The center dedicated to singer, songwriter, and Nobel laureate Bob Dylan is to be opened in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in three years.
The special center will be erected in honor of the iconic musician and will enable its visitors to see an extensive archive of his belongings, and take a glimpse at his long, and widely acclaimed creative career.
Seattle architecture firm Olson Kundig will be in charge of The Bob Dylan Center, after it was selected in an international contest sponsored by George Kaiser Family Foundation with the help of Dylan's management team. The firm was also behind the Space Needle renovation.
Plans For Tulsa
Kaiser plans to make Tulsa a mecca for music and culture. The oil magnate is also mostly responsible for the rise of Tulsa's culture and music scene. In fact, most of his $3.4 billion foundation has been used to revive the city, create parks, build museums, and establish art fellowships.
According to firm executive Tom Kundig, the project is utterly meaningful because it will play a key role in preserving the teaching value of the artist's legacy for the future generations to come.
Situated in Martin Luther King Boulevard in the Tulsa Arts District, and southeast of the Woody Guthrie Center, the establishment will house not only Bob Dylan's archive, but also Bob Dylan-related events which are to be held under the banner of the center.
The location also has significance to the artist. In 2016, Dylan said that the Guthrie center is one of the reasons why he chose the area for his archives. He added that it is an honor for his archives to be alongside vital artifacts from the Native American Nations.
What To Expect
The center will also be dedicated to the appreciation and study of Dylan and the cultural significance he has built through his six-decade career which has spanned to songwriting, recording, live performances, films, and books.
Visitors of the center will expect to see a priceless collection of over 100,000 Dylan-related items which includes notebooks and correspondence, manuscripts, films, photographs, artworks, videos, personal documents and effects, as well as unreleased recording from concerts and studios, musical instruments, and many more. Additionally, it is set to have an audio and multimedia experiences.
The center will coincide and interact with both the Bob Dylan Archive in the Helmerich Center for American Research in Tulsa, which can only be accessed by qualified scholars and researchers, and Institute for Bob Dylan Studies at the University of Tulsa, an academic program which sheds lights on the musician and other related subjects.
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