Grammy Museum Grand Opening Starts Tomorrow

The Grammy Museum will not officially open until Saturday but the Recording Academy has a lot of celebration leading up to the big day.

It all starts tomorrow night with The Grammy Nominations Concert Live!! on CBS where a number of the major categories will be announced along with some special live entertainment.

Friday will be the official ribbon cutting ceremony with the first visitors being a special group of Los Angeles area school children who will be led through the Museum by special celebrity guides. Later in the day, there will be live music on NOKIA Plaza and the unveiling of the Grammy Walk of Fame, which contains a commemorative disc for each of the winners in the four main categories (Record, Album and Song of the Year and Best New Artist) in each year from 1958 through 2008 (no word on whether there will be a Milli Vanilli disc).

Finally, on Saturday, the museum will open to the public.

The press release lays out the inside of the new facility:

With four floors of interactive and stimulating exhibit space, The GRAMMY Museum experience is celebratory, inspirational and educational. From the lobby, elevators take guests directly to the fourth floor where the Museum tour begins. A tunnel of bold graphics and powerful GRAMMY music opens to an exciting gallery space filled with films, artifacts and interactive exhibits — all of which capture the legacy of recorded music and reveal the many ways in which it intertwines with social and cultural history.

The third floor takes guests behind-the-scenes into the art and technology of the recording process and features hands-on, in-the-studio experiences, as well as an in-depth exploration of the annual GRAMMY Awards telecast.

The second floor houses the 200-seat GRAMMY Sound Stage and will feature an exclusive film capturing the backstage world of the 50th Annual GRAMMY Awards. Also home to the Museum's Special Exhibits Gallery, the second floor will feature original temporary exhibits showcased on a rotating basis. The first traveling exhibit, "Songs of Conscience, Sounds of Freedom," will explore the depth to which music has been, and continues to be, a political force in American society.

Furthering its interactive theme, the GRAMMY Museum experience will feature educational and public programs designed to engage young people, students, music fans, industry professionals, and more. Events to be offered include music classes for children; mentoring and question-and-answer sessions with visiting artists; lectures with music industry veterans (including record label heads, producers, and engineers); film screenings; and concert series and artist showcases, among others. Additionally, The Museum has developed partnerships with local colleges and universities including the University of Southern California, Occidental College, and the FIDM/Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandise to offer special programs and internships to students working toward a career in music.

Museum Executive Director Robert Santelli said "Through the lens of the GRAMMY Awards, The GRAMMY Museum tells the story of making music in a new and exciting way. Our exhibits and programs explore the process of music making — from songwriting to recording — while celebrating the interconnected histories of all genres of music. And we present this in a very contemporary way through interactive and multimedia technology, across style and era."