Guthrie Green is unlike any event venue in Tulsa. Just ask Scott Bell, the creative production manager who oversees all the free, family-friendly events for the public green space at 111 E. Reconciliation Way.
“On a beautiful day you can read a book, hang out, watch the squirrels and watch the wisteria blooming, but come evening time the park transforms into a really interesting, high-capacity venue with state-of-the-art stage, lighting and audio that can hold 5,000 people,” Bell said.
White Guthrie Green has long been known as a home for First Friday Arts Crawl fun and summer movie nights, the events calendar in recent years has included the addition of an ongoing Off the Cuff Series featuring national headliners playing free concerts.
This year’s slate kicks off April 29 with an evening with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. On June 19, Silkroad Ensemble featuring Rhiannon Giddens performs “Sanctuary: The Power of Resonance and Ritual” and Iron & Wine plays Oct. 25, with DUG and local Cherokee musician Ken Pomeroy opening the show.
The Off the Cuff Series is just part of a busy season at Guthrie Green. Bell spoke with the Flyer about the venue’s upcoming events and what else is happening there in the coming months.
It’s spring, which means you and the events team are very busy. You have a few big events coming up in the next two weeks.
That’s right! This Saturday it’s “An Evening With Count Tutu,” which is a local jazz Afrobeat punk band that’s incredible.
Next Friday, April 24, we are showing “Interstellar” for our kickoff movie night. What an incredible movie and score! I’m so excited to listen to the score through the PA. We’re having Astronomy Club out with telescopes. We’re having a University of Tulsa faculty member come out and talk about the science of “Interstellar.” It’s such a fun nerdy thing that adds to what a cool film that is.
The following night, April 25, we’re doing our Record Club kickoff. Record Club is a mixture of music appreciation and music education combined with just some taste and vibe. DJ Doc Free hosts each one of those, and the next one we’re calling it “The Birds and Bees Edition.” We’re putting out blankets with candles. We’ll have a flower vendor and a chocolate vendor. So that first date that you haven’t been on yet, we’ve created a free, amazing opportunity to listen to love songs and really court someone. If it’s not your first date, I think it’s just a wise move altogether and such a fun way to celebrate spring and each other.
Coming up in a couple of weeks, you have the legendary Gillian Welch on the Guthrie Green stage. How excited are you to have Gillian and David on stage?
I think they’re two of the best musicians in the world. And I think Gillian as a writer, she writes like no one else, and gets the feelings of humanity in its darkest and brightest times across in the form of songwriting in a way that very few songwriters do. I would say authors tend to get this across. You know, a Cormac McCarthy or someone like that. She’s more in league with a writer rather than a songwriter, and I just love that she’s been able to blend that into something just like wildly authentic. She has such a passionate cult following, I’m very curious to see how Tulsans receive her. But one of the reasons we love this is because it’s literally two people with acoustic instruments and two microphones.
I’ve seen them a few times, and when you see their show, it sounds exactly like their records, because their records are made the exact same way that they’re performing in front of you. There’s just a raw authenticity there that I think is wildly compelling.
What people can expect coming to that show are all of those things and incredible lighting. They are really focused on lighting after our production conversation with them yesterday. I think that you’re gonna hear a pin drop in the park.
Two days after Gillian Welch, it’s a First Friday with the return of Inspyral Fire Circus, which always draws a huge crowd of all ages. Anything new this year with it?
This will be our third year working with Inspyral Circus, and they are incredible performers. They have a guy on stilts dressed as a mirror! They have jugglers, they have fire breathers and more things like that. This year there will be contortion, comedy, live music and pyrotechnics. It’s such an incredible night for what they do and we get to support them with excellent lighting and sound reproduction.
I know you’ve got a full slate of summer events we can talk about, but I want to jump ahead to Oct. 25 when you’re hosting Iron & Wine as part of their national tour. I’m really excited about that one.
I would plan to attend early. They’re touring with a really cool band called DUG and then on a different leg, they were working with Ken Pomeroy, an amazing Tulsa musician, we made it so both of them are the openers for that show. That’s going to be an incredible night of local and national talent. I think Sam Beam is just an incredible songwriter, and his newest record is probably his best, in my opinion. I absolutely adore it.
You’ve been doing this job for 13 years. What most thrills you about coming to work every day?
Guthrie Green is unique in that it isn’t just hosting creativity, it’s participating in it. We’re shaping experiences that belong to the artists, the audience and the city at the same time.
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