Rock Hall Unveils Plans for Interactive Garage And More
The museum announces the launch of hands-on space, anniversary exhibits for Woodstock and Van’s Warped Tour and more.
No, not Jerry Garcia’s beloved electric “Rosebud,” but some close facsimiles. Starting in early July, patrons can plug into the museum’s tentatively titled “Interactive Garage,” a hands-on exhibit allowing visitors to play, mix and record their own hits on more than 15 drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and mixing boards. The major renovation will take up the entirety of the second floor.
Budding Jimmy Pages can learn a few chords from a teaching monitor while more experienced axmen shred, and the whole band can jam in the museum’s “garage space,” a designated practice zone. If you get some satisfaction, record a track digitally in the space’s studio and send it to your email for further refinement.
Rock Hall staff tested pilot versions of the experience last year, placing instruments throughout the museum’s showrooms.
“It frequently surprised [visitors] that they can actually touch these things in a museum,” says CEO Greg Harris at the Rock Hall’s 2019 media preview. “When they start playing, they start teaching other visitors what they know. When you think about our mission to engage, teach and inspire through the power of rock ‘n’ roll, this is dead-center.”
Although the instruments provided won’t be artifacts, Harris hopes that the tactile sensation of slinging a guitar strap over your shoulders might inspire some future inductees.
The exhibit’s studio space also offers the chance for potential pop-up concerts, with Harris noting that touring bands stopping by the museum will be encouraged to lay down a few bars. It’s already happened once, when Journey songwriter Jonathan Cain stepped over the velvet rope around an exhibit piano and treated passing guests to an impromptu rendition of “Faithfully.”
“Having moments like that where you can connect the artist with the artifact and then deliver that to visitors is incredibly impactful,” says Harris.
Big impact is the Rock Hall’s goal for 2109. Last year, the museum officially surpassed the 12 million lifetime visitor mark, hosting 579,000 guests in 2018 alone. That number is the highest individual year attendance since the Rock Hall’s opening in 1995. Harris projects the museum should surpass it in 2019. In addition, Harris announced, the museum is offering free admission to furloughed federal employees during the government shutdown.
Major milestones are a recurring theme in the Rock Hall’s 2019 programming, with a retrospective Woodstock 50 exhibit planned for May and another celebrating the 25th anniversary of Van’s Warped Tour launching in June. The latter coincides with the restructured concert series’ Cleveland date on June 8. The Warped Tour exhibit is expected to be about the same size as 2015’s Alternative Press: Never Give Up, which also featured many artifacts from the beloved punk tour.
But visitors can first check out January’s Geddy Lee’s Big, Beautiful Bass Collection, a sampling of the Rush rocker’s extensive spread from throughout music history. Lee and Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson are expected to be on-hand for the museum’s Jan. 19 Rush Fan Day for a meet-and-greet, interview and official exhibit launch, but tickets are currently sold-out. A limited-time exhibit, fans should act fast to catch the collection.
For traveling exhibits, the museum opens an show of iconic rock instruments at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art April 1, the first collaboration between the two institutions in almost 20 years. The exhibit then comes to Cleveland in November.
“We’re thrilled to be part of an exhibit at a place that’s as esteemed as the Metropolitan, but we’re also thrilled that rock ‘n’ roll has arrived to be exhibited at a place like the Metropolitan,” says Harris.
Programs for this year include the 2019 induction ceremony simulcast and a revamped version of its beloved Music Masters concert series, which previously featured a number of high profile acts performing songs from the career of one honored artist. Now called Rock Hall Honors, the September concert will feature the honoree as the main performer.
Additionally, the Rock Hall is expanding its educational outreach with the launch of rockhall.edu. Created by museum curriculum developers, the site offers music-related curriculum modules on subjects such as civil rights, which teachers nationwide can access for free and incorporate into their lesson plans.
“Look for this to take us from Northeast Ohio to the rest of the country in a major way,” says Harris.
