The portrait by artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby is on display at the Obama Presidential Center. The unveiling of the portrait — which weaves together archival images, family albums and symbolic elements — comes ahead of the center’s grand opening celebrations this week.

The campus, sprawling across historic Jackson Park, houses basketball courts, gardens, a branch of the Chicago Public Library and an eight-story museum. The multi-use space is in sharp contrast with traditional presidential libraries.

WTTW News got a sneak peek of the Obama Presidential Center: Here’s what visitors can expect from the museum and the broader campus.

All entry to the museum is timed-ticketed, and visitors are strongly encouraged to reserve tickets online in advance, according to the center. Every Tuesday, the museum is free for Illinois residents.

Tickets to the highly anticipated Obama Presidential Center, which opens June 19, will go on sale to the general public May 6, the Obama Foundation has announced.

Announced in 2015, the Obama Presidential Center will open to the public June 19 at its 20-acre campus in Chicago’s historic Jackson Park.

Friday’s ceremony, billed as a “homegoing service,” served as a celebration of the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s life and achievements with singing, dancing and numerous speakers who reflected on the many ways Jackson impacted their lives.

The employees will serve as the public face of the Obama Presidential Center, helping to support the visitor experience for the hundreds of thousands of visitors expected each year, according to a news release. Applications are open until Jan. 31.

CNN anchor and journalist Abby Phillip details Jackson’s historic campaigns and political rise in a new book, “A Dream Deferred: Jesse Jackson and the Fight for Black Political Power.”

Speculation about the former first couple’s marriage has run rampant in recent months. Some of the rumors picked up steam after several public appearances where Michelle Obama did not join her husband, including President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.

Michelle Obama and her brother, Craig Robinson, will host a new weekly podcast series starting this month featuring a special guest pulled from the world of entertainment, sports, health and business.

All of Carter’s living successors were in attendance, with President Joe Biden, the first sitting senator to endorse his 1976 run for the White House, delivering a eulogy. Biden and others took turns praising Carter’s record and extolling his character.

A thought has circulated among several people close to the former president, they told CNN: If Trump wins, Obama might be seen as the aberration in the history of American politics, rather than Trump and his nativist authoritarianism.

Warning of a difficult fight ahead, former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama on Tuesday called on the nation to embrace Kamala Harris in urgent messages to the Democratic National Convention that were at times both hopeful and combative.

A state lawmaker from Illinois, he had an unusual profile to be a headline speaker at a presidential convention. But the self-declared “skinny kid with a funny name” captivated Democrats that night.

Back in 2008 Eli Bauman was a young campaign organizer for then-candidate Barack Obama. Now, he’s written “44 – THE unOFFICIAL, unSANCTIONED OBAMA MUSICAL.”