Dreamland Festival is the vision of Tulsa artist, entrepreneur and community leader Steph Simon. Established in 2016 as World Culture Music Festival, the festival was renamed in reference to Williams Dreamland Theater in 2022. The festival is the largest hip-hop-focused festival in the heartland; an annual celebration of music, art and film that takes place in downtown Tulsa. Steph Simon has been featured in Rolling Stone, New Yorker, NPR and more.

Simon said this year’s musical lineup and slate of programming will focus on creating an inclusive experience that will bring the city of Tulsa together to celebrate music, art and film while attracting attendees from across the region.

“Dreamland Festival has always been about building community by bringing people together, and providing a platform for artists to express themselves, and that’s still the intention now as we enter our eighth year,” Simon said. “The centerpiece of the festival this year will be a big free concert at Guthrie Green on Saturday Nov. 4 with a national headliner I’m excited to announce soon. We’ll also have the Dreamland Summit with panel conversations and guest speakers, Dreamland Brunch and mixer, and for the first time ever, the Dreamland Film Festival.”

For the film festival, Simon formed a partnership with Tulsa entrepreneur Kolby Ari’s film organization, also called Dreamland. Ari will screen and host discussions of a curated selection of films on Friday, Nov. 3. At the Woody Guthrie Center. Dreamland Festival’s name is a reference to the Williams Dreamland Theater, one of many businesses destroyed in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.