Request for Qualifications: The Bob Dylan Center

We are soliciting Requests for Qualifications from agencies interested in submitting proposals for the development of a master plan, design and initial installation and exhibition components for The Bob Dylan Center (BDC) in an existing building in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Description
The Bob Dylan Center is dedicated to the study and appreciation of Bob Dylan and his worldwide cultural significance through six decades of his prolific and groundbreaking creative endeavors, including his recordings, songwriting, live performances, books and films. As the primary venue for The Bob Dylan Archive, The Center will curate and exhibit a priceless collection of more than 6,000 items spanning nearly 60 years of Dylan’s singular career. The Archive’s priceless contents include handwritten manuscripts, notebooks and correspondence; films, videos, photographs and artwork; memorabilia and ephemera; personal documents and effects; unreleased studio and concert recordings; musical instruments and many other elements.
An iconoclast who exploded the boundaries between high and popular culture, Bob Dylan, both the artist and global phenomenon, offers a unique opportunity to explore a broad range of subjects that have come to define the “American Experience” in the 20th and 21st centuries. Housing permanent, temporary and traveling exhibitions, The Center is a multivalent venue readily accessible to the public, and one in which artists, historians, musicologists, cultural critics, and others have a central forum to engage the public and each other with an aim to foster a deeper comprehension of Dylan’s work and the myriad of influences it both embodies and engenders. Finally, as a tacit but important aspect of its core mission, The Center promotes a greater knowledge and a more profound understanding of our world, beyond any single worldview or ideology, in an effort to build cultural awareness and tolerance.
The master plan for the BDC will provide a framework for future decision-making about the facility, its physical and environmental structure, constituent access and experience, and on-site preservation needs. The BDC should be designed to accommodate myriad activities and functions, including:
- Public engagement with archive assets
- Interactive and immersive museum about Bob Dylan based on the archives assets, with both permanent and temporary exhibits
- Research and programmatic collaboration among academics, Dylan scholars and cultural commentators
- Educational programs
- Indoor events and performances
- Live and recorded video production
- Retail of merchandise related to The Bob Dylan Center
- Offices for BDC staff

Jury
Not yet announced

Prize
Design contract

Entry Fee
None

Timetable
Notification of shortlist and request for proposals: no later than June 1, 2017
Site visit, Interviews: June 16-18, 2017
Presentations: July 27-28, 2017

Organizer
The George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF)

Official Website