massive in scale, like 108 Contemporary's State of Craft, retrospectives from the de la Torre Brothers and Celia Álvarez Munoz at Philbrook, Hayley Nichols and Nic Miller's "Natural Rhythms," Dan Lyn Pham's installation at Belafonte, and Amy Sanders de Melo's "Invisible Voices" (and sometimes the opposite of massive, like The Bird House):
"Invisible Voices" (photo by Alicia Chesser); "Collidoscope" (photo by Z. B. Reeves); "Natural Rhythms" (photo by Cassidy Petrazzi); "Invisible Tethers" at The Bird House (photo by Todd Woodlan); "Conflict Resolution" by Clayton Keyes at State of Craft (photo by Alicia Chesser); "I Bear The Fruit Of My Ancestors" by Dan Lyn Pham (photo by Becky Carman)
Clear visions and big swings dominated community theatre and opera:
"Fiddler On The Roof" (photo by C. Andrew Nichols), "Pride & Prejudice" (photo by Pembroke Players), Heller Shorts (photo by C. Andrew Nichols)
And music is a zone here that’s somehow both manic and chill, where it’s almost always more about the collective than the individual. For example: Snobug in an underground bunker, Knipple at Thelma's Peach, the HIRS Collective making glorious noise at one of our great dive bars, 2 Minutes To Tulsa metal fest, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, musical science theater, an Allen Toussaint tribute, a festival celebrating East Tulsa hip hop, an Oilhouse reunion, house shows at The Parlour, and so much great chamber music.
2 Minutes to Tulsa (photos by Mitch Gilliam); Da'juan Dupri at Face The East (photo by Tyra Lewis); Snobug (illustration by Carl Antonowicz); Jordan Hehl on cello and Trueson Daugherty at The Parlour (photo by Alicia Chesser)
We were blessed with culinary experiments this year that emphasized the simple, the real, the "no frills, just perfection" at spots like Tina's, Notes of Marrakesh, Lot-A-Burger, Noche, and et al.'s experimental tables (one Eastern Mediterranean, one Swedish):
Tina's, Noche, and et al.'s Ikea collaboration (photos by Becky Carman)
Yes, some big players came to town, like Hanson, Wilco, Orville Peck, The Wallflowers, Herbie Hancock, Pussy Riot, Dombrance, Meow Wolf's Vince Kadlubek, and a just-pre-blowup Chappell Roan:
Orville Peck (photo by Wade Rathbone Williams); Chappell Roan (photo by Phil Clarkin); Herbie Hancock (photo by Z. B. Reeves); Wilco (photo by Nathan Poppe)
We reported from just outside of Tulsa, too, from Boley’s 121st annual Black rodeo to a Día de Los Muertos pickleball tournament in the ‘burbs:
And that wasn't even the half of it for the Tulsa crew in 2024. This crossroads is a beguiling spot, full of genial tricksters and keep-it-real guides. The longer you stand here and listen, the more you feel the tension: it’s not a simple place, and that's precisely its gift.
