Yesterday, former president Barack Obama held a press conference in his hometown of Chicago, where he outlined his plans for the presidential library constructed in his honor. The presidential library has been an institution since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States, proposed that following a president’s tenure, a space be created to archive papers and other historical documents for the future. Well, Barack has certainly outdone himself, going above and beyond with plans to make his presidential library a giant, state-of-the-art community center in Jackson Park within Chicago’s South Side—a project that will create over 1,500 jobs and bring millions of dollars of revenue into the area.
The Barack Obama Presidential Center is meant to be “the world’s premiere institution for training young people and leadership to make a difference in their countries and in the world—that’s our goal,” said Obama during the press conference. Based on the building plans, it seems like the multi-building campus will be poised to do just that. With an abundance of classrooms, performance spaces, film and recording studios, a recreation and athletic center, a restaurant, and more, once completed in 2021, the Barack Obama Presidential Center will be a huge asset to the city of Chicago and beyond.
Obama noted that his center will provide visitors “experiences that inspire and tools to make things happen in their own communities.” Appropriately, Obama already has begun thinking about inspiring experiences in addition to the bounty of tools within the space. During his conference, the former president mentioned the space could offer seminars by big names in the music and film industry, specifically namedropping Chance the Rapper, Bruce Springsteen, Steven Spielberg, and Spike Lee as potential teachers to offer classes there.
You can check out this video from the Obama Foundation to get a first-hand look at the designs for The Barack Obama Presidential Center below. You can also check out this Spotify playlist that the foundation released yesterday ahead of Obama’s Presidential Center announcement below as well, for which the former president tapped guest contributors like Chance the Rapper, Mavis Staples, Jennifer Hudson, Nick Offerman, Dan Aykroyd, and former White House staff to choose songs for the compilation dubbed Hometown.