Barack Obama’s Proposed Presidential Center Features a Recording Studio

Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama have revealed the design for the Obama Presidential Center, a three-building campus in Chicago’s Jackson Park that includes his library, a museum, auditorium, and an outdoor park area. Among the center’s many planned attractions is a new recording studio, according to The Chicago Tribune. The former president said the space would be a place “where I can invite Chance or Bruce Springsteen, depending on your taste, to come here and talk about how you can record music that has social commentary and meaning.” According to the Tribune, the Obama Foundation is billing the center as “a working center for civic engagement and a place to inspire people and communities to create change.”

Obama has long been a big music fan with varied tastes. BJ the Chicago Kid was tapped to sing the National Anthem at his farewell address, and Eddie Vedder played at the event. For his farewell party, Obama invited Solange, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Chance the Rapper, and more to the White House. The Obama Foundation recently released a Spotify playlist guest curated by, among others, Chance the Rapper and Mavis Staples. 

Read Pitchfork’s feature, “The Presidential Suite: A Look Back at Obama’s Musical Milestones.”

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