Tulsa Global District’s latest initiative mixes music and art to transform everyday spaces into vibrant, interactive experiences.
The Beat Boxes Project paired six local artists with their own local musician or band to transform six traffic control boxes near the 21st and Garnett corridor into works of art. Each artist listened to a song from their musician to draw inspiration for the final art piece.
Sam Bowling, a member of the Tulsa indie pop group Mingo Drive, says he’s never seen a project like this in the city before. The band’s song “Color Blind Stories” was paired with the Owasso-based Latina artist Noeli Lira.
“It’s such a different world to me for someone to be able to hear something and then to picture in their mind, like, ‘oh, this is what this should look like,’ and then further than that, putting it down, so that other people can see what’s in their imagination,” said Bowling, who once lived a couple miles from the band’s beat box.
Lira says she grew up coming to east Tulsa. This is her third piece of art in the area. The first time she played “Color Blind Stories,” she knew it was a perfect song to inspire her installation.
“You’ll play it driving down the fields, the prairies, the beautiful sunsets we have here in Tulsa,” she said. “That’s just immediately what it reminded me of, and all the colors that they gave us matched perfectly.”
Each traffic control box bears a QR code that links to the music and information about the musicians and artists.
The Beat Box Project is supported by WeStreet Credit Union and the City of Tulsa Arts Commission’s Vision Arts Grant. Tulsa Global District is a nonprofit organization focused on economically revitalizing the area near 21st and Garnett.
Traffic signal controller boxes across east Tulsa have been wrapped in designs by local artists, including this box on the corner of 21st and 129th streets on Sept. 2, 2026. Credit: Molly McElwain / Tulsa Flyer 
Traffic signal controller boxes across east Tulsa have been wrapped in designs by local artists, including this box on the northwest corner of 21st streets and a Highway 169 off ramp on Sept. 2, 2026. Credit: Molly McElwain / Tulsa Flyer 
Traffic signal controller boxes across east Tulsa have been wrapped in designs by local artists, including this box on the northeast corner of 21st Street and the Highway 169 on ramp on Sept. 2, 2026. Credit: Molly McElwain / Tulsa Flyer 
Traffic signal controller boxes across east Tulsa have been wrapped in designs by local artists, including this box at E. 21st and E. 17th streets on Sept. 2, 2026. Credit: Molly McElwain / Tulsa Flyer 
Traffic signal controller boxes across east Tulsa have been wrapped in designs by local artists, including this box on the northeast corner of 21st and Garnett streets on Sept. 2, 2026. Credit: Molly McElwain / Tulsa Flyer 
Traffic signal controller boxes across east Tulsa have been wrapped in designs by local artists, including this box on the southeast corner of 21st and 121st streets on Sept. 2, 2026. Credit: Molly McElwain / Tulsa Flyer
This article was produced as part of a partnership between the Tulsa Flyer and La Semana, a Tulsa-based bilingual Spanish-English newspaper serving Latino communities in Oklahoma.
Alejandro Garcia serves on the community advisory committee for the Tulsa Local News Initiative. News decisions at the Tulsa Flyer are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
