Obama unveils vision for presidential library in Chicago

The Obama Presidential Center will feature three structures, including a tower-like museum and tree-lined walkways. The Obama Foundation displayed drawings and a miniature model of the centre, which will also include a public plaza and classrooms.

Obama said construction of the centre — up to 225,000 square feet (20,900 square meters) overall — would take about four years, but programming would begin this year. He said he and former first lady Michelle Obama, who also attended, would personally donate $2 million to summer job efforts in the city. He says Chicago has a lot to offer, but most people outside the city only see headlines about the violence.

“We don’t want to wait for a building,” he said. “This is about reaching out right now.”

He said there would be future community meetings to discuss other aspects of the centre in Jackson Park, and hoped it could be used to spurn economic activity to the area, which includes several downtrodden neighbourhoods. Obama projected the centre would create thousands of jobs, including temporary construction jobs and up to 300 permanent positions.

The Obama Foundation has said much of the exhibition design work for the museum will be performed by minority- and women-owned businesses. New York-based Ralph Appelbaum Associates will head a team of several firms and individuals with expertise in media, lighting and acoustics in designing exhibits. The project is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars, but officials did not discuss cost on Wednesday.

Obama said he envisioned recording studios where musicians could help young people work on music and space for movie directors could take on community storytelling. The centre will also have exhibits with campaign memorabilia and personal artifacts.

“Let’s face it, we want to see Michelle’s dresses,” he joked.

The event was held at the South Shore Cultural Center, a park facility where the Obamas held their wedding reception 25 years ago. Obama also noted that he lived not far from the site and his daughters were born at a nearby hospital.

He also squashed any notion that the library was ever going to be elsewhere. Multiple locations in three states — Illinois, New York and Hawaii — had initially pitched proposals.

“The best things that have happened to me in my life, happened in this community,” he said. “Although we had a formal bidding process to determine where the presidential library was going to be, the fact of the matter was it had to be right here on the South Side of Chicago.”

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Follow Sophia Tareen on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sophiatareen .

Sophia Tareen, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Obama unveils vision for presidential library in Chicago

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