Bob Dylan Center Celebrates Opening with Performances From Patti Smith, Mavis Staples, Elvis Costello

The Bob Dylan Center, a collection of the artist’s impressive archive, artifacts, and more, will open in Tulsa, Oklahoma, tomorrow May 10.

The center will feature everything Bob Dylan, from his instruments to lyric sheets to photographs documenting his 60-year career. More than just a journey into Dylan’s history, the center also features a modern interactive experience, including a recreation of Tulsa’s Church Studios, where visitors can mix Dylan’s music; a digital jukebox with 162 songs selected by Costello; and audio checkpoints set up throughout the entire space. The installations are worth over $10 million.

“Just as Dylan has had so much to communicate and share with listeners across decades — in songs, albums, books and performances that are at once startlingly direct, mysterious, ruminative, joyous and confounding — I am certain that you, too, have messages to impart, masks to try on, dreams to share,” the BDC’s director, Steven Jenkins, said in a statement.

The Bob Dylan Center has celebrated the forthcoming opening with three days of inaugural events, which have included performances from Mavis Staples, Patti Smith, and Elvis Costello.

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Photo credit: Christian Bertrand / Shutterstock.com