Arts & Entertainment

Obama Presidential Center Is Ready for Its Close-Up: First Look at Obama Foundation’s ‘Beacon of Hope’ and Economic Engine

Valerie Jarrett has been waiting nearly a decade to utter six simple words: “Welcome to the Obama Presidential Center.”

After what Jarrett, CEO of the Obama Foundation, called a “very long and arduous road” to build the 44th president’s non-traditional presidential library, that moment has finally arrived.

Though the $850 million center’s official grand opening on Juneteenth is still two weeks away, on Wednesday media including WTTW News received a sneak peak of the 20-acre campus — including the 225-foot-tall museum tower — which has transformed the southwest corner of Jackson Park on Chicago’s South Side.

Here’s what visitors can expect from the museum and the broader campus.

Museum

The museum tower’s Sky Room is designed as a contemplative space with a killer view. Access is free and open to the public. (The Obama Foundation)

Due to its sheer height, the granite museum tower has been the center’s most visible element during construction. Its imposing mass and crowning latticework of lettering — excerpting one of former President Barack Obama’s speeches — have drawn mixed reviews. For her part, Jarrett told WTTW News the tower is not a monument to Obama but rather a “beacon of hope.”

Those lucky enough to have nabbed entry tickets, which are completely sold out through the end of August, will discover four content-rich levels that balance big ideas with small moments, and touch on both the public and personal lives of Barack and Michelle Obama.

As guests move through the levels, they’ll first encounter exhibits on historical movements from the American Revolution, through abolitionism, suffrage, the New Deal and the fight for civil rights in the 1960s.

“It’s about the story of our country, it’s about democracy, it’s about civic engagement,” said Michael Strautmanis, the Obama Foundation’s chief corporate affairs officer. “I also want people to ask themselves at some point, ‘What’s my role in this?’”

As part of a stated mission to encourage young people to pick up the baton of public service, the museum lets people experience what it would be like to occupy the highest office in the land. A full-scale replica of the Oval Office gives people an opportunity to sit behind the Resolute Desk and “take a thoughtful moment to understand the power of that office,” said Louise Bernard, museum director.

A replica of the Oval Office during Barack Obama’s presidency offers a snapshot in time. Visitors take their turn sitting behind the Resolute Desk. (The Obama Foundation)

Pointedly, an exhibit called “10 Letters a Day” appears just outside the Oval Office, highlighting Barack Obama’s practice of reading and responding to 10 letters every day out of the thousands he received. “It was his way of staying in touch with the American people,” Jarrett said.

Of the personal items the Obamas contributed to the museum, Michelle Obama’s fashions — from the dress she wore to 2008’s election night celebration in Grant Park to her first inauguration gown — have received the most attention. But a standout for Bernard is the inclusion of a “beautiful textile” Barack Obama’s late mother, Ann Dunham, wove while she was pregnant with her son. There’s also a collection of “charms” the former president carried in his pockets, Bernard said, which were mementos gifted to him on the campaign trail.

Something people won’t see? Barack Obama’s infamous tan suit, which went viral simply for not being black or blue.

“I thought he looked pretty good,” Strautmanis said. “The one thing I wish was in this library is that tan suit.”

After absorbing all of this information, some of which has proven so moving to early museum guests that boxes of tissues have been added to exhibit areas, visitors can climb up to the Sky Deck level. There, a contemplative space awaits, with windows looking out through the screen of letters.

Views of Lake Michigan, the downtown skyline and the center’s entire campus will be inspiring in their own right, Bernard said.

Campus

The grounds of the Obama Presidential Center have been landscaped with an emphasis on native plants and trees. (Nicole Cardos / WTTW News)

Apart from the museum’s four levels, the rest of the center’s campus is free and open to the public, including the Sky Deck.

The other buildings comprising the campus are:

— The Forum, which will serve as the center’s programming hub.

— Home Court, featuring an NBA-regulation basketball court.

— A Chicago Public Library branch, which occupies a space originally slated to hold Barack Obama’s presidential archives. The physical copies of his documents are being stored elsewhere, but digital versions will soon be available for anyone to access, Jarrett said.

The Chicago Public Library branch at the Obama Center includes a Reading Room full of books Barack and Michelle Obama have read. (The Obama Foundation)

The grounds operate like a public park, with landscaped gardens, paths and walkways. In a nod to sustainability, many of the trees, plants and shrubs are native species or were selected, in consultation with the Chicago Botanic Garden, for their resilience in a changing climate.

While the choice of historic Jackson Park — and the transfer of nearly 20 acres of Chicago Park District land to the Obama Foundation for just $10 — rankled many Chicagoans and led to a series of lawsuits, Jarrett said the campus actually adds 3.7 acres of open green space.

Most of that land comes from the removal of Cornell Drive, which would have cut off the center from the rest of Jackson Park.

“It’s a real gift to the community,” Jarrett said, with the potential to serve as an economic engine for the South Side.

Some 750,000 to 1 million people are projected to visit the center annually, providing a shot in the arm to “all of the jewels on the South Side,” she said.

How’d We Get Here? Obama Presidential Center Timeline

— 2014: Chicago was vying with Hawaii and New York City for what was still being dubbed a presidential library.

— 2015: Chicago was selected, with either Washington Park or Jackson Park proposed as sites.

— 2016: Architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien were announced.

— 2016: Jackson Park was named as final site. Initial prediction was a 2021 opening and a $500 million cost. But the choice of historic Jackson Park also touched off a lengthy federal review process and spawned lawsuits.

— 2017: First design was revealed.

— 2018: The Chicago City Council approved plans for the center. The Obama Foundation hoped to break ground by the end of the year. Based on concerns from neighbors, one concession from the Obama Foundation was to move parking underground.

2021: The U.S. Supreme Court wouldn’t hear a lawsuit against the Obama Presidential Center.

2021: Construction started.

Come for the dresses, stay for the history of democracy. (The Obama Foundation)A whimsical 1.25-acre playground features oversized animal structures of native fauna like the endangered Hine’s emerald dragonfly. (The Obama Foundation)

Contact Patty Wetli: [email protected]

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