Bob Dylan Center opens to public in Tulsa near OKPOP Museum, Woody Guthrie Center

TULSA — "Something is happening here" promises the famous lyrics inscribed in bold white letters against the shiny new black doors.

And to keep paraphrasing the 1965 Bob Dylan song "Ballad of a Thin Man," everyone soon will know what it is.

When the eagerly awaited Bob Dylan Center opens to the public Tuesday, one of popular music's living legends will have a permanent place of pride and pilgrimage in Tulsa's burgeoning downtown arts district.

"This is a figure at the heart of all this whose music has been pored over and loved and adored and used as a soundtrack for people's lives. We now have these materials that help build out new narratives and new contexts for this work," said Steven Jenkins, the recently named director of the Bob Dylan Center.

"These materials are wonderfully valuable and revealing ... because they show an artist at work just like any artist, even though we think of Dylan as operating up here somehow. This is someone applying his craft and hard work to get something just right. So, I think that folks coming in will see that — and I think be surprised and delighted.

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What is planned for the Bob Dylan Center opening?

The Bob Dylan Center will open to the public at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The free outdoor event is open to the public and will be live-streamed at https://bobdylancenter.com/event/ribbon-cutting.

The center's capacity has been capped at 500 visitors for opening day, which is sold out. After Tuesday, downtown Tulsa's newest cultural attraction will settle into its normal hours of 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday.

The public opening day follows the VIP Grand Opening Weekend festivities that attracted hundreds of guests from around the world, from scholars and journalists to local musicians and Rock and Roll Hall of Famers (although the enigmatic Dylan himself apparently wasn't one of them).

Mavis Staples, Patti Smith and Elvis Costello played a series of concerts at Tulsa's storied Cain's Ballroom. Along with Smith, a Thursday dinner at the future OKPOP Museum drew attendees from Germany, Britain and Brazil, as well as Tulsans ranging from Mayor G.T. Bynum to "Reservation Dogs" showrunner Sterlin Harjo. Blues legend Taj Mahal and podcaster and comic Marc Maron were among those who got an early tour Saturday of the Bob Dylan Center.

"It's been thrilling just over the past few days as folks have been coming in. Our founding members and partners who have helped us get to this point get the first sneak peek," Jenkins told The Oklahoman Saturday.

"The response has been overwhelmingly positive thus far, from folks who, really, among them are some diehard Dylanologists. And I think even those folks — who have spent probably as much time studying Dylan as those of us on staff have — they're finding surprises."

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What can visitors expect from the new Bob Dylan Center?

Designed by acclaimed Seattle-based architectural and exhibit design firm Olson Kundig, the center's two-story facade features a mural of a 1966 photograph of Dylan, taken by respected photographer Jerry Schatzberg. An exhibit of Schatzberg's work titled "25th & Park" is the inaugural show in the center's Parker Brothers Creators Gallery.

Just a few steps inside the shiny new black doors, Bob Dylan Center visitors pass a 16-foot-tall ironwork gate depicting a series of wheels and gears. The entry gate was designed and built by Dylan last year at his Black Buffalo Artworks studio.

The center is home to more than 100,000 items spanning Dylan's life and career, and some of those on view for its opening include handwritten lyrics to classic songs like "Chimes of Freedom," "Hurricane" and "Not Dark Yet," a series of pastel portraits created by the multi-talented musician and the actual instrument that inspired his iconic tune "Mr. Tambourine Man."

The 29,000-square-foot attraction features 16 exhibits, a 55-seat screening room and a more than 5,000-square-foot archive, which is open by appointment only and intended for scholarly studies. The exhibitions range from a high-tech virtual jukebox curated by Costello to a reading alcove featuring books selected by former U.S. Poet Laureate and native Tulsan Joy Harjo, the center's first artist in residence.

"Visitors will find some permanent elements and some changing elements," Jenkins said.

One permanent aspect: The new attraction's close proximity to the Woody Guthrie Center, which is devoted to the life and work of the late, legendary Okemah singer-songwriter. Both the Bob Dylan Center and Woody Guthrie Center operate under the auspices of the American Song Archives, a project of the Tulsa-based George Kaiser Family Foundation. The foundation acquired Dylan's vast archives in 2016 and Guthrie's in 2010.

"Woody Guthrie ... is as formative a figure in American music and culture as one could possibly be," Jenkins said. "Dylan responded very positively to not only Guthrie's music — which remains extraordinary — and the indelible songs he wrote, but I think to that figure of the folk singer, the truth teller, at least in the early years of his career."

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What impact will the Bob Dylan Center have on Tulsa?

The Woody Guthrie Center opened in 2013, and the Bob Dylan Center is situated just a short walk from it on the same block of Tulsa's E Reconciliation Way.

"The center was originally supposed to open in October of last year, but in a way, it's fitting that the opening was delayed to 2022, because Dylan signed to Columbia Records in October of 1961 ... and his first album came out in 1962. So, this year marks the 60th anniversary of his recording career," said Jeroen van der Meer, senior director of marketing at Legacy Recordings.

Over the course of his groundbreaking career, Dylan has sold more than 125 million records around the world, penned some of the most popular songs of the 20th century and received 11 Grammy Awards, the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

OKPOP Museum Executive Director Jeffrey Moore is among those who expect an icon of Dylan's stature to make a major mark on Tulsa.

"The great thing about where we are here in Tulsa is the critical mass of cultural attractions, from The Outsiders House (Museum) to The Church Studio to the Bob Dylan Center to the Woody Guthrie Center. With us, that's five world-class attractions ... right here in the arts district," Moore told The Oklahoman during an early tour of what is formally called the Oklahoma Museum of Popular Culture, which is tentatively slated to open in 2023.

"All five of those attractions have heavy, heavy fan bases and international interest. ... So, I'm strongly convinced that we are going to be reaching a very broad audience."

Although he is new to Tulsa, Jenkins said that the Bob Dylan Center seems to be joining "a groundswell of activity."

"This arts district is happening, and there just seems to be a synergy and a dynamism here that I think is going to attract people," he said. "Because Dylan is Dylan and his name carries such recognition, I do think this will become more of a destination for folks. And if they think, 'Oh, well, we'll go for Dylan, and then we'll hang out at the pool at the hotel and go home,' far from it. They'll discover all the other charms and riches of the city — and I'm looking forward to collaborating with all those other organizations."

Bob Dylan Center ribbon cutting

When: 8:30 a.m. May 10.

Where: Bob Dylan Center, 116 E Reconciliation Way, Tulsa.

Regular hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday.

Admission: $12 for adults; $10 for seniors (55 and older), veterans and students (18 and older with ID); and free for children (17 and younger) and kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers.

Tickets and information: https://bobdylancenter.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Bob Dylan Center opens to public in Tulsa with free outdoor event