by Daniel Jonas Roche |
The Obama Foundation announced the Obama Presidential Center campus will open to the public this upcoming Juneteenth weekend.
On June 19, the public will, at long-last, gain access to the 19-acre campus’s playground, museum building, public art installations, landscaped park space, and new Chicago Public Library branch.
The highly-anticipated opening will be a full-weekend affair with events running on June 18 through June 21, including a series of ribbon cuttings, talks, and activations.
A dedication ceremony on the John Lewis Plaza will commence June 18. The Obama Presidential Center will open its doors to the public the next day, June 19. On June 20 and June 21, community celebrations throughout the campus will take place.
President Barack Obama shared in a statement the center’s opening date is a timely one: “It is easy to look around right now and feel like the challenges we face are simply too big. But hope is not about ignoring the hard stuff. It is that thing inside us that insists something better awaits if we are willing to work for it.”
“Here on the South Side of Chicago, hope is getting a permanent home,” President Obama continued. “Starting on June 19, you can visit the Obama Presidential Center. This is not a monument to the past; it is a living destination for people who refuse to accept the status quo. If you feel that way, this is your invitation to join us.”
The Obama Presidential Center Museum was designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects (TWBTA). The project broke ground in late 2021, after drawn-out design and planning phases riddled with controversy, community pushback, and legal challenges.
Artists such as Theaster Gates and Julie Mehrutu have contributed works to the campus’s granite-clad tower by TWBTA that can be seen from afar.
Ahead of its completion, critics have already weighed in on the project. Last month, Chicago Sun-Times architecture critic Lee Bey pointed out the words—excerpted from a speech Obama gave in Selma, Alabama—lining the top of the building are difficult to discern.
The Program & Athletics Center designed by Moody Nolan, a facility dubbed Home Court, will also open to the public this upcoming June.
Valerie Jarrett, Obama Foundation CEO, noted, “The opening of the ObamaPresidential Center will be a beacon of hope to the world and a place where we hope guests will be inspired to bring change home to their communities.”